Hubspot Knowledge Base: Features, How to Set Up, Alternatives

Tired of Support Tickets Eating Your Profits? HubSpot Might Not Be the Only Answer.

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Every support request is a drain, a cost center. But what if you could transform those repetitive questions into opportunities for customer empowerment and significant savings? Your secret weapon is a well-oiled knowledge base. 

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In this definitive guide, we'll dissect the features and setup of the HubSpot Knowledge Base. But more importantly, we'll reveal why limiting yourself to just one option could leave leads – and revenue – on the table. Discover powerful alternatives missing in your lead generation and customer satisfaction puzzle.

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What is Hubspot’s Knowledge Base?

HubSpot’s Knowledge Base Software delivers significant value by enhancing customer support and alleviating team workloads. It provides instant self-service for customers through a searchable, multilingual knowledge base, allowing quick access to solutions and reducing the demand for direct support.  Here are some of HubSpot’s Knowledge Base's best features:

How to Set Up a Knowledge Base on HubSpot: A Step-by-Step Guide

Here are the steps to effectively set it up and maximize its HubSpot knowledge base for customers and your support team.

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Step 1: Access the Knowledge Base in Service Hub

1. Log into HubSpot: Sign in to your HubSpot account.
2. Navigate to Service Hub: From the main navigation, select Service and click on Knowledge Base to begin setting it up.

Step 2: Create a Structure for Your Articles

Define a standard structure for your articles to ensure consistency and clarity. This will help your team maintain uniformity across all entries in the knowledge base.

1. Identify Problems or Topics: Define the main issue or goal each article will address. Focus on customer pain points.
2. Provide a Step-by-Step Procedure: Outline clear and concise steps to help users resolve their issues or accomplish a task.
3. Describe the Outcome: Ensure that the outcome of following the steps is clear, guiding users on what they should expect next.
4. Link Related Information: Include links to relevant articles or resources to provide a more comprehensive self-service experience.
   
   

Best Practices:

• Prioritize Critical Information: Place the most important details at the top of the article to help users quickly understand what they need to do.
• Maintain a Logical Flow: Organize steps chronologically or by ease of execution to encourage user confidence as they work through tasks.
• Avoid Distractions: Keep instructions simple and free of unnecessary details to maintain focus on the core task.
  

Step 3: Customize the Design of Your Knowledge Base

HubSpot allows you to tailor the look and feel of your knowledge base, ensuring it aligns with your branding.

1. Access Design Settings: Navigate to Settings and click on Theme Settings.
   
2. Customize Appearance: Adjust colors, fonts, and upload your logo to create a consistent visual identity.
   
3. Preview: Review the design before going live to ensure everything looks as expected.
   

Step 4: Set Permissions for Articles

HubSpot lets you control who can access and edit specific knowledge base articles.

1. Define Access Levels: In the Users & Permissions section, set access levels for your team, deciding who can create, edit, or view specific articles.
2. Tag Internal Articles: If you want to restrict access to specific articles, tag them with "internal use only." You can also set articles to private for internal purposes.

Step 5: Ensure Content Is Easily Searchable

Make sure your knowledge base is easy to search to help customers find the right information quickly.

1. Add a Search Bar: Ensure the knowledge base has a prominent search bar that lets users search by keywords or topics.
2. Link Related Articles: If two or more articles address similar topics, link them together to enhance searchability and navigation.
   

Step 6: Regularly Update Articles

As your products and services evolve, so should your knowledge base.

1. Stay Updated: Assign team members to update articles whenever a product change or a customer inquiry trend emerges.
2. Assign Responsibilities: Use project management tools to assign article updates, ensuring they are completed promptly.
   

Step 7: Optimize for SEO

Follow SEO best practices to make your knowledge base discoverable in search engines.

1. Create Optimized Headlines: Use concise, keyword-rich titles that clearly describe the content of each article.
2. Write Compelling Metadata: Include relevant keywords in page descriptions to improve visibility in search engines.
3. Incorporate Keywords in Main Content: Ensure the body of your articles contains relevant keywords that customers are likely to search for.
4. Use Anchor Text Effectively: When linking to other articles, use relevant keywords in the anchor text to improve search engine ranking.

Step 8: Monitor and Improve Using Analytics

HubSpot’s built-in reporting tools allow you to measure the effectiveness of your knowledge base.

1. Access Reports: Check your dashboard to see which articles are most viewed and helpful to customers.
2. Refine Based on Insights: Use insights to identify content gaps and improve articles based on customer feedback and usage data.
   

Step 9: Continuously Improve Content

Don’t just create articles and forget about them. Constantly review and improve your knowledge base to keep it relevant and efficient.

1. Track Article Performance: Use HubSpot’s reporting features to monitor your articles' performance.
2. Update Content Regularly: Revisit articles frequently to ensure they reflect the latest product features, services, or customer needs.

HubSpot Knowledge Base Pricing

HubSpot's Knowledge Base is available as part of the Service Hub Professional plan, which starts at US$90 per month per seat. This plan includes comprehensive help desk software to scale self-service and automation, customer feedback surveys, portals, and a customer success workspace.

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The Service Hub Professional plan includes the Knowledge Base feature and tools like customer feedback surveys, portals, and a customer success workspace.

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HubSpot offers a better value with the annual payment option for businesses that commit annually. However, please note that the one-time Professional Onboarding fee of $1,500 is required in addition to the subscription cost.

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HubSpot Top Alternatives

While the knowledge base offered by HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of tools, the pricing can become expensive quickly, especially as you scale and require more advanced features or additional users. Advanced features are locked behind higher-tiered paid plans.  If that is your concern,  here are some alternatives that offer more straightforward and predictable pricing models.

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MagicTalk

MagicTalk is a cost-effective AI-powered customer service solution with a Knowledge Base integration. It automates responses to common inquiries using documentation, FAQs, or past resolved tickets, while seamlessly escalating complex issues. 

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The platform allows you to create and maintain an internal knowledge base that the AI can use to find answers, providing instant, accurate responses to common customer questions.

• Key Features: AI-Powered Ticket Resolution utilizing the knowledge base, Smart Ticket Routing, Knowledge Base Integration, and Zero-Code Setup.
• Use Case: Ideal for businesses looking to reduce customer service costs by leveraging an AI-powered chatbot that directly utilizes a knowledge base to provide instant answers and improve agent productivity.

Try it now for FREE.

Zendesk Help Center

Zendesk Help Center is a popular option known for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive features. It offers AI-powered content creation, a customizable help center, advanced search capabilities, and reporting to track the effectiveness of your knowledge base. Zendesk also provides omnichannel support and integrates with various other tools.

• Key Features: AI-powered content generation, customizable branding, multi-language support, search functionality, reporting and analytics, and integration with the Zendesk suite and other applications.
• Use Case: Suitable for businesses of all sizes looking for a feature-rich and scalable knowledge base solution integrated with a broader customer service platform.

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Help Scout Docs

Help Scout Docs is a simple and efficient knowledge base tool focused on ease of use and a clean interface. It allows you to organize articles into categories and offers a search function for easy navigation. Help Scout emphasizes creating helpful and well-structured documentation.

• Key Features: Easy content creation and organization, search functionality, branding customization, and integration with the Help Scout help desk platform.
• Use Case: A good fit for businesses that prioritize simplicity and ease of use in their knowledge base and have already utilized or considered Help Scout for customer support.

Intercom Knowledge

Integrated within the Intercom customer communication platform, Knowledge allows you to create and manage help articles that can be accessed through your help center and used by Fin, the AI-powered bot. It offers content creation tools, organization features, and the ability to target specific content to different customer segments.

• Key Features: Native content creation, content import from external sources, integration with Fin AI Agent, audience targeting, content organization with folders, and search functionality.
• Use Case: Best for businesses already using Intercom for customer messaging and support who want a seamlessly integrated knowledge base solution that can also power AI-driven self-service.

Also read: 7 Best Marketing Automation Tools for Startups

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Conclusion

Ultimately, the best knowledge base solution depends on your unique business needs and goals. The knowledge base offered by HubSpot is a strong contender, but don't hesitate to explore the alternatives. Carefully evaluate each option's features, pricing, and scalability, so you can make an informed decision that empowers your customers, streamlines your support, and drives sustainable growth.

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