Help desk knowledge base examples in 2024

A knowledge base acts as a self-service tool that empowers customers to find answers to common questions independently while also providing support agents with useful resources to better serve end-users. 

It’s important to keep in mind that these repositories are only as valuable as the information included in them and the ease with which individuals can access this information. Thus, particularly in a help desk setting, it’s essential to design your base with end users in mind, verifying that the interface is intuitive and includes content that addresses the most frequently experienced issues.

Today, we’ll take an in-depth look at what a help desk knowledge base is, the benefits that it can provide, and 13 real-world examples of successfully implemented bases.

What is a help desk knowledge base?

A help desk knowledge base serves as a centralized repository of information designed to assist customers in resolving issues efficiently. It typically contains a variety of resources such as FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and how-to manuals. Its content should be meticulously curated to cover common problems that users might encounter, allowing them to find solutions or explanations independently.

Benefits of having an optimized help desk knowledge base

Employing a robust, well-rounded knowledge base can serve to improve the support experience for end users while streamlining internal processes for employees. Customers typically enjoy around-the-clock access to assistance and an increased sense of autonomy, while staff members benefit from decreased manual workloads and increased productivity.

Offer 24/7 support to customers

Unlike traditional support channels that rely on the availability of human agents, a knowledge base is always accessible, enabling customers to find solutions to their problems whenever they need them. This continuous availability ensures that users can get help outside of normal business hours, during holidays, or in different time zones.

Help more customers

While live support agents can only assist one customer at a time, a help desk knowledge base can be accessed by an unlimited number of users simultaneously. This means that myriad individuals can find answers to their issues at the same time, significantly increasing a business's capacity to provide adequate support without the need to proportionally increase staffing levels.

Moreover, when customers can easily find the information they need to solve problems on their own, the number of support tickets typically decreases. This not only frees up customer service representatives to handle more complex cases, but also verifies that individuals who do need direct assistance can receive it promptly.

Help employees manage workflows and increase productivity

Support staff that can quickly access comprehensive documentation, troubleshooting guides, and FAQs are generally able to resolve customer issues more efficiently. This reduces the time spent searching for information or consulting with colleagues, allowing employees to handle a higher volume of inquiries in a shorter amount of time.

In addition to improving day-to-day workflows, a knowledge base contributes to the continuous improvement of support operations as well. By tracking common issues and their resolutions, customer service teams can identify patterns and areas where processes can be optimized. Support staff can also contribute their unique insights to the knowledge base, creating a collaborative environment where information is continually refined. 

Create consistency across support tickets

When support agents have access to a repository of pre-approved responses, troubleshooting guides, and step-by-step instructions, they’re more likely to offer uniform solutions to similar issues. This verifies that users receive the same level of high-quality support regardless of which agent handles their inquiry. 

Furthermore, knowledge bases facilitate ongoing training for support staff, further contributing to consistency. New employees can quickly get up to speed by using the knowledge base as a training tool, acclimating to the standardized processes used by an organization. For existing staff, the base serves as a reference to refresh their knowledge and stay updated with any new information.

Scalable to business needs

As an organization grows, the volume and complexity of customer inquiries often increase as well. A robust help desk knowledge base can accommodate this growth by allowing for the addition of new articles, guides, and FAQs without significant changes to its overall infrastructure. This scalability ensures that the base remains a useful resource regardless of a business’s size or the number of customers it serves.

Even more, the scalability of a knowledge base extends to its ability to support multiple languages, allowing companies to cater to global customer bases. As businesses expand into new markets, their knowledge base can be updated with localized content, ensuring that customers receive support in their preferred dialect and context.

What makes for a good knowledge base?

A well-rounded help desk knowledge base should help visitors effortlessly find the answers they’re looking for. There are many ways of making this happen.

However, a few essential aspects of an all-inclusive knowledge base include:

• Comprehensive coverage: Includes detailed information on a wide range of topics, addressing common questions and scenarios that users might encounter

• User-friendly interface: Features an intuitive and easy-to-navigate layout, allowing users to find information quickly

• Search functionality: Offers robust search capabilities with advanced filtering options to help individuals easily locate specific information

• Up-to-date content: Ensures that information is regularly updated to reflect new developments, changes, and solutions

• Clear and concise writing: Presents information in a clear, concise, and jargon-free manner to make it easily understandable for users of all levels

• Multimedia support: Incorporates various formats such as text, images, and videos, catering to different learning preferences and enhancing comprehension

• Categorization and tagging: Organizes content into logical categories to improve discoverability and navigation

13 Best helpdesk knowledge base examples

Now that you understand the abundance of benefits that a robust knowledge base can offer, you’re probably set on building one of your own if you haven’t already. Lucky for you, there’s no shortage of real-world examples readily available that you can look to for guidance when crafting your base.

Let’s take a look at some of our favorites:

1 Spotify

About the company: There’s a playlist for everyone at every moment on Spotify. With 615 million monthly active users as of June 2024, Spotify is the world’s largest music and audio streaming service provider.

What we like: Lists popular, frequently asked questions right at the top

You can deduce that your knowledge base design is a resounding success when users can take fewer steps, thus lesser effort, to find effective solutions. Spotify’s help center nails the art of the effortless resolution by understanding what its users look for most frequently in its knowledge base and listing those popular articles prominently at the top of its website. The sections below are clearly categorized and prioritized according to customers’ most pressing needs, placing payment and plan topics first.

2 Nordstrom

About the company: Highly regarded American fashion retailer Nordstrom is known for its exquisite shopping experiences, both in-store and online.

What we like: A self-service portal that simplifies purchasing decisions in addition to support processes

Information regarding tracking orders, returns, and cancellation requests are easy to locate in Nordstrom’s intuitive customer service section. Beyond support, the company has neatly packaged all of their other services within its elaborate self-service portal, making for a fine  e-commerce knowledge base example.

Within Nordstrom’s base, users can quickly find the resources and guides that they’re seeking, such as style help, gift wrapping, and alterations, allowing shoppers to purchase with minimal barriers to overcome.

3 Canva

About the company: The Australian behemoth Canva provides a popular graphic design platform that’s revered by amateur and experienced designers alike for its ability to generate breath-taking posters, social media posts, and other creative projects.

What we like: Visually appealing and intuitive interface, ease of navigation

The use of vibrant colors and illustrations within Canva’s knowledge base is a fitting extension of its brand identity, serving as a great inspo for designing beautiful help centers. Popular article links are listed just below the search bar, while topics are classified based on users’ challenges for ease of navigation. Its ‘People also viewed’ section below every knowledge base article further simplifies users’ search for solutions.

4 NAVBLUE

About the company: NAVBLUE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus that provides software services for flight operations and air traffic management.

What we like: Tailored knowledge base theme that aligns with its overall brand identity

User experience (UX) is an essential component in a successful knowledge base. When your support portal is personalized to match the aesthetic and tone of the rest of your company website (both in terms of visuals and language), it adds more credibility to your base. Built using Freshdesk, NAVBLUE’s customized support portal is a prime example of a help desk knowledge base that meshes well with the experience provided by other sections of its company website.

5 Dropbox

About the company: Dropbox is a one-stop solution for file hosting, storage, and collaboration that's leveraged by millions of users across 180+ countries.

What we like: A simplified user journey within the knowledge base

Dropbox’s knowledge base stands out for its straightforward navigation and excellent search functionality. Its knowledge management strategy is impeccable, with relevant links to related content placed within every individual article. 

To achieve this, it’s likely that Dropobox employs robust website analytics, allowing it to monitor user behavior within its help center and determine the pages most frequently viewed after visiting a specific page. This assists in avoiding back-and-forth clicks, while empowering individuals to quickly spot answers to queries related to a particular topic.

6 Asana

About the company: Asana is a project management software utilized by more than 100,000 organizations across the globe to organize, track, and manage work as a team.

What we like: A simple layout with an easy-to-access table of contents

The homepage of Asana’s support portal offers a simple, modern, and elegant layout that lists the different types of support resources available. This includes its online community forum, academy, onboarding guides, and feature FAQs.

Within its features section, topics are intelligently grouped with a permanent index available at the left and a table of contents also included within every solution article. Users can also quickly navigate through content both within a solution article and across the different feature sections. 

7 OneFile

About the company: A B2B SaaS EdTech company that focuses on building apprenticeships and online training platforms, OneFile has supported over 1.2 million learners in the past 20 years.

What we like: Topic-based grouping, provisions for submitting a support ticket directly from the help center

A successful knowledge base is typically one that is well-structured, includes the right information in the right places, and categorizes in a way that promotes a seamless user journey. OneFile achieves this by creating relevant headlines and topic buckets for its FAQs that immediately grab a user’s attention and help them identify the particular section they’re seeking.

OneFile intentionally places guides and tutorials at the top for new customers who’re getting started with the platform, easing their onboarding process. It also includes a clear call to action (CTA) for users to raise a support ticket directly from the help center if they can’t find what they’re searching for.

8 Altium

About the company: Altium is a leading electronics board design tool widely used by engineers at large electronics companies such as Philips, Siemens, and Bosch.

What we like: Complex topics arranged and phrased as actual user questions for quick troubleshooting

Customers often find knowledge bases particularly useful in industries like retail or SaaS. But do self-service options hold their value for complex industries like electronics or manufacturing? If Altium is any indicator, then the answer is a resounding ‘yes!’ Altium is a shining example of a knowledge base that works perfectly for more complex domains, attracting close to 19,000 active users.

The articles within its knowledge base are developed directly from customers’ questions and displayed according to the number of views, making it easier for users to promptly find the answers to popular queries.

9 Bux

About the company: Bux is a fin-tech organization based out of Amsterdam, offering an application that allows users to invest and trade in various financial markets.

What we like: Using design to emphasize branding

The Bux support page is both visually appealing and enjoyable to browse through. Its color combinations are bright and positive, making the page pleasing to the eye and reflective of its brand identity. Further enhancing brand cohesion, its chosen font matches the colors and style of the rest of its website. 

Bux also prominently displays a banner at top of the page with a welcome message in a large font size, while its search bar is also intuitively positioned. Overall, the entire experience is a visual treat that reflects Bux’s unique brand and aligns with the tone of the rest of its website.

10 American Express (Amex)

About the company: American Express is a payment card services company that offers credit cards, gift cards, and rewards programs to both individuals and corporations.

What we like: Minimalistic design

Amex’s customer service page isn’t cluttered with many sections, but instead divided into six major categories. The FAQs are arranged as simple lists with user-friendly language within each category. This serves as an intelligent approach to creating knowledge bases within the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) domain, where customers’ questions are often more urgent and critical.

11 Rightmove

About the company: Rightmove is a UK-based real estate website that helps connect buyers to sellers, with agents on standby to help based on users’ unique requirements.

What we like: Focuses on the most common questions 

FAQ pages often tend to be long and cluttered with excessive information that often confuses users. Rightmove has done a great job of decluttering its space and prominently displaying the essential content that individuals are most commonly searching for. The page is concise, with only eight section headers on the main page, while each section leads to a dedicated landing page with only information relevant to that specific topic included.

12 Loom

About the company: Loom is a video-based work communication tool that helps users to capture and share videos for effective collaboration.

What we like: Generous use of screenshots and GIFs to explain solutions

Loom’s help center acts as a perfect example of crafting detailed, yet concise, knowledge base articles. It breaks down its instructions into short, easy-to-digest steps that users can follow without ambiguity. Its articles and tutorials are sprinkled with GIFs and screenshots wherever applicable to better describe solutions and accommodate individuals with diverse learning preferences.

13 FastModel Sports

About the company: FastModel Sports develops products that sports coaches can use to help prepare their players, manage their schedules, and even create playbooks and strategies for matches.

What we like: A variety of content formats 

When you look at this knowledge base example, you’ll first notice that there are several different types of content available for users to choose from. Blocks of texts are not everyone’s preferred learning method, something that FastModel Sports understands. Thus, it offers a variety of different formats ranging from video guides to FAQs, breaking down the monotony and providing more options from which visitors can choose.

How to get started with creating an effective knowledge base for your help desk?

The first step in generating an effective help desk knowledge base is to gather and analyze data on common customer issues and frequently asked questions (FAQs). This involves reviewing support tickets, conducting surveys, and consulting with customer service agents to identify the most critical topics that need to be covered.

Next, you’ll need to create well-organized and clearly written content. Each article should be concise, easy to understand, and free of jargon. Using a consistent format across all entries serves to help users quickly grasp and navigate the information. Don’t forget to include a wide variety of content to accommodate different learning preferences; step-by-step instructions, screenshots, videos, and diagrams should all be offered to enhance clarity and usability.

Finally, continuous maintenance and updates are essential for keeping the knowledge base effective and relevant. This involves regularly reviewing and refining the content to reflect new products, features, and common issues. 

Optimize your business's help desk knowledge base with Freshdesk today!

Freshdesk acts as a comprehensive customer engagement platform that can be leveraged to enhance the abilities of live agents, while also providing end users with a plethora of self-service tools, including knowledge bases, to independently resolve their own issues.

With Freshdesk, organizations possess the ability to create both internal and external knowledge bases, empowering them to make specific articles visible to customers, support staff, or both, These repositories also support multimedia attachments, enabling businesses to attach images, videos, and more to accommodate the diverse learning preferences of their user base.

Even more, our useful ‘email to Kbase’ tool allows support agents to automatically convert their ticket replies into articles, ensuring that the knowledge base is expanded and updated as time goes on to cover the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) and up-to-date information.

Take it from one of our satisfied clients, Amanda C., who lauds Freshdesk’s knowledge base capacity among many other features, saying, “As a daily user, what I appreciate most about Freshdesk is its user-friendly interface, the impressive new AI summarize feature, and the comprehensive integration of tickets, chats, phone, and knowledge base, all in one platform. Additionally, their great support team adds immense value to the overall experience, providing excellent assistance and guidance when needed.”