Introduction
A great FAQ page is a pillar of proactive customer service. But what makes for a great FAQ page or help center?
There are millions of examples you can look at for inspiration. With so many examples out there, the real challenge becomes knowing the difference between a good FAQ page and a bad FAQ page.
Who should you be learning from?
In this article, we’re going to dive deep into some real-world examples to help you understand what works well and to spark some inspiration for you as you create or improve your own site’s FAQ page.
Note: The term FAQ page is typically used of a standalone page with answers to frequently asked questions. While some sites still do this, it’s becoming increasingly common for companies to answer their customers’ FAQs using a full-fledged help center. We’ve included examples of both below.
FAQ Page examples
Cards Against Humanity
“A party game for horrible people.”
Not many brands would describe their core product that way, but the popular adult party game Cards Against Humanity is known for its irreverent and sarcastic humour. They’re also a great example of a standalone FAQ page. Their FAQ page gets points for three key things:
- Great design
- Clear categorization
- Easy escalation
 |
They’ve designed their FAQ page to match their packaging, making it instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the game. But the branding isn’t just visual. They also do a great job of carrying their brand voice throughout their FAQs. For example:
Question: I placed an order on your webstore, and I’m incredibly impatient. Can you upgrade my shipping speed?
Answer: Nope. You’re just going to have to deal with the ramifications of your actions here.
While the tone may not work for everyone, it definitely resonated with their target audience. Using it on their FAQ page helps create a consistent experience for their customers.
The second thing Cards Against Humanity’s FAQ page does well is categorization. As an ecommerce site, questions are grouped into categories that intuitively make sense and cover the main reasons a visitor might need help. Whatever your question might be, the moment this page loads you know exactly where you need to click.
Lastly, if a visitor can’t find the answer they need, Cards Against Humanity makes it easy for them to get in touch:
 |
Thirty percent of consumers report that not being able to reach a customer service representative is the most frustrating aspect of a bad customer experience. Don’t make it difficult for your customers to contact support. Give a clear and obvious call-to-action if they’re unable to solve their issue on their own.
Miro
Digital collaboration tool Miro’s help center is a beautiful example of a help center.
It’s asthetically pleasing and on-brand, just like the previous example. But Miro made this list for other reasons as well:
- Search-friendly
- Multi-customer categorization
 |
First, the emphasis on search. Miro’s products are far more complex than Cards Against Humanity’. With a complex product, your customers will have many more frequently asked questions.
To avoid overwhelm or confusion, Miro puts search front-and-center. Visitors don’t need to spend their time sorting through dozens of categories or articles. Just type in your question, and you’ll immediately find the most likely answers.
Miro’s other strong point is how they’ve designed their help center to serve two different types of customers. Individual and enterprise customers can have wildly different needs and questions, and Miro clearly separates FAQ categories pertaining to each group.
It’s simple and easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Patagonia
Outdoor gear and apparel brand Patagonia is another example of a help center done right. Search is still front-and-center, but here’s what else we love about it:
- Addresses the most common FAQs first
- Clear support contact info (and hours!)
 |
Ever heard of the 80/20 rule? In a nutshell, it says that roughly 80 percent of outcomes come from 20 percent of causes.
In the case of your help center, it means that 80 percent of your traffic comes from 20 percent of your inquiries. In other words, there are a few key questions that likely drive the majority of visitors to your FAQ page.
Patagonia recognizes this reality. For an e-commerce company, checking order status and questions about returns are certain to be the most frequently asked questions. They put these two most common inquiries right at the top of the page, above the fold.
Another great part about Patagonia’s example is how they both share their support team’s contact info and set expectations for customers. Adding your phone or chat hours may seem like a simple act, but it goes a long way to create clarity for your visitors on how and when they can get the help they need.
KnowledgeOwl
KnowledgeOwl sells knowledge base (help center) software, so you’d hope they know how to build a good one. And sure enough, they deliver across the board:
- Clean design and organization
- Easy search
- Additional helpful links
 |
The design of their help center is so clean, it almost feels refreshing to look at it. Instead of overwhelming visitors with information, they rely on their search bar, categories, and simple graphics to help guide them to what they need.
Another great part about KnowledgeOwl’s help center is the links they include in the header of the page. Linking to things like release notes and your status page are a useful way to provide additional context and information for visitors wondering what’s going on with your product.
Wistia
There’s a lot to love about video hosting platform Wistia’s help center, but we’ll just call out two things that are unique:
- Humanized support team
- Traveling footer
 |
Wistia include a great picture of their smiling support team right at the top of the page. This might seem small, but in a world where it’s so easy to treat customer service teams rudely, this subtle step speaks volumes.
These aren’t robots answering your questions. They’re humans. Real people, here to serve.
Awesome.
Wistia also includes a footer that travels down the page with you. This footer has info we’ve seen before — status, search bar, and a ticket submission link — but having them move down the page with visitors is unique.
It’s a clear signal that those things matter and they want them easily accessible to visitors at all times.
Squarespace
Website builder Squarespace has a ton of stuff on the home page of their help center. While that might be a bad idea, they’ve done a few things that make it work well and make it valuable to the visitor:
- Different grouping of articles
- Several forms of media
 |
Squarespace’s product offering is multi-faceted, so they start by helpfully grouping FAQ content by product. This makes it easy for customers to quickly locate the group that’s relevant to their product.
On top of that, they also group content into different guides based on topics. This approach is perfect for visitors who want to dive deep into a specific topic to understand all the details.
 |
The last thing to highlight about Squarespace’s help center is their use of video content. While many help centers embed videos into relevant articles, Squarespace puts video playlists center stage.
Some people prefer learning via video, making this a useful approach. Video tutorials also pair perfectly with Squarespace’s visual website builder, enabling users to get hands-on with the product while they watch the video content.
Baskin Robbins
Ice cream maker Baskin Robbins is known for having dozens of flavors. Maybe they should also be known for their simple yet effective FAQ page. There’s one thing that make their standalone FAQ page stand out: clear question groupings.
 |
Wondering if mint chocolate chip ice cream is healthy?
Unfortunately, the answer is no (this one’s not actually on their FAQ page), but you can still easily find a ton of other useful information due to their simple categorization. Many standalone FAQ pages are just a list of questions, so this basic categorization makes this one stand out.
ServiceNow
ServiceNow has a really complex product offering. Their help center does a nice job of several things:
- Sharing response and resolution times
- Showing recent errors/bugs
- Requesting feedback
 |
ServiceNow’s little callouts about the average resolution and response time of different support channels are a great way to influence users to try self-service. It only takes five minutes for most users to solve their problems when using their knowledge base. That’s way better than waiting hours or having to pick up the phone and call support.
A second thing that’s unique about ServiceNow’s help center is their willingness to publicly list recent known errors. Many companies wouldn’t dare put those things in the spotlight, but they’re easily visible within ServiceNow’s help center. This help highlights their commitment to transparency, as well as reducing the number of support tickets they see about these errors.
The last thing we’ll call out about ServiceNow’s help center is their attempt to get feedback from users on their help center experience:
 |
While it’s common for companies to ask for feedback on specific help articles, ServiceNow’s aim of getting feedback on a customer’s holistic support experience is pretty special.
Put these examples to work
Having an FAQ page or help center is no longer an optional thing for most companies. Eighty-eight percent of users expect you to have a self-service portal, so if you don’t have one you’re already missing the mark.
There’s one main thing you should keep in mind as you build your help center: Aim to make things easy for your customers. In your design and in your content, your goal should be to empower customers to solve issues or find answers on their own.
Fortunately, spinning up an FAQ page doesn’t have to feel like a monumental task. Following best practices can help you get a help center up and running in no time. And with tools like Scribe, you can generate step-by-step guides to do pretty much anything in seconds (literally). Get started with Scribe for free today and you’ll be on your way!
