7 Inspiring Knowledge Base Examples For You to Replicate

What is a knowledge base?

Before looking at different knowledge base examples, you'll probably want to understand what they are. A knowledge base is a structured repository of information, data, and knowledge. It is well organized and accessible through digital means. Knowledge base’s primary purpose is to capture, manage and retrieve information.

Here's an example to help you understand...

Enough of the brainy banter! Imagine you are typing a long Google request to find an answer to a question you have about your Facebook account. You’re typing: "How can I change my facebook profile picture without sending a notification to all my friends?" 

Miracle. You come across a Facebook’s page precisely explaining to you how to solve your problems. Welcome to the wonderful world of knowledge bases! This magic Facebook page that helped you is part of Facebook’s knowledge base. 

Knowledge bases are aimed at facilitating problem-solving or providing users (either employees or customers) with answers to their inquiries. They can be internal (private) or external (public).

In this article, we'll try to crack 7 inspiring knowledge base examples to understand the success factors of an effective knowledge base.

Internal vs. External knowledge bases

Internal knowledge bases are for an organization's private use: they contain proprietary data. 

On the other hand, external knowledge bases are publicly accessible, offering information to a broader audience on the internet. They are usually designed to help customers by answering their questions and solving problems.

What kinds of information are typically found in knowledge bases?

External knowledge bases

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs);
• How-to guides;
• Troubleshooting guide & tips;
• Product information;
• Tutorials;
• Etc.

Internal knowledge bases

Basically, internal knowledge bases gather all the information you could need for work purposes.

• Internal policies;
• Compliance documentation;
• Processes;
• Training videos;
• Onboarding material;
• Database;
• How to resolve technical issues;
• Contact base;
• Etc.

What are the different types of knowledge bases

We have already seen that knowledge bases can be either internal or external. But they can also be differentiated by their content:

• Document-Based Knowledge Bases. These knowledge bases are structured around text-based documents, articles, manuals, and other textual resources;
• FAQ Knowledge Bases. These bases are specialized repositories that focus on addressing frequently asked questions;
• Database knowledge bases. Here, the point of your knowledge base would be to provide data to its users. They will typically be used internally within a company;
• AI knowledge bases. They are cutting-edge digital encyclopedias supercharged with artificial intelligence. They will be capable of understanding context and predicting your needs to offer you the best information;
• Collaborative knowledge bases. These databases not only answer your questions, but also allow you to collaborate dynamically with your teams through comments, updates and multimedia content;
• Video knowledge bases. They bring knowledge to life and engage their users. Whether you're learning to cook a new dish, troubleshoot a tech issue, or master a new skill, video knowledge bases provide step-by-step guidance, visuals, and demonstrations that text alone can't match. In this case, your knowledge base takes on the appearance of a video library.

Bonus for Claap users: Claap, an all-in-one video workspace, is just the right tool for you to build your video knowledge base. Indeed, it helps you to record your screen, record your meetings and organize your video content in one place.

We’ll make sure to provide you with knowledge base examples exploring these different dimensions.

Do you need a knowledge base?

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External knowledge base

Picture this: You're running your business, and suddenly, your customers start bombarding you with more questions than a hyperactive toddler. If your support team begins to resemble a 911 emergency hotline, it's a sign that your business needs a knowledge base. 

The knowledge base will rescue your team, turning chaos into organized, customer-helping awesomeness.

Internal knowledge base

Do you want to make life easier for your employees? Make it easier for them to access information? To enable them to solve their day-to-day problems independently? Give them instant access to the company's best practices, so they can replicate them in their current activities? 

I'm sure you've answered yes to everything (well, I hope you did…). Then you absolutely need an internal knowledge base. Once built, an internal knowledge base is bound to save you time and increase everyone's productivity for sure.

Benefits of knowledge bases

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Benefits of knowledge bases for teams [Internal knowledge bases]

Knowledge retaining

An internal knowledge base is like your organization's memory bank. Even if some of your colleagues leave, you don't lose their insights. It helps capture and store:

• Institutional knowledge, ensuring that important information is kept somewhere;
• Best practices, and expertise;
• Material from former projects.

This knowledge continuity can be vital for maintaining organizational stability and innovation.

Consistency across the organization

Knowledge bases ensure everyone is on the same page and following the same rules. It's like having a rulebook that all employees can easily refer to, so they're singing from the same hymn sheet. This consistency helps in avoiding confusion, reducing errors, and maintaining a unified operation across the organization.

Self service support

Thanks to knowledge bases, your teams can resolve common queries independently. They no longer need to harass the IT department for example. Knowledge bases will reduce the need for constant support requests.

Onboarding support

No need to spend hours explaining HR, IT, finance and other processes. All the answers to your newcomers' questions can be found in the knowledge base.

Benefits of knowledge bases for customers [External knowledge bases]

Improve customer satisfaction

Customers can find answers to their questions independently thanks to your exhaustive knowledge bases. For example, your customers can troubleshoot issues promptly, leading to faster problem resolution. It will save your team's time reducing the need for customer support interactions.

In addition, knowledge bases guarantee that your customers receive consistent information, ensuring a uniform customer experience.

Knowledge bases are available 24/7, providing assistance even outside of regular business hours. If you're dying to know all the advantages of your new insurance policy at 1 a.m. (to each his own, I guess…), the knowledge bases will answer your questions.

In the top 7 knowledge base examples we provide you in this article, you’ll find plenty of effective examples of help centers dedicated to customer support.

Boost your SEO

Knowledge bases are a win-win: customers get their questions answered, and the company gains better online visibility. They offer high-quality content that answers users' queries and targets relevant keywords.

Provide customer insights

External knowledge bases are like spy gadgets that reveal your customers' secret desires. You’ll learn a lot from your customers thanks to knowledge bases by:

• Decrypt customer analytics (most knowledge base software offers this);
• Watching what your customers search for;
• Reading their comments and ratings;
• Keeping an eye on trending topics.

These insights will help you decoding the mysteries of customer needs and preferences. 

What makes a good knowledge base?

And you'll see that the knowledge base examples we're studying are very good students regarding these criteria…

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Comprehensive and exhaustive content

A good knowledge base should cover a wide range of topics and provide in-depth information to address various user needs. Ideally, you should find the answer to your question with a tailor-made page that gives you exactly the right information.

Clear and concise writing

When drafting the pages of your knowledge base, don't try to write like Shakespeare. Your knowledge base should be more "To be or not to be" and less "Thine inquiry I shall elucidate with grandiloquent verbosity." In other words, keep it simple and straightforward. 

Quick tips: use plain language, effective bullet points, short paragraphs and avoid jargon. 

And if you're decidedly not a born writer, why not better express your ideas with videos? Claap will help you build a super-actionable video knowledge base.

Smooth navigation

Nobody wants to spend hours looking for documents or solving their own little problem. A good knowledge base ensures that navigation between pages is easy and that user queries are properly addressed. You should be able to find your answer in just a few clicks. Get your hyperlinks ready!

User-friendly interface

When the interface is nice and intuitive, solving problems and looking for information is immediately less painful. For example, it's hard to imagine an effective knowledge base without a search function.

Personalization

A good knowledge base knows how to put itself in its user's shoes. It offers personalized content adapted to the user's profile. When writing knowledge base content, you need to identify yourself to the user and offer targeted content.

Regular updates

A good knowledge base should be regularly updated so content keeps being relevant and accurate. This way, you are sure to provide the latest information and best practices.

Collaboration

An effective knowledge base is dynamic, cooperative and collaborative. Everyone has a hand in constantly improving it through comments, feedback and threads. Together, you create a resource that's richer and more helpful for everyone involved.

Include some insightful visuals

It's immediately easier to understand information if it's accompanied by visuals. But as you can see, at Claap we're all about videos. Try recording your screen to answer your users' questions and see how helpful it is.

What’s more: visuals are a way of expressing your brand identity. This includes emoticons, images, brand-specific fonts, customized videos and more.

Now, let’s deep dive into knowledge base examples. This is why you’re here after all.

7 inspiring knowledge base examples

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1. Claap: media powered knowledge base

2. Airbnb: super-personalized help center

3. Notion: a knowledge base perfectly reflecting brand identity

4. Apple: the knowledge base as if you were in an Apple store

5. Wistia: the knowledge base that puts people first

6. WhatsApp: a knowledge base that succeeds in managing a wealth of content

7. Helpscout: a knowledge base with user-friendly design

1. Claap: media powered knowledge base

At Claap, we use both an external knowledge base for our customers and an internal knowledge base for our team.

Why is it a good knowledge base example?

The great advantage of our knowledge bases is that they are supercharged with pictures and videos. 

Instead of writing indigestible lines and lines of advice and best practices, we share screenshots and screen recordings in our customer help center. It's precise and super-fast.

For our in-house knowledge base, we also rely heavily on video. These videos are a great asset for our training and onboarding sessions, saving us an incredible amount of time.

2. Airbnb: super-personalized help center

Airbnb help center is an external knowledge base. It’s like that well-worn travel guide you always turn to when exploring a new city. Airbnb's Help Center features a multitude of knowledge base articles. You can access information ranging from account management to host property preparation.

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Why is it a good knowledge base example?

Since you can log in to your Airbnb account when accessing the platform, Airbnb's knowledge base is highly personalized. It's nice to read your name on the home page, for example.

This means that the first articles proposed to you will target your profile. As a result, the articles will be highly likely to interest you, as they are linked to actions you have carried out on your account. 

Picture this: you’re consulting the Airbnb help center on the day of your arrival at an accommodation. The center will probably suggest an article entitled "How to contact my host".

But above all, Airbnb knows it has to cater to users with different profiles: guests, hosts, experience hosts and travel admins… The knowledge base addresses each one in a clearly differentiated way with a dedicated section. The content is then immediately relevant to the user. 

3. Notion: a knowledge base perfectly reflecting brand identity

Notion is an all-in-one workspace for both physical and remote teams. It makes the most of AI to help your teams create, organize, and share various types of content. Its knowledge base offers help both for beginners and advanced users of the platform.

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Why is it a good knowledge base example?

Maintaining alignment between your knowledge base and your brand's tone and design is crucial. Otherwise, it risks creating a disconnect with customers. Notion understands this perfectly. That's why we've integrated their knowledge base into the examples you can draw on. 

The choice of words and illustrations is very important, especially if the knowledge base ranks prominently in search results for your product.

Notion’s knowledge base takes up the visual style of its workspace: 

• A streamlined aesthetic;
• Line drawings to illustrate concepts. They make the whole knowledge base less formal and more appealing;
• A drop-down menu on the left-hand side reminiscent of the arborescence of the wiki you can create with Notion;
• Emoticons to illustrate the sections.

Finally, Notion also includes numerous illustrations and videos to make understanding easier. You’ll agree with me saying that illustrations are much nicer than lines and lines of text.

4. Apple: the knowledge base as if you were in an Apple store

The world-famous smartphone brand offers a huge range of products for sale (computers, phones, watches, tablets...) as well as services (cloud, music, payment).

Apple is known for its impeccable customer service, and this comes as no surprise when you visit its online knowledge base. Despite the large number of products and services on offer, the Help Center remains highly intuitive.

Why is it a good knowledge base example?

When you open the Help Center page, it's as if you were in a store, testing out a Mac, or on an Apple advertising page. Their help center doesn’t really feel like a help center. It’s a good thing because it reduces intimidation, enhances customer engagement and improves user experience.

The home page interface strongly looks like Apple's product interface. The menu bar at the top of the home page really gives you the impression of navigating on your Mac.

What's also interesting is that Apple provides a link from the home page of its knowledge base to "Apple support videos" on YouTube. Apple intends to leverage the power of video knowledge platforms with this link.

Finally, of course, Apple has taken great care with the design of its page, including :

• Elegant images of users of Apple products, reminiscent of Apple advertisements;
• Impressive and aesthetic photos of Apple products;
• The use of the famous Apple Memoji (a personalized avatar of yourself).

5. Wistia: the knowledge base that puts people first 

Wistia, a video marketing software, empowers businesses to host growth-focused videos. Its comprehensive knowledge base includes a prominent search bar and a vibrant team photo.

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Why is it a good knowledge base example?

Wistia has chosen to display a colorful photo of its team on the home page of its knowledge base. This is a practice that humanizes the entire user experience. 

It puts faces to the content, making you, the user, feel like you’re interacting with real people rather than just text on a screen. This human touch builds trust and credibility. You’ll be more likely to connect with and trust a resource that shows  human faces. It conveys a sense of authenticity.

It can lead to a more positive user experience and a stronger relationship between the users and the knowledge base.

Beyond this photo, Wistia combines all the elements of a functional knowledge base. It greets visitors with a search bar and offers a range of categories for customers to explore. Additionally, you have the option to browse articles that provide in-depth information about products.

6. WhatsApp: a knowledge base that succeeds in managing a wealth of content

WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging application, is committed to providing impeccable support for its many users. The challenge has been perfectly met.

Why is it a good knowledge base example?

WhatsApp offers a particularly comprehensive range of content. 9 times out of 10, you'll find an article completely adapted to your situation. WhatsApp details each of its contents according to the device used: IPhone, Android, Windows, Mac... All of this in 40+ languages.

Here, for example, I was able to find out how to adjust the tone of my notifications when using WhatsApp on an IPhone with iOS 12.

WhatsApp is also a good example of the writing style adopted. Each page is concise and written in the form of a list or bullet point for easy comprehension. Despite the mass of content stored in this knowledge base, it remains very clear and well structured.

7. Helpscout: a knowledge base with user-friendly design

HelpScout, a customer service platform with knowledge bases in its product lineup, naturally offers a robust knowledge base. Their well-structured site boasts a top search function and three distinct sections dedicated to their products, each housing a list of relevant topics.

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Why is it a good knowledge base example?

The HelpScout knowledge base interface is immediately appealing. The clean design enhances the user experience.

HelpScout uses videos and screenshots in all its articles to help users solve their problems. This makes reading much easier.

Another HelpScout's knowledge base best practice is that it manages to divide its content into separate categories for each of its products (Beacon, Docs and Reports). This way, you don't have to get lost in content that has absolutely nothing to do with what you're looking for.

Boost your knowledge bases with videos thanks to Claap

If you're looking to build an internal or external knowledge base, don't miss out on the power of video.

5 reasons why you should add videos to your knowledge base

• Visual Engagement. Videos capture your attention more effectively than text. They can provide step-by-step visual guidance, making it easier for you to understand complex concepts or instructions;
• Problem Solving. Video tutorials can be invaluable for troubleshooting. When you’re watching a video, you can see solutions in action. It makes it easy to resolve issues independently;
• Product Demos. Videos can showcase product features, benefits, and use cases, helping users make informed decisions;
• Storytelling. Videos can tell compelling stories, which can be more engaging and memorable than written content;
• User-Generated Content. Encourage users to submit video reviews, tutorials, or tips. This will create a dynamic community within your knowledge base.

How can Claap help you add video content to your knowledge base?

With Claap, you can record your screen and then add it to your knowledge base. This allows you to give your viewers more visual and easier-to-understand instructions.

If you want to build up an internal knowledge base, it will certainly be useful to record your meetings so that you can access them later. Claap makes it possible. And if you still want to keep a written record of the meeting, you can call on Claap’s AI copilot. It will supercharge your meetings with AI-generated notes and summaries.

And last but not least, Claap lets you build your own video knowledge base from scratch, thanks to its rich video workspace. All your videos will be gathered and organized in one place. It's time to get started...

Now it’s your turn

If you want to start off with your own knowledge base and make your customer support even more effective, I’ll advise you to think about video knowledge base.

You can explore Claap for free for 14 days (no credit card required) which will be super helpful in helping you build your own!