What to put in your Knowledge Base

Five categories cover almost everything worth uploading. Start with whichever matches the questions you answer most often.

1. Product and service details

What you actually sell, in detail — menus, service descriptions, ingredients, specifications, opening hours.

“Our gluten-free pasta is made with rice flour and is prepared on a separate surface…”

This is the highest-value upload for most businesses, because it’s the category customers ask about most and the one the AI is most likely to get wrong by inventing something plausible.

2. Policies and procedures

Refunds, cancellations, complaint escalation, service standards.

“Per our policy, we offer a full refund within 48 hours of purchase…”

Without this, the AI can only be sympathetic. With it, the AI can resolve — which is the entire point of the product.

3. Customer service scripts

Your approved language for common issues and escalations.

“We always lead with empathy and avoid defensive language when addressing complaints…”

Especially useful if you’ve already worked out how to handle recurring situations. Upload it rather than hoping the AI reaches the same conclusions.

4. Brand and tone guidelines

Your voice guide, so replies sound like your business.

“We speak conversationally, use first-person plural, and never use corporate jargon…”

This complements the tone setting rather than replacing it. Tone picks a register; a voice guide carries the specifics — words you use, words you never use, how you sign off.

5. Compliance and legal documents

So the AI avoids prohibited language and stays within regulatory boundaries.

Essential in regulated industries. If there are claims you’re not allowed to make, the AI needs to know before it writes, not after.

What to leave out

Anything out of date. The most common failure isn’t a missing document, it’s a stale one — the AI will quote last year’s policy with complete confidence.

Customer data. The Knowledge Base is for how your business works, not who your customers are. Customer records belong in Customers.

Internal-only material. Assume anything you upload could influence a message sent to a customer. Don’t upload staff disciplinary procedures, cost prices, or internal politics.

Enormous omnibus documents. A focused two-page refund policy beats a 200-page operations manual with the policy buried on page 147. Split large documents by topic.

Keep it current

Re-upload when a policy changes, and delete what it replaced. Worth putting a quarterly reminder in the calendar — this is exactly the kind of maintenance that silently stops happening.

→ Managing your Knowledge Base