Answer the Right Questions: FAQ Software

Many customers prefer to find the answers to questions without having to actually reach out to a customer service agent. Understanding this, savvy companies build robust self-service communities or help centers that empower customers to independently find the information they need. However the flipside to a robust help center is that it contains a large amount of information, something that can be unwieldy if not organized properly.

Offering an FAQ service—populated with answers to questions companies know many customers will be seeking—and prominently displaying it will give customers what they need without adding any strain to your customer service staff or frustrating your customers to the point that they leave your site and search for answers elsewhere.

The good news is FAQs are quite simple to put into place, and if you have a quality FAQ tool, creating one can be quite simple. There are two main ideas to keep in mind when creating content for an FAQ that will help ensure you invest in an FAQ section that actually work:

• Know what the most frequently asked questions are. Questions from customers can come from many places: phone calls, blog comments, Twitter, live events, and more. It’s essential to regularly track these questions and understand which ones are asked the most often that can be addressed with a few sentences or even a knowledge base article. It's also very important to track the kinds of content that are being utilized by your customers when they visit your Help Center. Knowing this will help you understand what information your customers are already seeking.
• Create content that is and actually answers the question. Once you’ve established what questions to answer in your FAQ, you have to get to the business of writing articles that solve the problem, otherwise the FAQ is pointless.

Some best practices include:

• Develop and maintain a style guide to ensure quality and consistency.
• Understand who the thought experts are make sure they approve of the copy.
• Make sure articles are short and easy to read.
• Avoid using jargon and technical terms when possible. When this is unavoidable, include definitions.