Platform Help Center

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Structure a help center for a marketplace with buyer and seller audiences
• Write help articles that reduce support ticket volume
• Design a contact escalation path from self-serve to human support
• Organize FAQs, tutorials, and troubleshooting guides by user type

DO NOT use this skill for knowledge base software selection, chatbot design, or internal documentation. This is for external-facing help center structure and content.

Core Principle

A HELP CENTER EXISTS TO ANSWER QUESTIONS BEFORE THEY BECOME SUPPORT TICKETS — EVERY ARTICLE MUST BE FINDABLE IN UNDER 30 SECONDS AND ANSWERABLE IN UNDER 2 MINUTES.

Phase 1: Brief

Required Inputs

GATE: Confirm the brief before structuring the help center.

Phase 2: Structure

Information Architecture

Help Center Home
├── For Buyers
│   ├── Getting Started
│   ├── Browsing and Searching
│   ├── Placing an Order
│   ├── Payments and Refunds
│   ├── Reviews and Ratings
│   └── Account and Settings
├── For Sellers
│   ├── Getting Started
│   ├── Creating Listings
│   ├── Managing Orders
│   ├── Payments and Payouts
│   ├── Reviews and Ratings
│   └── Account and Settings
├── Trust and Safety
│   ├── Our Guarantee
│   ├── Reporting a Problem
│   ├── Dispute Resolution
│   └── Community Guidelines
└── Contact Us
    ├── Submit a Request
    └── Live Chat (if available)

Article Priority Matrix

Rank articles by impact:

GATE: Confirm the structure and priority list before writing articles.

Phase 3: Write

Article Template

## [Article Title — phrased as a question]

**Applies to:** Buyers / Sellers / Both

[1-2 sentence answer to the question — the TL;DR.]

### Step-by-step

1. [Step with specific UI reference]
2. [Step with specific UI reference]
3. [Step with specific UI reference]

### Screenshot
[SCREENSHOT: description of what to capture]

### Common Issues
- **[Problem]:** [Solution]
- **[Problem]:** [Solution]

### Still need help?
[Contact our support team →](link)

Writing Rules

• Title is a question — match how users think and search ("How do I get a refund?" not "Refund Policy")
• Answer first, details second — the first 1-2 sentences should answer the question directly
• Step-by-step format — use numbered lists for processes, bullets for options
• Specific UI references — "Click the gear icon in the top right" not "Go to settings"
• Screenshots for every process — placeholder notes if screenshots are not ready: [SCREENSHOT: settings page with gear icon circled]
• Link to related articles — at the bottom, suggest 2-3 related articles

Content Types

Phase 4: Polish

1. Contact Escalation Path

User has a question
    ↓
Search help center (self-serve)
    ↓
No answer found → Suggest related articles
    ↓
Still no answer → Contact form with category selection
    ↓
Ticket created → Auto-response with estimated reply time
    ↓
Human support responds within [X] hours

2. Help Center Metrics

## Help Center Metrics

- **Search success rate:** % of searches that result in an article click
- **Contact rate:** % of help center visitors who submit a ticket (lower = better)
- **Top searches with no results:** Keywords users search for that return nothing
- **Article helpfulness:** "Was this helpful?" yes/no at the bottom of each article
- **Ticket deflection rate:** % reduction in tickets after article publication
- **Time to resolution:** Average time to resolve tickets that escalate beyond self-serve

3. Quality Checklist

## Help Center Checklist

- [ ] Separate buyer and seller sections with clear navigation
- [ ] Top 10 questions (by ticket volume) have dedicated articles
- [ ] Every article title is phrased as a question
- [ ] Every article answers the question in the first 2 sentences
- [ ] Step-by-step articles include screenshots (or placeholders)
- [ ] Contact escalation path is clear and accessible
- [ ] Search functionality works across all articles
- [ ] "Was this helpful?" feedback is on every article
- [ ] Related articles linked at the bottom of each page
- [ ] Help center link is accessible from every page of the platform

Example

Platform: Freelance services marketplace

Buyer article:

## How do I get a refund?

You can request a refund if the work delivered does not match what was agreed upon in your project brief.

### Steps to request a refund

1. Go to **My Orders** in your dashboard
2. Click on the order in question
3. Click **Request Refund** (available for 14 days after delivery)
4. Select your reason and add details
5. Click **Submit** — the seller has 48 hours to respond

### What happens next
- If the seller agrees, your refund is processed within 3-5 business days
- If the seller disagrees, our team reviews the case and decides within 5 business days

### Still need help?
[Contact support →](link) | Related: [How does buyer protection work?](link)

Anti-Patterns

• Single help center for both sides — buyers and sellers have different questions and different vocabulary. Separate the sections.
• Long articles — if an article takes more than 2 minutes to read, split it into multiple articles.
• No search function — if users cannot search, they will email support instead. Search is mandatory.
• Hiding the contact option — self-serve is the goal, but hiding human support frustrates users who genuinely need it.
• Stale content — outdated screenshots and processes create more confusion than no article at all. Review quarterly.

Recovery

• No data on common questions: Review the last 50 support emails. Group by topic. The top 10 topics are your first articles.
• Too many articles needed at once: Start with the top 5 questions for each side (10 total). Add 2-3 per week.
• Users still contact support for questions that have articles: The articles are hard to find or hard to understand. Improve search and rewrite using simpler language.
• Help center gets no traffic: Link to it from transactional emails, in-app tooltips, and the support auto-reply. Make it visible everywhere.