By Marybeth Alexander on Tools from March 28, 2014
Looking for the best knowledge base software? While I’d love to say KnowledgeOwl is the best, my real answer would actually be “it depends”. With so many options, there really is something for everybody out there.
Do we want to rank in Google when people search for best knowledge base software? Hell yeah, we do! We could just change our tagline from “Better Knowledge Base Software” to “Best Knowledge Base Software”. However, I wouldn’t really feel comfortable with that.
Don’t get me wrong, I love KnowledgeOwl and I believe it’s a great knowledge base software tool for many companies. But is it the best? Well, that really depends on what you need.
I was recently really inspired by a post by the awesome Jeremy Watkin over on the Communicate Better Blog. It was called “Monday Motivation: Communicate Better Better Better Never Best“. He describes a quote he heard from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff:
Better, better, better, never best
I’ve found myself repeating this as a personal mantra over the past month. It fits well with our culture, as we try to be as agile as possible. We are always seeking customer feedback to improve our product and “iterate…make it great” is a common saying around here.
So while we might not be the best knowledge base software for everyone, we are a better knowledge base solution for many people. Why? Funny, I get asked that question a lot. What makes KnowledgeOwl unique? Here’s three features about which we feel quite passionate.
Do your customers really want to go to a customer portal, email or call, or go to a separate knowledge base site? We don’t think so. They just want fast and accurate answers to their questions.
Our help widget allows you to embed your help inside of your website or application, essentially bringing the answers to your customers. This way, customers don’t have to leave your site to get help, leading to a more consistent customer experience you can control.
Customers don’t want to wade through hundreds of forums or navigate your extensive FAQ page to find answers to their questions. What do they want? Suprise: they just want fast and accurate answers to the their questions.
Our help widget allows you to recommend knowledge base articles based on the customer’s location inside of your website or application. Suggest billing FAQs on your billing page and user FAQs on your user page. Now that’s smart, personalized self-service.
While your customers might not want to have to call, email, or chat, sometimes they are going to need the help of another human being. Make it fast and easy for them to do so.
KnowledgeOwl help widget (as well as our standalone knowledge base websites) make it easy for you to add a Contact Us option to your site or widget. In order to provide the best customer service, we also pass over additional information about the customer to make it easy for your customer service agents to help. We include the last location of your website or application the customer visited, their browser and operating system, and any other custom variables you choose to pass into your help widget.
It’s also very easy to include your direct contact information (phone numbers and emails) in the widget or site, or embed live chat. To us, your knowledge base isn’t a replacement for great service – it’s an additional self-service option for your customers to get the help they want, when they need it, in the format they want it. As it turns out, many customers really want self-service.
We are sticking with our tagline for the time being. While we want our customers to love us and think we are the best, we know that there are different strokes for different folks. We want to be the best solution for you, but we will be honest when we are not.
Is it possible to be the best? Perhaps, but wouldn’t that mean we would have to please everyone? As some people say, “the key to failure is trying to please everyone”. To that, let’s just say that KnowledgeOwl is always aiming to be better, better, better, never best.
However, if you want to think we are the best, we love you and think you're the best too!
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