eCommerce business owners are always looking for ways to increase their profits and give their customers a great experience. And with the eCommerce market getting more competitive every year, you need to find ways to stand out and be your customers’ first choice.
Everyone who wants to sell products online should follow certain steps such as choosing what products to sell, marketing their business, building a website, and having essential elements on that website. And one important element your website needs to have is a knowledge base.
A knowledge base can make a serious impact and significantly improve your eCommerce business.
Provides quick answers to queries
It’s no secret that eCommerce shoppers are impatient and they expect to get an answer to a query as soon as possible. Most of the time, if they don’t get that answer in a matter of a few minutes, they’re going to abandon their cart and move to a competitor’s website.
There are many factors that mark your business as trustworthy, and one of them is quick customer support. That is exactly what a knowledge base provides you with. It allows customers to find out the information they need right away which will put their minds at ease and remove doubts about the purchase.
Improves your SEO
Every eCommerce store owner knows how important search engine optimization is. SEO is one of the easiest and most efficient ways of gaining visibility and as much as 70% of marketers see SEO as more effective than PPC.
There are a plethora of SEO strategies that can boost your visibility but something not many people know is that knowledge bases are an SEO goldmine. There are a few reasons for this and the first is that they are filled with keywords.
One of the many factors Google uses to rank a website is the number of keywords it has, and there isn’t a better place to include them than in a knowledge base. Since it’s already related to content about your business and industry, including keywords will be easy and natural.
The second reason why a knowledge base helps your SEO is that people will spend more time on the page. When this happens, Google takes it into account and usually gives that page a high ranking. And when your knowledge base starts popping up in search results, it will help attract new customers.
Allows your customers to find the information on their own
A lot of people still believe that a human customer support agent is necessary to provide great support, but this hasn’t been the case for a while. Especially not in the eCommerce world where customers would much rather look for information on their own.
In fact, 69% of consumers first try to resolve their issue on their own but often get frustrated if they see that the eCommerce store doesn’t have a knowledge base. Self-service is growing in popularity and if a customer can avoid speaking to a representative, they will do so.
People who shop online are doing so because they want to have as little interaction with people as possible or maybe because eCommerce is generally a digital experience. No matter what the reason is, it’s obvious that customers would prefer to solve an issue alone.
When you create knowledge base content that is tailored to your customer’s needs, they will gladly use it. And if you give the customer what they want, this will improve their experience and your retention rates.
Helps reduce employee costs
eCommerce stores are open 24/7 and because of that, they also need to provide 24/7 support. But hiring a customer support staff to work during the entire day is time-consuming and requires a lot of money, so it’s best to avoid that if possible.
When you have a knowledge base, that information center will not only eliminate the need for hiring extra staff to work in more shifts, but it will also reduce the work for your current staff. This means that you can keep your best employees and lower the costs significantly.
Another way knowledge bases save you money is that they help you conduct the recruitment of new employees. Since knowledge bases can be filled with all of the information employees need to know including knowledge from previous employees, the training process is simpler and more efficient.
Always has accurate information
No matter how good and experienced they are, customer support agents are still only humans and they can sometimes make mistakes. And if a customer gets the wrong information, it can cause you to lose a sale or even lose that customer altogether.
With a knowledge base, you won’t have to worry about that. You can be sure that the information in it is always 100% accurate and clearly articulated so whoever uses it always leaves with the right information.
This is especially important for eCommerce businesses as it shows that your company is trustworthy and reliable.
Final thoughts
Running an eCommerce store takes a lot of hard work, but you can make it much easier if you have a great knowledge base. This is a real asset for your customers and your employees, and if it’s done right, it will improve customer experience and your sales numbers at the same time.