5 Foundational Features of Mobile In-App Knowledge Base Software in 2022

To understand the current landscape of the knowledge base, we first have to remember where we came from. Early on in computing, knowledge was considered part of the app — meaning, whenever you installed an application, you also installed a database of knowledge to reference for troubleshooting.

And while that was incredibly intuitive for consumers, it was equally difficult for developers to manage. Fast forward to the adoption of the Internet and knowledge bases quickly moved to the web where developers could easily update their knowledge with modern solutions.

However, something got lost along the way — wasn’t the sole purpose of the knowledge base in the first place to serve consumers with easy troubleshooting capabilities directly within the app? While the transition to the web made it easier for developers, it added additional strain for consumers.

Today, we have the best of both worlds as the growth of connected mobile apps merges in-app knowledge with up-to-date management from the cloud. The result is a unified knowledge base that lives both in the app and on the Internet.

Let’s dive deeper into in-app knowledge and the features that developers must remember in 2022!

Why Is In-App Knowledge a Must for Apps in 2022?

In addition to causing irritation for employees and customers, out-of-app resolution can also make the entire process of solving problems take far longer than it should. Research from Comm100 reveals that 71% of respondents believe that a quick response from a service team can drastically improve their customer experience.

However, when users are forced out of the app and into time-consuming email chains, phone calls, and other non-automated customer support functions, these valuable exchanges become detrimental for your app.

In-app knowledge bases contain FAQs, troubleshooting resources, and product information that increases customer support efficiency by empowering your customers to find resolutions to their problems — directly within the app.

This helps customers find answers immediately, no matter which time of day or night they are seeking them, and it drastically reduces the number of direct customer inquiries your customer support staff must deal with on a daily basis. A customer support pipeline of this nature allows your support staff to focus on more pressing issues.

5 Features Your Knowledge Base Should Have in 2022

When considering features of various knowledge base software, it’s critical to first identify one overarching feature — in-app support. If the user has to leave the app to receive assistance, you’re hurting their experience. However, if you give them the resources they need to solve their problem without leaving the mobile app, you are far more likely to create satisfied, lifetime users of your products.

In order to provide the best experience for visitors and your support staff, your new knowledge base should have the following five features:

Intuitive Design

When a customer accesses an in-app piece of knowledge, they must be able to interact with it seamlessly. If your knowledge base contains unresponsive pages, or the page is unintuitive and confusing, it can leave customers feeling more overwhelmed than they were before visiting your page.

As such, be sure that your knowledge base has an attractive, responsive, and intuitive design that will delight anyone who visits it.

Customized Branding

Although most people don’t think of troubleshooting or FAQ pages as exciting, they don’t have to be generic and boring. Your knowledge base should feature customized branding, such as brand-specific graphics, headers, icons, color schemes, and even words or phrases related to your brand.

This customized branding should be simple and easy to add as part of the knowledge platform so you are not burdened with trying to upkeep branding on each and every article.

Topic Suggestions

When a customer runs into a problem or has a question about a product or service, chances are high others have the same questions or problems, too. This is the main reason to have a knowledge base in the first place, and customers often find it incredibly helpful to have the software anticipate additional questions or problems they may have.

This is where article suggestions from knowledge base software can help enhance a user’s experience, which simultaneously guides them to locate further resources. The best software programs place article suggestions — both related and popular articles — somewhere on the answer or troubleshooting page to help customers solve their problems even more efficiently.

Feedback

Giving your customers or visitors a place to provide feedback and rate articles can help your brand improve its knowledge base over time, and it makes customers feel more connected with your brand. A simple star-rating system regarding the helpfulness or effectiveness of the article gives customers a chance to let you know which posts were helpful and which need improvement.

Many companies also find it helpful to include a small space that allows visitors to state what they did or did not find helpful about the piece. This more specific type of feedback may garner fewer results, but they should at least provide more information about what works and what doesn’t.

BONUS: SEO Optimization

Remember, modern knowledge bases are not in-app vs. web-based — they’re both. This best-of-both-worlds scenario means your knowledge base lives in the app as well as on the internet.

Because of this, an added bonus to identify when it comes to knowledge base partners is SEO. Many companies have never even heard of SEO optimization, and those that have probably never thought of their knowledge base as a way to boost their search engine rankings. Search engines use complex machine learning and artificial intelligence processes to give searchers the best, most relevant results based on their search terms.

When your knowledge bases are constructed with SEO best practices in mind, your site is far more likely to rank higher on search engines and receive more organic traffic.

Upgrade Your Knowledge Base With Helpshift

If it’s time to upgrade your knowledge base, consider working with Helpshift. Our intuitive Help Center 2.0 offers a suite of tools that can help you create a modern, intuitive, and genuinely helpful knowledge base. Having a responsive knowledge base fully housed within your mobile app is imperative to providing unbeatable support that keeps your users coming back time and time again. Combined with bot automation software, chat support, in-app feedback, and so much more, Helpshift can give you the tools to take your customer support to the next level in 2022. Learn more about who we are and how we can help your business thrive by contacting us today!