Introduction and Utilization of HubSpot Knowledge Base | Maximizing Operational Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction

A knowledge base is a systematic database of expert knowledge, know-how, and empirical rules obtained by employees through their work. It is also referred to as a "self-service online library" and refers to a system that documents valuable information and centrally manages it so that other members within the organization or customers can easily search for and reference it. By creating a database, rapid access and reference to necessary information become possible, realizing efficient information sharing throughout the organization.

Why is a Knowledge Base Indispensable?

In today's labor market, high mobility, such as employee turnover and job changes, is prominent. Therefore, the utilization of a knowledge base has become an urgent issue to prevent a state of personalization where information management depends on specific individuals. Also, in modern times where things change rapidly, the freshness of information is extremely important. Consolidating the latest information in one place and establishing an environment where anyone can access it at any time prevents operations from becoming person-dependent and contributes to improving the productivity of the entire organization.

Furthermore, modern consumers strongly desire to self-resolve problems at a time that is most convenient for them. Experiences such as difficulty getting through on the phone for inquiries or being shuffled around departments cause great dissatisfaction for customers. In fact, there are survey results indicating that customers first search for information on the web, and if they cannot resolve it themselves there, 2 out of 3 people consider switching to another company. Since an increase in direct inquiries causes an increase in internal workload and delays in customer response, the number of companies building knowledge bases to promote customer self-resolution is increasing dramatically.In recent years, significant advancements in IT technology have made the database creation of knowledge easier than ever before, strongly backing its introduction.

Difference Between Knowledge Management and Knowledge Base

Knowledge management refers to the entire management activity for efficiently collecting and utilizing all information held by a company. Its purpose is to share the knowledge held by individual organization members and create new knowledge and value throughout the organization from it. In contrast, a knowledge base refers to the database itself that aggregates and stores specific knowledge and know-how, and is positioned as one of the specific tools or foundations for realizing the broad concept of knowledge management.

Purpose of a Knowledge Base

A knowledge base serves as a foundation for pursuing the improvement of corporate business processes and the quality of customer service by centrally aggregating a wide variety of information scattered inside and outside the organization and realizing efficient management and sharing. In situations where a knowledge base does not exist, important knowledge is left to the experience and judgment of individual employees, tending to become person-dependent. As a result, information sharing throughout the organization stagnates, creating the risk of becoming a bottleneck in business execution.This system systematically organizes the expert knowledge and know-how that a company has cultivated over many years and converts it into a form that is easy for anyone to access and understand. This not only helps with the onboarding of new employees and skill-up training for existing employees but also promotes "Knowledge Management" that continuously creates and develops knowledge throughout the organization, becoming an essential element for building a competitive organization.

Merits of Introducing a Knowledge Base

The introduction of a knowledge base brings a wide range of benefits to a company. The main merits are listed below.

Operational Efficiency and Productivity Improvement

One of the greatest advantages of introducing a knowledge base lies in the optimization of operations and the dramatic improvement of productivity. By optimizing the information search process, employees can instantly access necessary information, significantly reducing the time spent on problem-solving and decision-making. Also, smooth information sharing reduces human errors such as transmission mistakes and loss of documents, improving the accuracy of operations.The effect is particularly notable in the field of customer support. By providing a self-service environment where customers can find solutions on their own without spending much time on simple inquiries, the number of inquiries to the support team can be drastically reduced. According to Gartner's analysis, fully 40% of inquiries currently handled by humans can be resolved through self-service channels. This allows support staff to concentrate on more advanced and complex cases, improving overall productivity and, as a result, increasing customer satisfaction.Furthermore, systematized knowledge becomes a powerful tool for new employee training and skill-up programs, curbing the time and cost required for human resource development. By breaking away from person-dependent business processes and realizing standardized operations, it is possible to enhance the stability and efficiency of the entire organization.

Facilitation of Internal Communication

A knowledge base activates communication within the organization and promotes smooth information exchange. Easy access to information that should be shared lowers the walls between departments and naturally encourages the strengthening of cooperation. With the spread of diverse working styles in modern times, especially remote work, opportunities for accidental information sharing are decreasing. In this context, the knowledge base plays a role as an important platform enabling intentional and effective information sharing. This increases the transparency of the entire organization and strengthens the cooperative system between teams.

Streamlining Customer Support and Building Customer Loyalty

The introduction of a knowledge base makes it possible to respond quickly to diverse inquiries from customers by referring to past solution cases. This significantly improves the response quality of the entire customer support team. In particular, since abundant information can be easily searched and referenced, even staff with little experience will be able to provide accurate solutions quickly. Like the HubSpot Knowledge Base, by classifying help articles by theme and tagging them with related keywords, you can establish a self-resolution support system where customers can find the information they seek without getting lost, exactly when they need it.From the customer's perspective, a public knowledge base provides an environment where they can access necessary information regardless of time or location. This frees them from the hassle of inquiries and the stress of waiting for answers, significantly reducing the burden on the customer. As a result, satisfaction with the products and services provided by the company improves, leading to trust in the brand and the fostering of loyalty. A knowledge base becomes a powerful tool for realizing not only a source of information but also the enhancement of the overall customer experience and sustainable improvement of customer satisfaction.

Establishing Brand Consistency and Strengthening Customer Trust

Being able to provide "consistent" information to customers through a knowledge base brings immeasurable value to branding strategies. Conveying the brand's image, identity, and values uniformly at all points of contact with customers is essential for building trust, improving brand awareness, and deepening customer loyalty.In the modern market, which changes drastically and has constant competition, it is necessary to always be conscious of the importance of consistency in information provision to build strong relationships with target customers. To provide customers with an uninterrupted, reliable experience, it is important to create help articles and knowledge content published on platforms like the HubSpot Knowledge Base in accordance with the company's brand guidelines. This consistent approach serves as the foundation for building unshakable trust in the minds of customers.

Specific Examples of Knowledge Base Utilization

Here, we will introduce specific examples of how a knowledge base is useful in actual work, such as customer support and internal/external information sharing.

Effective Work Handover and Inheritance of Knowledge

By building a knowledge base that systematically aggregates knowledge regarding operations, the handover process during a change of person in charge is significantly simplified. Even if an unexpected resignation occurs, the risk of losing that operational know-how can be minimized. Traditional handovers tended to rely on person-dependent methods such as materials created by individuals, verbal explanations, or OJT (On-the-Job Training). This frequently causes problems such as stagnation in handover when the predecessor is absent, or confusion due to differences in operational rules among staff.Especially in situations where specialized knowledge regarding specific operations is concentrated in a specific individual, the departure of that staff member without a proper handover can be an extremely serious loss for the organization. By utilizing a platform like the HubSpot Knowledge Base, operational procedures and notes can be described as detailed help articles, and videos and related documents can be attached as a library. By organizing this information by category and tagging it with appropriate keywords, successors can quickly access the necessary information and smoothly master the work. This fundamentally resolves the personalization of knowledge and serves as a powerful foundation for reliably inheriting the company's valuable intellectual assets to the next generation.

Education of New Employees

A knowledge base is an indispensable tool for efficient new employee training. By having HR personnel, leaders of assigned departments, and senior employees provide guidance while referring to the HubSpot Knowledge Base, a consistent education program is realized. This reduces the man-hours required for training preparation and significantly alleviates the time burden.New employees themselves can actively deepen their understanding of corporate culture and business processes through the HubSpot Knowledge Base. Even after actual work begins, they can access past training information and review it as needed. By linking with comprehensive learning content like HubSpot Academy, it becomes possible to seamlessly proceed from systematic knowledge acquisition to practical application.

Creation of FAQs and Internal Wiki

The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) installed on a corporate website is also one of the major use cases of the HubSpot Knowledge Base. By enriching the FAQ, customers can resolve their doubts themselves without directly contacting customer support. This improves customer satisfaction while simultaneously reducing the burden on the support team, allowing resources to be concentrated on more strategic tasks.Also, constructing an internal FAQ site or "Internal Wiki" is effective. This is like a corporate version of Wikipedia where all internal information is aggregated, serving as a foundation for sharing knowledge and know-how regarding work throughout the organization.The knowledge base provided by HubSpot is specialized specifically for building such FAQ sites and internal wikis, covering everything from help article creation to category classification, tagging, and powerful search functions. This allows customers and internal users to quickly access the information they seek, and customer support staff to provide rapid and accurate responses based on reference information, contributing to the continuous improvement of service quality.

Building a Knowledge Base in the Sales Department

By introducing the HubSpot Knowledge Base to the sales department, the following information is systematically shared, leading to improved results in sales activities:

• Success stories and analysis of their factors
• Latest information and strategies of competitors
• Trends and challenges in the customer's industry
• Detailed information, specifications, and QA regarding products/services
• Effective sales talk scripts and success patterns
• Lost deal cases and detailed analysis

Sales activities tend to depend on individual sales representatives, and approaches to customers or the progress of negotiations are often not shared within the team. Also, tacit knowledge such as sales know-how and tips is difficult to verbalize, and even if attempted, it may not be shared accurately.Furthermore, due to the diversification of work styles such as the spread of remote work, opportunities for accidental communication have decreased, and opportunities for knowledge sharing through daily conversation are also diminishing. In situations where knowledge is not sufficiently shared, optimal proposals cannot be made to customers, and the risk of missing valuable business opportunities increases.By introducing the HubSpot Knowledge Base, sales know-how and knowledge difficult to verbalize, which were previously person-dependent, become visualized and shared throughout the organization. In addition to sharing best practices such as approach strategies and how to proceed with negotiations, cause analysis of lost deals can be performed accurately based on data. As a result, the skill level of the entire sales department is raised, and organizational growth can be expected.

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Knowledge Base as a HubSpot Product

Here, we will explain the overview and features of the knowledge base product provided by HubSpot, which has a track record of implementation in many companies around the world, and introduce specific merits and usage methods in detail.

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a cloud-based software based on a CRM platform developed and provided by HubSpot, Inc. in the US. Since its founding in Massachusetts in 2006, HubSpot, Inc. has upheld the philosophy of "Inbound" and continues to develop and provide HubSpot solutions based on that thought. The Inbound philosophy is the idea that building meaningful and long-term relationships with customers promotes the sustainable growth of organizations and businesses, and each HubSpot product is designed according to this principle.With the expansion of the global CRM market, HubSpot, Inc. has achieved dramatic growth, and as of February 2024, it has been introduced by over 180,000 companies in more than 120 countries. By introducing HubSpot, not only can communication with customers occurring through diverse channels be centrally managed, but by combining high-function HubSpot product groups that support sales and marketing, smooth cooperation between departments is facilitated, realizing collaboration that transcends organizational walls.Since CRM data is at the root of all HubSpot products, it becomes possible to accurately grasp which stage of the purchasing process the customer is in. By centrally managing customer information, the utilization of the knowledge base and the consistency of customer support are improved. This makes optimization and personalization of campaigns easier, and as a result, enables the provision of superior customer experiences. HubSpot, Inc. offers tools equipped with a surprisingly large number of functions for free, and in addition to permanently free CRM functions, you can try all the basic functions of HubSpot products essential for creating high-quality customer experiences for free.

What is HubSpot's Knowledge Base?

The main role of the knowledge base tool provided by HubSpot is the construction of a so-called FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) site that encourages customers to solve problems themselves. For example, you can create libraries of help articles, explanatory videos, and related documents for frequently asked questions. By organizing created help articles by category and tagging them with related search keywords, customers become able to find necessary solutions on their own at the optimal timing.By building and publishing a knowledge base using HubSpot's tool, responses to routine inquiries that occurred repeatedly in the past are reduced, contributing to the efficiency of customer support operations. According to a Gartner survey, it is pointed out that approximately 40% of inquiries currently handled by operators in real-time are problems solvable through self-service channels. By promoting customer self-resolution, support staff can concentrate on more specialized and complex cases, significantly improving the productivity of customer support as a whole.It can be utilized not only for customers to search for solutions themselves but also as an operational manual within the support team. Even if it is difficult to answer an inquiry from a customer immediately, appropriate information can be found by searching the knowledge base, and a response can be made based on it. This promotes information sharing within the team and contributes greatly to the uniformity of response quality.

Difference in Roles Between HubSpot's Knowledge Base and Other Resources

HubSpot, Inc. publishes a knowledge base created using its own knowledge base tool for HubSpot users. This is provided as a searchable library covering articles and guides regarding HubSpot functions and usage, and many may have seen it through Web searches. By referring to HubSpot, Inc.'s knowledge base, it becomes easier to grasp a concrete image of the knowledge base to be built and operated by one's own company.Customer support via email, chat, and phone in Japanese is limited to users of paid plans. Therefore, users utilizing free tools will mainly learn how to operate and utilize HubSpot by actively using the knowledge base or referring to questions and answers from other users in the HubSpot Community.HubSpot offers various other resources such as FAQs, blogs, and HubSpot Academy. In this section, we will explain in detail the differences between the knowledge base and other HubSpot resources regarding the roles they each play.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)When searching for information within the knowledge base for HubSpot users, you can find an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section. The main role of the FAQ is to aggregate frequently asked questions and their answers regarding specific topics, as well as related general information. This allows HubSpot users to quickly access the information they seek and get help solving problems.By creating FAQs in advance, it becomes possible to aggregate and provide all information regarding specific topics in one place. This saves customers the trouble of repeatedly searching for the same topic and allows them to efficiently obtain necessary information.

Functionality Difference Between HubSpot Blog and Knowledge BaseThe HubSpot platform also implements blog functions that strongly support inbound marketing strategies. Blogs are a very effective tool in "pull-type" inbound marketing where customers seek information themselves. By producing and publishing valuable articles, audience inflow from web searches and social media is encouraged, and by incorporating calls to action (CTA) within the content, it plays an important role in converting visitors into potential customers (leads). On the other hand, since a knowledge base is built and published to support customers in solving their own problems, some may feel its functionality is similar to a blog. So, how specifically is a knowledge base distinguished from a blog? Here, we explain the functional differences between the HubSpot blog and the knowledge base in three points.

1. Effectiveness Measurement is PossibleWhen publishing help articles via the HubSpot Knowledge Base, a "Was this article helpful?" rating button is automatically placed at the end of the article. By measuring the number of clicks on "Yes" or "No," it is possible to perform a rough effectiveness measurement regarding the usefulness of the article. If there are many "Yes" clicks, it can be judged that the status quo is fine, but if there are many "No" clicks, it suggests the need to review the article's content or expression and implement improvement measures.In contrast, general blog functions do not have rating buttons like "Was this article helpful?" equipped as standard. In effectively building and operating a HubSpot Knowledge Base that contributes to solving customer issues on your own website, this built-in effectiveness measurement function is extremely valuable.
2. Article Insertion Function into EmailsOn the email creation screen of HubSpot CRM, it is possible to search for articles from the built knowledge base library and easily incorporate them into the email body. With this function, utilizing help articles accumulated in the HubSpot Knowledge Base realizes rapid and efficient responses to email inquiries from customers.HubSpot's blog function does not have an article search/insertion function from the email editing screen. In terms of streamlining customer support, maintaining enriched help content using the knowledge base can be said to be a major advantage with very high affinity for customer service operations.
3. Constraints on Design FreedomIn terms of design flexibility, the HubSpot blog offers a higher degree of freedom. In the case of the HubSpot Knowledge Base, usage is limited to 5 types of pre-prepared templates. Therefore, it cannot fully meet the need to publish content with unique, free designs or layouts.Also, since headers and footers unified across the entire website cannot be installed, it may be difficult to maintain brand consistency with existing websites. This might be a point where users particular about design feel unsatisfied, but conversely, by specializing in functionality, there is also an aspect that enables rapid launch and operation.

Approach to Building an Internal Knowledge Base

We will explain how to build an internal knowledge base. Specifically, there are two main approaches: "Method of applying existing tools currently used by the company" and "Method of introducing a new tool dedicated to knowledge bases." We will explain each construction method in detail below.

Utilizing Existing IT Tools and Software

Software such as Excel, Word, Google Docs, and Spreadsheets that companies already use in daily operations can be diverted to building an internal knowledge base. By saving knowledge to be shared in these tools and managing it appropriately, the effort and cost of introducing new tools can be reduced. Also, since employees are already accustomed to using the tools, special operational guidance is unnecessary.However, since these are not tools dedicated to knowledge bases, caution is required regarding low information search efficiency and the risk of accidental information leakage or loss. It may take time to find necessary data from a vast amount of information, or version control may become complex. Furthermore, construction and update work may require a lot of labor. When utilizing existing IT tools and software as a knowledge base, it is vital to confirm the feasibility of linkage between tools in advance and carefully simulate the combination of intended functions.

Considering the Introduction of a New Knowledge Base Tool

If you want to reduce the time and effort required for building internal knowledge, introducing a specialized tool dedicated to knowledge management is effective. Many dedicated tools incur initial costs and monthly fees, but you can enjoy numerous benefits not found in general-purpose tools, such as ease of use, high security, and a substantial support system. From a long-term perspective, these advantages will provide a high return on investment.Tools supporting knowledge management are mainly classified into the following 5 types:

1. Document Sharing Systems
2. Internal Social Networking Services (SNS)
3. File Sharing Services
4. Project Management Software
5. SaaS-type Knowledge Management Systems

Among them, SaaS-type knowledge management tools enable rapid introduction and stable operation due to the richness of their dedicated functions. One of the representative tools in this field is the HubSpot Knowledge Base provided by HubSpot.

Introduction and Setting Method of HubSpot Knowledge Base

The HubSpot Knowledge Base function is provided as part of the company's customer service software "Service Hub." Its introduction and initial setup require taking several important steps.

Available Only in Service Hub Professional and Enterprise Plans

The HubSpot Knowledge Base function is available only to subscribers of the paid plans of Service Hub, "Professional" or "Enterprise." Please note that it is not included in HubSpot's free toolset. When considering introduction, first check your current contract plan and consider upgrading to a higher plan if necessary.

Basic Knowledge Base Setup Guide

If you are using the HubSpot Knowledge Base for the first time, you must first complete the initial settings. Follow the on-screen instructions to enter necessary information such as the knowledge base title setting, selection of language used, and determination of the domain. The domain is particularly important in configuring the URL of the knowledge base, and you can choose to use an existing subdomain or set up a new one. Since this choice also affects the SEO strategy of your company's entire website, careful consideration is required.Next, select a template to decide the direction of the design. The HubSpot Knowledge Base has relatively low freedom of design customization and is in a format where you choose from 5 types of standard templates provided. Also, since common headers and footers cannot be installed, if you emphasize design uniformity with existing sites or free layout, you will need to take this point into consideration. However, simple and functional designs also have the advantage of providing a user interface that is easy for users to use as a result.Finally, perform the setting of "Categories." Categories play a role like "information storage folders" for organizing information within the knowledge base. By appropriately classifying knowledge base articles, users can access desired information more smoothly. It is also possible to create multiple categories and give them a hierarchical structure. This systematically organizes even vast amounts of content, realizing high searchability and improving user experience.Categories should be named clearly so that users can easily find information.

Creating and Editing Knowledge Base Articles

Once initial settings are complete, the next step is the stage of actually creating knowledge base articles. After logging in to your HubSpot account, select "Knowledge Base" from the "Service" menu. Click the "Create Article" button in the upper right of the screen to start writing.On the article editor screen, guidelines helpful for writing are displayed for items such as title, subtitle, and body (solution). Referencing these instructions, it is vital to create articles that can efficiently resolve the doubts and problems customers hold. In the body of the article, it is required to utilize functions such as bold, italics, lists, links, images, and videos to organize information in a visually easy-to-understand manner. To ensure readers can understand smoothly, avoid the excessive use of technical terms and explain while incorporating specific examples for greater effect.

Customizing Knowledge Base Article Settings

By clicking the "Settings" tab located at the top of the article editor, detailed adjustments for individual articles are possible. In this settings tab, you can adjust the URL slug or root URL of the knowledge base article, assign appropriate categories, and add related tags. Since these elements greatly affect the searchability and SEO performance of the article, it is important to strategically include highly relevant keywords in the settings.Also, it is possible to add a meta description displayed in search engines for each article. This explanatory text is displayed directly under the article title on the search result page and plays an important role in increasing the user's click-through rate. Furthermore, in the HubSpot Knowledge Base, some visual style settings such as colors and fonts may require editing through the Design Manager. While this allows for a higher degree of design uniformity, there are cases where specialized knowledge is required.

Previewing and Publishing Knowledge Base Articles

When article creation or editing work is complete, it is mandatory to check the content using the preview function before publishing. Clicking the "Preview" button inside the article editor allows you to confirm exactly how users will view it upon publication. This makes it possible to discover and correct problems such as layout disruption, typos, and lack of information at an early stage. In particular, check the display on mobile devices such as smartphones and take care not to impair the user experience.If there are no problems with the content, you can publish the knowledge base article and make it accessible to the public. Also, a function to preset the publication date and time or the publication end date and time of the knowledge base article is available. This is extremely convenient when you want to publish information only during a specific campaign period or plan the publication date according to the timing of information updates. Articles can be published or scheduled from the index page or content editor, and this scheduling function is very useful for planned content operation while maintaining the freshness of information.

Customizing the Entire Knowledge Base

To set the domain, visitor access rights, and language used for the entire knowledge base, click the settings icon displayed on the main navigation bar. Then, by proceeding to "Website" and then "Knowledge Base" from the left sidebar menu, you can access the detailed settings screen.The knowledge base is equipped with strict access management functions and can be set to either "Public" or "Private." It is possible to set restrictions to allow access only to specific group members or logged-in users, which is extremely effective for internal knowledge bases or when handling information you want to provide only to specific customer segments. Note that this setting applies only to the search result page of the knowledge base, and unless otherwise specified, all other knowledge base pages are searchable. Considering global customer support, you can also add and edit multi-language versions of knowledge base articles as needed.The HubSpot Knowledge Base offers a function to install a support form so that visitors can contact the support team directly if they cannot find the information they are looking for. To enable this support form, go to "Settings" -> "Website" -> "Knowledge Base" and click "Customize Template" in the "Support Form" section. Select the form to use in the navigation settings and confirm that it is connected to the appropriate inbox. This form functions as a last resort when customers cannot solve problems themselves and is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction.Furthermore, it is possible to add a related articles section at the bottom of each article. In this section, articles highly relevant to the article currently being viewed are automatically displayed. Related articles are adjusted based on visitor behavior history and article performance, contributing to the improvement of user engagement. Also, there is an option to add the last updated date to the beginning of any article. This date is automatically updated every time the article is published or republished to the knowledge base, demonstrating the freshness of information and increasing trust from users.When visitors provide feedback on knowledge base articles, a consent form regarding data privacy is displayed, and its display format can be customized. A section soliciting feedback from visitors is provided at the end of each article, and this cannot be deleted or changed. When anonymous visitors send feedback, the provision of an email address is required, whereby a contact record is created and the feedback is saved. To ensure compliance, consider the possibility that the wording of the consent settings and the language of the knowledge base may not match, and it is strongly recommended to consult with the legal department as necessary.

Operation of the Knowledge Base

To maximize the use of the knowledge base and realize improvements in customer satisfaction and operational efficiency, ingenuity in operation is essential. Optimize knowledge base operation by being conscious of the following points.

• Regular Updates: Knowledge base articles are not finished once created. It is important to review the content of articles regularly according to product/service updates, changes in business flows, and new questions from customers, and to continue providing the latest information. In the HubSpot Knowledge Base, the last updated date of the article is automatically displayed, so you can appeal to customers that new information is always being provided.
• Improving Searchability: To have knowledge base articles utilized efficiently, high searchability is indispensable. By setting appropriate keywords and tags for each article and organizing categories and subcategories, customers and employees can quickly access the information they seek. Since the HubSpot Knowledge Base is equipped with powerful search functions, devising ways to include phrases that are easily searched in the title, body, and tags of articles is also effective.
• Thorough Access Control: The knowledge base may contain confidential external information or articles you want to disclose only to specific customers. Since the HubSpot Knowledge Base allows fine-grained setting of access rights for each article, the risk of leakage of confidential information can be minimized. Set the disclosure range appropriately and utilize password protection and login restrictions as necessary.
• Improving Customer Satisfaction: To aim for improvement in customer satisfaction utilizing the knowledge base, article creation and operation from the customer's perspective are indispensable. By enriching articles based on keywords frequently searched by customers and actual inquiry contents, the self-resolution rate increases, and the burden of support response is alleviated. Also, the HubSpot Knowledge Base provides a feedback function such as "Was this helpful?" for each article, so article improvement can be continuously performed based on customer voices. This improves the quality of the knowledge base and leads directly to improved customer satisfaction.

Operation of a knowledge base is not merely the accumulation of information but an important foundation for supporting the problem-solving of customers and employees and realizing the improvement of productivity and satisfaction of the entire organization. Utilize the HubSpot Knowledge Base and strive to always provide the latest and optimal information.

Secrets to Successful Knowledge Base Implementation

To operate a knowledge base effectively, it is important to establish a process for efficiently collecting, organizing, and updating information, and to have a perspective of continuously optimizing it. Specifically, keep the following points in mind:

• First, start small to build the foundation, and expand knowledge in stages.
• Set clear guidelines to facilitate content addition and revision work.
• Conduct regular information reviews to eliminate obsolete information and duplicate content.
• Clearly designate a person responsible for maintaining content quality.
• Actively collect feedback from users and connect it to content improvement.
• Seek continuous improvement while incorporating opinions from inside and outside, such as customers and the marketing team.

By having the consciousness of building up and nurturing information in stages, smooth introduction of the knowledge base becomes possible. Even after introduction, you should perform regular additions and corrections of information and strive to ensure that the latest and accurate information is always provided. A knowledge base is not finished once built; ceaseless review and improvement are indispensable. Through this, the knowledge base becomes a living asset that continues to evolve with the growth of the organization.

Points to Note When Introducing a Knowledge Base

When introducing a knowledge base, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the following three points.

Are Functions and Operation Manuals Too Complex?

Excessively complex operation manuals may eventually stop being used, becoming a factor that hinders the establishment of the knowledge base. When creating an operation manual, it is vital to narrow it down to the minimum necessary items, such as rules for description formats and directory structures. Information updates should also be done quickly, uploaded to the knowledge base for real-time reference, and shared within the organization.In the case of the HubSpot Knowledge Base, there are limits to design customizability, and some style setting options require editing in the Design Manager, so there are scenes where specific technical expertise is required. It is important to understand these functional constraints before introduction and formulate a plan tailored to the skill level of the operation team. Prioritizing ease of use and pursuing simplicity is the key to successful introduction.

Are Operational Rules and Responsibility Systems Established?

To build a knowledge base where information sharing and searching can be performed smoothly, the establishment of clear operational rules and a responsibility system is indispensable. Assign multiple dedicated staff members and establish a system that can respond to inquiries from inside and outside the company. Upon that, define the information that should be managed and shared in line with the organization's objectives.Clarifying the series of lifecycles from content creation, approval, publication, to updating, and specifically defining who holds each role is essential for maintaining the quality and freshness of the knowledge base. By clarifying responsibilities, personalization of information is prevented, and sustainable operation becomes possible. Also, by setting up regular meetings and feedback sessions, review and improvement of operational rules can be continuously pursued.

Has the Necessity of the Knowledge Base Permeated the Organization?

Even if a knowledge base is introduced, if employees do not fully understand its value, utilization may not progress. To establish the system within the company, it is vital to clarify the purpose and intent of the introduction and thoroughly disseminate that it is an important means for solving management issues. It is important to have them understand that the utilization of the knowledge base leads directly to the improvement of operational efficiency for individual employees.Specifically, it is essential to promote company-wide understanding and cooperation by conducting training regarding introduction, emphasizing merits through internal public relations, and sharing success stories. Also, having management actively recommend usage and establishing an evaluation system linked to results are effective measures to encourage establishment. Not just making usage mandatory, but presenting concrete benefits obtained by utilizing it leads to increased employee motivation.

Understanding Necessary Prerequisites and Constraints

When introducing a specialized tool like the HubSpot Knowledge Base, it is important to grasp the prerequisites for its use and functional constraints in advance. For example, it is necessary to confirm whether specific user rights such as editing rights and publishing rights for the knowledge base are appropriately granted. This allows the person in charge to proceed with the management and operation of the knowledge base without delay.Furthermore, by understanding the tool's limitations in advance—specifically, the degree of design customizability and that some functions are provided only in specific plans (Service Hub Professional or Enterprise)—unexpected troubles after introduction can be avoided, and a smoother operation plan can be formulated. It is crucial to select the tool that best fits your company's requirements upon understanding these constraints.

Summary

By aggregating a wide variety of information scattered inside and outside the company as a knowledge base, improvement in the quality of customer response and improvement in Customer Satisfaction (CS) can be expected in addition to improvement in business processes and productivity. While it is possible to build using existing tools, considering long-term cost-effectiveness, richness of functions, and security aspects, the introduction of a dedicated tool like the HubSpot Knowledge Base is recommended.When considering introduction, it is important to comprehensively consider how to operate it, including the operational structure, concrete mechanisms, and manuals. In particular, the HubSpot Knowledge Base can be an extremely effective means for enhancing customers' self-resolution abilities and reducing the burden on the customer support team. Let's consider the introduction of a knowledge base after clarifying your company's challenges. It is not finished once built; reviewing regularly and continuously improving is the key to success.

FAQ

What specifically does a Knowledge Base refer to?A knowledge base refers to a system where valuable information held by an organization, such as operational know-how, insights, and experience, is centrally collected and turned into a database. This is also called a "self-service online library," functioning as internal operational manuals or customer-facing FAQ sites, providing an environment for rapid access to necessary information.

How is Knowledge Management different from a Knowledge Base?Knowledge Management refers to the "systematic process" or "comprehensive strategy" for maximizing the utilization of knowledge assets held by an organization. On the other hand, a Knowledge Base is the "information accumulation/sharing platform" or "structured knowledge aggregation system" for specifically executing that Knowledge Management strategy. In other words, a Knowledge Base is an indispensable practical tool in Knowledge Management.

What is the greatest merit of introducing a Knowledge Base?The greatest benefits of introducing a knowledge base are summarized as significant improvement in internal operational efficiency and improvement in external Customer Experience (CX). Internally, employees can instantly search for and obtain necessary information, shortening the time to problem resolution and dramatically increasing the efficiency of routine work. On the customer side, since they can resolve questions on their own, the burden of inquiries on support is reduced, and by being able to access necessary information regardless of time or location, overall customer satisfaction improves remarkably.

What are the features of HubSpot's Knowledge Base?The knowledge base function provided by HubSpot specializes in building a self-service support foundation where customers can solve problems on their own. Specifically, it maximizes accessibility to information sought by users through the creation of libraries of comprehensive help articles, explanatory videos, and various documents, as well as systematic categorization and appropriate tagging. Furthermore, a major feature is the enrichment of a group of functions for improving the productivity of the customer support team, such as effectiveness measurement via a feedback function asking "Was the article useful?" and a function to easily insert related articles into support emails.

Which plan allows the use of HubSpot's Knowledge Base?The HubSpot Knowledge Base function is included in the "Professional" or "Enterprise" plans provided by Service Hub. This function is not included in the free version of HubSpot CRM tools, so if you are considering introduction, you need to subscribe to one of the paid Service Hub plans mentioned above.

Points to avoid pitfalls when introducing a Knowledge BaseTo introduce a knowledge base effectively and avoid failure in its operation, there are several important considerations. First, formulate simple operational rules that everyone can easily understand so that system functions and manuals do not become overly complex. Second, it is indispensable to set a clear person responsible for operation and build a continuous update system to maintain the freshness of information. Third, it is necessary to sufficiently disseminate the purpose of introducing the knowledge base and the merits it brings within the company, and foster a culture where all employees actively utilize it. Also, when using a specialized knowledge base tool like HubSpot, thorough requirement definition before introduction and deep understanding of its functions and limitations are the keys to success.

Can an FAQ site and a Knowledge Base be treated as the same concept?Strictly speaking, an FAQ site is classified as a type of knowledge base. An FAQ site is mainly intended to aggregate frequently asked questions from customers and their answers to promote self-resolution. On the other hand, a knowledge base is a more comprehensive concept, referring to the entire platform for centrally managing and sharing a wide variety of knowledge information held by the organization, including internal manuals, practical know-how in operations, training materials for new employees, in addition to the functions of an FAQ site. Therefore, an FAQ site can be said to be one of the representative implementation forms of a knowledge base specialized in strengthening self-service for customer support.

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