AI Chatbot knowledge bases

What is a chatbot knowledge base? Find out how you can ensure that your chatbot knows all about your business!

Times are Changing

With the huge recent leaps forward in AI technology, chatbots are now able to be far more conversational and understanding of what users are saying than ever before. Users can ask questions or respond in ways which feel natural to them, without having to worry about how to word a question so the chatbot understands it.

Using natural language in chatbots is now here, which means that chatbots can have a greater understanding of what the user has said (whether it typed in or said out loud), and respond with relevant accurate information. This is good for both the user and the business or organisation.

Putting the technical aspects of chatbots to one side, the heart of their success will always be down to how comprehensive and accurate the information they have in their knowledge base is, and that is the point of this email.

What is in a Knowledge Base?

Knowledge Bases typically have sections covering:

  • Questions a customer might ask
  • Concerns a potential customer might have
  • Information about your business, including services offered, areas covered, contact information and other relevant information.

AI Chatbot

Questions and Answers

The majority of potential customers arrive at a website with at least some questions in mind, and they'll want answers to those questions before making the decision to buy or do business with that company.

If they can't find the answers on the website they're on, they can very easily move on and try to find the answers elsewhere. That will increase the chances of them doing business elsewhere, because they’re less likely to return to a website which didn’t serve them well, and more likely to stay on the website came satisfied their needs

Therefore it makes sense to give yourself a competitive advantage and provide answers to their questions whilst they're on your website.


Providing service and building trust!


That can do wonders for your brand by demonstrating that your knowledge and expertise, and that you'll be able to provide the customer with the best solution for them.

In other words it builds TRUST!


Knowledge Bases

AI Chatbots use AI to understand information held in the knowledge base we create with your help.

Your input to the knowledge base is important, because you will have far more expertise than we have in your particular field.

So although we can get those knowledge base documents off to a good start instead of you having to start from an empty page, we'll need your help in customising, refining and completing the information that your chatbot will base its responses on.

Knowledge bases can consist of documents, DPF files, link to web pages, etc., and contain the sort of information described below.


Types of Information

A Knowledge Base typically has sections covering:

  • Questions a customer might ask
  • Concerns a potential customer might have
  • Information about your business, including services you provide, areas you cover, contact information and other relevant information.

Visitors to your website could be looking for:

  • technical information,
  • advice,
  • options,
  • recommendations,
  • etc.

They may need to be made aware of certain important information relating to before, during and after the service has taken place. There might be some legal information to include, or you might want your chatbot to access information held in policy documents or terms and conditions.

Very importantly, the information your chatbot uses needs to be accurate and consistent with information held elsewhere, whether that be within the pages of your website, PDF files, or documents in print.


Incomplete information? No problem!

The knowledge base documents can be quite lengthy, but you don't need to get every single piece completed before your chatbot is able to go live.

You can consider the documents as ongoing pieces of work which are expected to change and evolve over time, and so if you're unsure of whether you have captured everything before sending it over, you have no need to worry at all...

If you make subsequent changes or additions, just send the revise document(s) over when you want, and we'll take care of updating your chatbot.


What happens next?

Once we have your chatbot created and have it learn from your knowledge base, we’ll ask it some questions which a typical customer might ask.

These test questions would be relevant you your business, and could include things such as:

  • What hours do you work?
  • What is your cheapest XXX?
  • Will I need to be present at my property whilst you carry out your work?
  • Do you offer a payment plan?

You will be sent the test questions we asked and what the responses were, so you can gauge for yourself how you chatbot is behaving. If the responses to the test questions are not as you would expect, we can take steps to do something about it.


What happens if the chatbot doesn’t know the answer?

If the answers to any question are not available, the chatbot should be able to default to a response which could recommend the user contacts you by phone, email, or any other method you choose. But that also provides the opportunity to add information to your knowledge base so answer those types of questions in the future.

This is why it’s important that we don’t set it and forget it, but provide ongoing support which is usually based on a monthly agreement.


What about irrelevant questions?


Of course there will be some completely irrelevant questions asked from time to time, which your chatbot will not be designed to handle. So if a user asks random questions like Shall I have porridge for breakfast? or What is your favourite movie? your chatbot isn’t likely to have those answers, and nobody will expect it to!


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Daron Harvey

I'm Daron Harvey, founder of TargaWeb, specialising in AI chatbot implementation, website testing, auditing & consultancy. I am now in my 28th year of professional website production, development, testing and eCommerce best practices, and proud to have been approved as a Voiceflow Certified Content Creator. Sign up and try Voiceflow for yourself, or get in touch to see how we can help.

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Daron Harvey

I'm Daron Harvey, founder of TargaWeb, specialising AI chatbots, testing & consultancy.