Most help centres have articles. Fewer have articles that actually resolve tickets. The customer reads the returns article, can't tell whether it applies to a sale item, and writes an email anyway.
This is a condensed version of How to write a help article that resolves the ticket from the Supportifier blog.
One article, one question
Put the customer's question in the heading, in their words. "Can I exchange for another size instead of returning?" is an article. "Returns and exchanges" is a category.
- Articles become more numerous and shorter.
- Headings match how customers search: read the questions arriving in your inbox and chat.
- The answer comes first, the exceptions afterwards.
A fixed structure
- Heading: the customer's question
- Short answer: one or two sentences
- Steps: numbered, one step per line
- Exceptions: when the answer does not apply
- Have at hand: what the customer needs (order number, email)
- Contact us when: when the article is not enough
A fixed order means the customer, the agent and a chatbot all find the same thing in the same place.
Plain language, no internal terms
People scan screens rather than reading word by word, so concise, scannable, objective text wins. Drop background paragraphs before the answer.
Test it
Have someone outside the team try to resolve a real ticket using only the article. If they can't, rewrite it.
More on building a knowledge base that serves help centre, chatbot and agents: Supportifier help centre and the Supportifier blog.
Top comments (1)
Your structure and my one rule land on the same spot: the exception is where a help article quietly undoes itself. If the short answer only holds until the unless, the short answer is a lie and the ticket reopens. Test it: cover everything after the unless / but / except and read the first half out loud. If the second half changes what the first half means, fold the exception up into the short answer instead of leaving it as bullet 4. You can exchange for another size, unless the item was final sale beats a clean Yes with the catch three lines down. Same edit helps the chatbot reading that structure.