A knowledge base is the single most effective tool for reducing repetitive support tickets. When customers can find answers on their own, they get help faster and your team stays focused on the issues that actually need a human. In Heedback, the knowledge base also powers AI Auto-Reply — every article you write makes the AI smarter at drafting responses.

This guide covers everything from creating your first collection to publishing a multilingual help center on your customer portal.

Prerequisites

To build a knowledge base in Heedback, you need:

A Heedback account with a Pro plan (the knowledge base is a Pro feature).
Access to app.heedback.io as an admin or editor in your organization.
A rough list of your most common customer questions. Check your inbox conversations and identify the top 15–20 topics your team answers repeatedly — these are your first articles.

Step 1: Create Collections

Collections are the top-level categories that organize your articles. Think of them as folders in a help center — “Getting Started,” “Billing,” “Integrations,” “Troubleshooting,” and so on.

To create a collection:

Go to Knowledge Base in the left sidebar.
Click New Collection.
Enter a name and an optional description. The description appears on your public portal below the collection title, so write it for your customers, not your team.
Choose an icon to visually distinguish the collection. This shows on the portal alongside the name.
Set the display order. Collections are shown to customers in the order you define — put the most-used ones at the top.

Start with 4–6 collections. Too many categories overwhelm customers; too few make articles hard to find. You can always restructure later without breaking any links.

Step 2: Write Articles With the Rich Editor

Inside a collection, click New Article to open the editor. Heedback’s article editor supports:

Rich text formatting — headings, bold, italic, lists, blockquotes, and code blocks. Use headings (H2, H3) to structure long articles so customers can scan for the section they need.
Images and media — drag and drop images directly into the editor. Screenshots of your product UI are especially effective for step-by-step guides.
Internal links — link between articles to guide customers through related topics without duplicating content.

Write each article to answer one specific question. A clear, focused article that solves a single problem outperforms a sprawling FAQ page every time. Aim for 200–500 words per article — long enough to be thorough, short enough to respect the reader’s time.

Structure your articles consistently:

A one-sentence summary of what the article covers.
Step-by-step instructions with numbered steps.
A brief note on what to do if the steps don’t resolve the issue (e.g., “Contact our support team via the widget”).

Step 3: Add Multi-Language Support

If you serve customers in multiple languages, Heedback makes localization straightforward. Each article and collection supports translations in any language your organization has configured.

To add translations:

Open an existing article.
Click the locale tabs at the top of the editor. You’ll see your organization’s supported locales.
Switch to the target language and write (or paste) the translated content. Each locale has its own title, body, and meta description.
Publish each translation independently — you can have an article live in English while the French version is still in draft.

Heedback’s portal automatically serves articles in the visitor’s language based on their browser settings or the URL locale prefix (e.g., /fr/help). If a translation isn’t available, it falls back to your organization’s default language.

Prioritize translating your top 10 articles first. Even partial localization dramatically improves the self-service experience for non-English speakers.

Step 4: Publish to the Customer Portal

Articles have two states: Draft and Published. Only published articles appear on your public customer portal and in search results.

To publish:

Review the article content and ensure it’s accurate and well-formatted.
Toggle the Published switch at the top of the editor.
The article is immediately live on your portal and indexed for full-text search.

Your portal URL follows the format yourorg.heedback.io/help. Customers can browse collections, search across all articles, and read content in their preferred language — all without logging in.

Step 5: Leverage Search and Analytics

Heedback’s knowledge base includes PostgreSQL-powered full-text search. Customers can search across all published articles from the portal or the embeddable widget. The search understands word variations and ranks results by relevance.

On the analytics side, track these signals in your dashboard:

Article views — which articles are most visited? These are your highest-value content.
Article feedback — each article has a built-in “Was this helpful?” prompt. Monitor the ratio of positive to negative feedback and prioritize rewriting articles with low scores.
Search queries with no results — this is a goldmine. Every failed search represents a customer who tried to self-serve and couldn’t. Write articles to fill those gaps.

Review analytics weekly. A knowledge base is a living resource — articles go stale as your product evolves. Set a quarterly review cycle where your team checks each article for accuracy and updates outdated screenshots or instructions.

Tips and Best Practices

Write in your customers’ language. Use the words they use, not your internal jargon. If customers say “delete my account,” don’t title the article “Account Deprovisioning Workflow.”
Front-load the answer. Put the solution in the first paragraph. Many customers won’t scroll — give them what they need immediately, then provide context below.
Use screenshots generously. A single annotated screenshot can replace three paragraphs of text. Update them whenever your UI changes.
Link articles to each other. Cross-linking helps customers discover related content and reduces the chance they’ll submit a ticket for a follow-up question.
Assign article ownership. Each article should have a team member responsible for keeping it current. Unowned articles inevitably go stale.

AI Auto-Reply — your knowledge base directly powers AI-generated draft responses in the inbox.
Support Inbox — agents can link to knowledge base articles when replying to customers.
Customer Portal — where your published knowledge base lives for public access.
Embeddable Widget — surfaces knowledge base articles to customers inside your product.