Customers are eager to quickly find the information they need. This is especially true in the software industry, where the pace of development is fast and the products sold by companies often have a steep learning curve. In order to reduce customer churn and increase profitability, SaaS companies are turning to knowledge bases to help them fully educate their customers.
What is a Knowledge Base?
You can find Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on many company websites, which are designed to answer common customer queries. A knowledge base is an extension of this concept, containing more comprehensive information beyond simple Q&A.
It is a centralized repository of self-service content, including tutorials on how to set up products and reference materials about key features.
Why Do SaaS Companies Need a Knowledge Base?
If your company already has an FAQ section, you might think that’s all the information your customers need. You may not see the value in investing in a brand-new knowledge base, as it takes time and effort to build.
SaaS companies need to help customers get up to speed quickly and provide content to keep them engaged over the long term.
Facilitating Customer Success
A knowledge base can help your customers master your product and learn how to use it properly. Without the right self-service content, they may feel frustrated and eventually reduce usage of your product.
Reducing Customer Churn
If customers don’t see a return on investment from your product, they’re more likely to abandon it and cancel their subscriptions. A knowledge base ensures that customers understand how to use your product and use it regularly, which helps maintain a low churn rate.
Freeing Up Your Support Agents
Without a self-service knowledge base, customers might email your support team or even pick up the phone if you offer a contact number. Many customer tickets can put pressure on your support staff, potentially leading to reduced productivity.
A knowledge base can replace your support team by enabling customers to serve themselves.
What Can Be Stored in My Knowledge Base?
Now let’s look at the types of information that can be stored in a knowledge base to provide better customer service.
Reference Documentation:
Your reference documents contain any information related to your product and its features. You need to explain the purpose of each feature and how customers can make the most of it.
Tutorials:
You need a complete set of product instructions. Your tutorials will guide customers step-by-step on how to use it and troubleshoot any issues.
Updates and Release Notes:
When you make changes to your product, you need to let your customers know. Every time a new version of the product is released, you must inform your customers about what has changed.
Understanding Why a Knowledge Base is Important for Your SaaS Business.
Top 10 SaaS Knowledge Base Examples
Now let’s look at the top 10 SaaS knowledge base examples.
Asana
Asana is project management software that helps teams organize, track, and manage their work.
Asana takes an unusual approach by calling its knowledge base “Guides,” and it doesn’t include a search bar for users to explore content. They divide users into four sections: Live webinars, Styling tips, Tutorials, and Courses.
Asana offers many videos to guide users on how to use their software, which is particularly useful for visual learners. They’ve invested heavily in video content and have a dedicated YouTube channel to showcase Asana help videos.Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a marketing automation and email marketing service based in the United States. They have developed software for customers to send automated emails to their audience.
Unlike Asana, Mailchimp offers a search bar for users and lists popular content directly on their knowledge base homepage.
Mailchimp also makes it easy to contact their support team by providing a contact form on their homepage. This is a good idea if your customers can’t find what they need in your self-service content.Confluence
Confluence is a web-based enterprise wiki developed by the Australian software company Atlassian. It’s often compared with a knowledge base, but it has unique features.
Confluence is one of the many products produced by Atlassian, and the company has chosen to share its knowledge base. Customers can browse the knowledge base by product.
The homepage includes a prominent search bar and lists popular and new articles. The content on Confluence is quite dense, but they do a good job of breaking it down into accessible sections.Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox. It is not just secure file storage but also an intelligent workspace that brings teams, tools, and content together.
Dropbox has a very colorful knowledge base, which immediately guides users through a search bar and a section for popular articles.
Its articles are concise and user-friendly. At the bottom, there's an article rating widget, so users can indicate how helpful the content was. There's also a related articles section, and if the content wasn’t helpful, customers can quickly contact support.Wistia
Wistia is a video marketing software that companies can use to host videos designed to grow their businesses.
Wistia opens their knowledge base with a large, full-color photo of the team and a prominent search bar to help customers find the content they need. It includes categories of the top content that customers typically search for, and each section includes a colorful icon.
Wistia has a directory in each article with quick links, making it easy for users to jump to the sections they need.Slack
Slack is a business communication platform developed by Slack Technologies. It offers many IRC-style features, including persistent chat rooms organized by topics, private groups, and direct messaging.
Slack’s knowledge base places the search bar front and center, with common troubleshooting topics listed below to help customers find what they need.
It also presents top-level categories that customers can browse through. The knowledge base is well-organized, and each article includes helpful videos and directories.Spotify
Spotify is an audio streaming software that connects users to millions of songs and artists through its SaaS platform.
Spotify has a simple knowledge base with a search bar and lists of popular articles. The articles are clearly numbered, helping users follow instructions easily.Netflix
Netflix is a content streaming service that allows customers to watch TV shows and movies online.
Their knowledge base presents information in a very user-friendly way—starting with a search bar and personalized category recommendations based on your account.
The articles are listed clearly, and you can rate them as helpful or not, providing feedback for improvements.Salesforce
Salesforce is a U.S.-based cloud software company that offers customer relationship management (CRM) services along with a suite of complementary enterprise applications.
Salesforce’s knowledge base opens with a search bar and options for browsing documentation, interactive tutorials, or visiting community forums.
The articles are categorized, and there are links to more resources below each article.Baklib
Baklib offers a customer support platform, knowledge base tools, and embedded search/contact widgets.
Baklib has a visually appealing knowledge base that guides users through top categories designed to promote content discovery. At the article level, Baklib keeps related articles visible, so customers can easily explore relevant content.
Final Thoughts
We hope you enjoyed these ten examples of market-leading SaaS knowledge bases. Remember, providing self-service support through a knowledge base is crucial for your company—it enhances customer success and reduces churn. SaaS companies cannot afford to miss this customer support strategy, which offers better service and the potential to attract new customers through outstanding help content.
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