Most Knowledge Bases fail for one reason. They were written for the owner, not for the customer.
The owner knows the business. The customer knows what they want. Those are two different vocabularies, two different questions, two different answers. A Knowledge Base that bridges them is the difference between Beakle replying with confidence and Beakle escalating to you at 11pm because it doesn't know what "shele" means.
This guide shows you how to write entries Beakle can actually use. Good vs bad examples. The merged-entry pattern. Negative entries. Search aliases for pidgin and slang. FAQ mode for the things that must be quoted word-for-word. And a starter checklist of five entries every Nigerian small business should have on day one.
What a Knowledge Base Entry Actually Is
A Beakle KB entry has four parts. Three of them you write. One is a toggle.
Title. A short label. This is for you, not the customer. Beakle's retrieval reads the body, not the title — but a clear title keeps your KB scannable when you have thirty entries.
Body. The actual answer. This is what Beakle pulls into the prompt when a customer asks a related question. Write it the way you'd want a smart staff member to recite it on the phone.
Aliases (optional). Alternate words customers use to ask about this topic. "Delivery" might also be "shipping", "transport", "send am", "bring am come", "Naija post". Each alias makes the entry more findable.
FAQ toggle (optional). Flip this on and the body becomes a verbatim answer. Beakle will quote it word-for-word rather than paraphrasing. Use this for things that MUST be exact: bank details, opening hours, return policy, address.
Learn the full anatomy of an entry in the Guide: Knowledge Base — What It Is.
The Merged-Entry Pattern: 1 Topic, 1 Entry
This is the single biggest mistake new Beakle users make. They split one topic across thirty tiny entries.
Bad: thirty separate entries — "Delivery to Lekki", "Delivery to Ikeja", "Delivery to Ajah", "Delivery to Surulere", "Delivery cost VI", "Delivery time Ikoyi"... you get the picture.
Good: one entry titled "Delivery" that covers areas, costs, timing, and policy in one body.
Why does one beat thirty? Because retrieval pulls the top few matching entries into Beakle's context. If a customer asks "how much to deliver to Ajah?" and you have thirty fragmented delivery entries, Beakle might retrieve three of them — and hallucinate by stitching mismatched fragments. One merged entry gives Beakle the complete picture in a single shot.
Rule of thumb: 1 to 3 merged entries per topic, never thirty micro entries.
Negative Entries: Telling Beakle What NOT to Say
Most owners forget this trick. You can write entries that exist purely to stop Beakle saying the wrong thing.
A negative entry looks like:
Title: Wholesale pricing — DO NOT QUOTE
Body: We do not publish wholesale prices on WhatsApp. If a customer asks about bulk or distributor pricing, escalate to the owner. Do not invent a discount tier.
That's it. The entry doesn't answer the question — it tells Beakle to stop and escalate. Negative entries beat prompt engineering every time. They sit inside the same retrieval system as your positive entries, so Beakle sees them at the exact moment temptation strikes.
Use negative entries for: pricing exceptions, refund disputes, anything legal, anything political, competitor comparisons, and "we don't sell that" categories where Beakle might guess.
Search Aliases: Pidgin, Slang, and How Customers Actually Talk
Your customers don't search the way you write. You wrote "Delivery." They typed "you go bring am?"
Aliases are how you close that gap. Every entry should list the alternate words a customer might use. For a Lagos retail business:
- Delivery: shipping, transport, send am, bring am, Naija post, dispatch, courier, GIG, GIGM, "you go bring", "una go send"
- Payment: pay, naira, transfer, account number, bank, POS, "wetin be your account"
- Stock: available, get am, "you get?", in store, ready, "e still dey"
The pattern: write the entry once in clean English. Add 5-15 aliases covering pidgin, English shorthand, and the specific phrases your existing customers already use. Read your last week of WhatsApp messages — the aliases are sitting right there in the chats.
Full alias playbook: Knowledge Base — Search Aliases.
FAQ Mode: When Verbatim Matters
For most entries, Beakle paraphrases the body into a reply that fits the conversation. Smooth, contextual, natural.
But sometimes you need the answer to come out exactly as written. Bank account number. Office address. Refund policy clause. Opening hours.
Flip the FAQ toggle ON for those entries. Beakle will quote the body verbatim. No rephrasing, no creative reinterpretation, no chance of an account number getting one digit wrong.
Use FAQ mode for:
- Bank account details (number, bank name, account name)
- Physical address
- Phone numbers
- Operating hours
- Refund / return policy in legal-precise language
- Warranty terms
Don't use FAQ mode for: anything conversational, anything that should adapt to context, anything where a stiff verbatim quote would feel robotic.
Worked Example: A Real "Delivery" Entry
Here's a complete Delivery entry for a Lagos retail business. Copy the shape, swap the details.
Title: Delivery
Aliases: shipping, transport, send am, bring am, dispatch, courier, GIG, GIGM, "you go bring", "una go send", "delivery how much", "drop am"
FAQ mode: OFF
Body:
We deliver across Lagos and to all 36 states.
Lagos delivery:
- Mainland (Ikeja, Surulere, Yaba, Gbagada): ₦2,500, same-day if order placed before 12pm
- Island (VI, Lekki Phase 1, Ikoyi): ₦3,500, same-day if before 12pm
- Ajah, Sangotedo, Lekki Phase 2: ₦4,500, next-day
Outside Lagos:
- South-West states: ₦4,500-₦6,000 via GIG, 1-2 days
- Other states: ₦5,500-₦8,000 via GIG, 2-4 days
- Exact cost depends on weight, we confirm at checkout
Payment: Delivery fee paid alongside item, before dispatch.
No-show policy: If the dispatch rider arrives and the customer is unreachable for 30 minutes, the order is returned to base. A re-delivery costs the full delivery fee again.
One entry. Covers areas. Covers cost. Covers timing. Covers policy. Beakle now answers "how much to Ajah?" and "you go bring same day?" and "wetin happen if I no dey when rider come?" — all from one body.
The 5-Entry Day-One Starter Checklist
If you can only write five entries before your first day, write these:
- About Us — what you sell, where you're based, how long you've been in business
- Delivery — the merged entry above (your version)
- Payment — bank details (FAQ mode ON), POS availability, payment terms
- Returns & Refunds — your policy, in the language you'd want quoted back
- Hours & Contact — when you're open, when Beakle replies vs when the owner takes over
With those five entries live, Beakle can handle the majority of incoming questions on day one. Everything else you'll learn from your own chats over the next two weeks.
The Mindset Shift
Stop writing entries for yourself. Start writing them for the customer who's typing "abeg how much una delivery to Ajah" at 11:47pm on a Saturday.
The KB is not documentation. It's a script. Beakle is the staff member reciting it. Write it the way you want it read.
