A knowledge base is widely considered as a tool in customer service, and customer support. Not much thought have been given to knowledge base as a business tool or money-making opportunity.
But trends have changed and with the bloom of Ecommerce, knowledge base has proven to be a tool for earning money. Let’s take a look at real-world implications of how knowledge base can be useful in money-making.
Necessary Knowledge base Features Needed for Money-Making
There are several solutions available online without necessary features for money making. Some essential features for knowledge base are:
- User Access Restriction
- Password Protection
- Front-end Editor
- Automatic Table of Contents
- Advanced Search
- Advanced User Insights
- Article Listing Options
Helpie Knowledge base
Helpie is an advanced knowledge base plugin for WordPress, and it has all the features required for making money with a Knowledge base. Since it’s a WordPress plugin, you get the affordability and flexibility of WordPress combined with the power of Helpie knowledge base, an advantage which you wouldn’t get in a hosted (SAAS) knowledge base.
All the methods of earning mentioned in this article are given with the features of Helpie knowledge base in mind.
Sell knowledgeable content with a Knowledge base
In this information era, many businesses rely on their knowledge as an investment and want to sell the knowledge they possess online. In this case, you don’t want your knowledgeable content to be for everyone to read.
Maybe you are a personal / life coach who gives motivational content some for free and some for paid content. Or you may be selling a service such as premium support for which you provide access to your knowledge base only paying customers.
Solutions like Learning Management systems, WooCommerce Subscription or Membership plugins are costly and sophisticated because you just need to restrict access to the general public and give access only to people you want.
With Helpie’s content restriction feature, you can create a website which gives access to people of your choice. You can create a basic restriction by providing access only to logged in users for all of the content. For more restriction, Helpie knowledge base makes use of the default WordPress user roles (Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, and Subscriber) to restrict content access to users.
Integrating Helpie knowledge base with WooCommerce
The best way to monetize your website is integrating your knowledge base with WooCommerce.
WooCommerce gives additional users roles, Shop Manager and Customer. Helpie knowledge base can also use these users roles as well as any new user roles created to restrict access to content.
Extending Content Restriction feature with other plugins
Since the Customer role is assigned any user who registers using the checkout or signup option, you may feel that it is not enough user roles to serve your purpose. There are several free plugins available to add new user roles or to change the capabilities of the user roles. Some useful plugins for modifying user roles are:
Capability Manager Enhanced – can modify the capabilities of specific roles, create new user roles, and add additional capabilities to existing roles.
Groups – can create user groups and can create an unlimited number of groups in which user can be assigned to any group.
Members – can create roles and capabilities and also can give multiple roles to the same user, or deny specific capabilities to a particular user.
From creating a simple members-only website to more complex restrict content by what product is purchased, what group the user belongs or what membership the user has bought, with Helpie and these user role plugins you can do it all.
Using Role-Based Pricing for Premium Content Access
Many WooCommerce stores use Role-Based Pricing to add more value to their loyal and high paying customers and to have a better conversion with the first time customer. This can be done using a WooCommerce Role Based Pricing plugin.
With Helpie knowledge base you can make the best use of this feature by giving premium content only to loyal or high paying customers, instead of your content being open to the general public.
Password Protection for Premium Content Access
Helpie knowledge base has a Password Protection feature which can be used independently of the user role-based restriction. You can assign passwords for your knowledge base content and give them to your users. You can keep free content open to everyone and give password access only to paying customers.
Other Ways of Earning Money with a Knowledge base
Any e-commerce business can make use of knowledge base to earn more money. You may not be selling knowledgeable content, but you still need a knowledge base.
Gain a Competitive Edge
Today many e-commerce websites are selling the same or similar products without much difference in pricing. Let’s say a customer wants to buy a product, and he has 2 options you and your competitor, but he has some pre-sales question let’s say something about shipping. The customer will buy from the one who gives the quick and best answers. When you have the answer in your knowledge base, he’s going to buy from you.
A Knowledge base is necessary to establish yourself as a Brand
Today even startup stores can bring good traffic through many means but converting the traffic into sales has become a challenge. They’re using conversion kits like countdown timers, discount pop-ups, etc., This strategy doesn’t work out on the long term.
Establishing a brand should be the long term goal because brands have better conversions.
According to a Nielsen Global Survey of New Product Purchase Sentiment consumers are more likely to buy from an established brand.
Customer Service trends 2017 showed that 90% of all consumers expect a brand or organisation to offer a self-service support portal.
You might have observed that all of the popular e-commerce stores have a well-written knowledge base. For example, Amazon who exhibits themselves as a “Customer-Obsessed” company has a huge knowledge base with articles written every topic relevant to them. If it is not necessary brands like Amazon wouldn’t invest so much money and time in their knowledge base.
So it is essential that you have a knowledge base for your Ecommerce store to be recognized as an established brand by the consumers which will undoubtedly boost your conversions in the long term.
Even Live Chat and Chat-bots require a Knowledge base
Many business sites are using Live Chat system for Sales and Support. Introduction of intelligent answering systems popularly known as “Chat bots” are also being implemented in Ecommerce.
The important thing to note here is that Live chat agents and Chat-bots need a point of reference to answer the customer’s question that is best given in the form of knowledge base articles.
Increasing traffic through a Customer-Driven knowledge base
It’s no secret that product reviews have a significant influence on the purchase process. It is mainly because the review talks practically about how the product is being useful to the person who as already bought it. But today the product review idea is being used by many stores and many store owners are paying customers, giving discounts to give reviews, and some are using fake reviews.
Using Helpie’s Front-end editor, you could go a step further and give your loyal customers a chance to contribute to your knowledge base, directly from the front-end of your website. They could write about the questions that they had in mind when they were first trying/using your product.
When they write in the layman terms which you probably cannot. It could match the exact keyword which another user is typing on Google and will bring new customers to your store. When the new customers see how your product is loved and creatively used by loyal they will be more willing to make the purchase, could even become a loyal customer.
Knowledge base could become your company’s “Brain”
Many companies spend their time and money in understanding the customer’s mindset, changing market trends, etc,. One of the simplest way to understand your customers is through your knowledge base.
Since customers visit your knowledge base to find a solution to their problems, if you can understand what customer are searching and which content is most useful in your knowledge base, you can easily understand your customers. When you understand your customer better you can change your product and your strategy accordingly.
General Electric Company (GE) have their home-grown knowledge base system called SupportCentral. It provides GE, a platform for product innovation and expands the capacity for development in all the company’s units. And so it is called the company’s “brain”.
Likewise in Helpie knowledge base you get Advanced Insights feature with which you can know what people are searching for in your knowledge base. You can know the most read content, most helpful content helpful, what people don’t like to read and more. All these insights can give you better understand about your customers and innovate accordingly. You can take your business to the next level!
All the above-mentioned methods of earning are only possible with Helpie Knowledge base. Grab Helpie now!
If you still can’t believe it, grab a 7 day free trial and test for yourself!
I think this is one of the best way to earn money rather than other ways. To earn money with the help of our knowledge is an amazing way to make extra money with internal pleasure. I will surely go to try this way for myself. thank you for the informative article.
Sometimes I wonder how simple it is nowadays to earn money on the Internet. There are thousands of chances to get extra cash while sitting at home. But to have a stable passive income through the Internet, you have to make a bit more than just filling up survey apps and so on.