This guide covers: Understanding how the Knowledge Base works, structuring your information effectively, and using AI tools to prepare your content.

A practical guide for marketers to teach their AI agent everything it needs to know about their business. Setup time: ~20-30 minutes

How the Knowledge Base Actually Works

Understanding the mechanism

Knowledge Base vs. Prompt: What Goes Where?

The crucial distinction

Best Practices for Structuring Your Content

Formats that work

Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your Knowledge Base

Complete walkthrough

Adding Customer Reviews

Leverage social proof

Assigning Documents to Specific Agents

Improve accuracy

Setting Up 'Missing Info' Notifications

Continuous improvement

Using ChatGPT to Prepare Your Documents

Time-saving shortcuts

Troubleshooting & FAQs

Common issues & fixes

🧠 How the Knowledge Base Actually Works

Let’s demonstrate what happens when you add information to the Knowledge Base. No technical background required!

The Simple Analogy: Your AI’s Reference Library

Think of the Knowledge Base as a reference library that your AI agent can search through during conversations. Here’s what happens step by step:

Step	What Happens	Real-World Analogy
📁 1. You add information	You upload FAQs, product details, pricing, etc.	Stocking the library shelves
🗂️ 2. AI “indexes” the content	Irelia processes and organizes your information	Creating a searchable catalog
💬 3. Prospect asks a question	”What are your prices?” arrives in chat	Someone walks in with a question
🔍 4. AI searches for relevant info	The system finds the most relevant pieces from your KB	Librarian finds the right books
💡 5. AI crafts a response	Using the found information, AI generates a natural reply	Librarian explains the answer in conversation

Key Insight: The AI Doesn’t Memorize — It SearchesUnlike a human employee who memorizes your brochure, your AI agent searches through your Knowledge Base every time it needs to answer a question. This means:

✅ Information must be findable — Write content that matches how prospects ask questions
✅ Clarity matters — Clear, well-structured info = better answers
✅ Updates are instant — Change a document, and the AI immediately uses the new version

What “Training” Really Means

When we say you’re “training” the AI, we don’t mean you’re teaching it to think differently. You’re simply: 📚 Giving the AI access to the specific information it needs to answer questions about YOUR business. The AI already knows how to have conversations. Your job is to provide the business-specific facts it needs to be helpful.

⚖️ Knowledge Base vs. Prompt: What Goes Where?

This is the #1 source of confusion for new users. Let’s clear it up.

The Clear Distinction

	Knowledge Base	Prompt (Agent Settings)
Purpose	WHAT the AI knows	HOW the AI behaves
Contains	Facts, FAQs, product info, pricing, policies	Personality, tone, conversation rules, goals
Analogy	The employee handbook & product catalog	The training on “how to talk to customers”
Example	”Our premium plan costs €99/month and includes…"	"Be friendly and professional. Always try to book a call…”

✅ What Belongs in the Knowledge Base

Information your AI can look up and share:

Product/service descriptions
Pricing and packages
FAQs and common objections
Company information and history
Process explanations (how things work)
Policies (shipping, refunds, etc.)
Case studies and results

📝 Example: “Q: What are your pricing plans? A: We offer three plans: Starter at €29/month (up to 100 contacts), Growth at €79/month (up to 1,000 contacts), and Enterprise at €199/month (unlimited contacts with priority support).” This is a fact about your business. When someone asks about pricing, the AI searches for this information and shares it.

❌ What Doesn’t Belong in the Knowledge Base

These are behavioral instructions—they belong in the Prompt:

“Always be friendly and professional”
“If someone asks about price, first understand their needs”
“Never promise exact results”
“Always try to schedule a call”
“Speak in first person as the company”
Conversation flow instructions
Qualifying questions to ask

Common Mistake: “When someone asks about pricing, first ask them about their business size and then recommend the appropriate plan. Be enthusiastic but not pushy.”This tells the AI how to act, not what information to share. It’s an instruction, not a fact—so it goes in the Prompt.

Quick TestAsk yourself: “Is this a FACT or an INSTRUCTION?”

Fact → Knowledge Base
Instruction → Prompt

That’s it. Keep them separate, and your AI will perform much better.

📋 Best Practices for Structuring Your Content

How you structure your information directly impacts how well your AI can find and use it.

The Golden Format: Q&A Style

The most effective format for Knowledge Base content is Question & Answer: Q: What are your business hours? A: We’re open Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM (CET). We’re closed on weekends and Italian public holidays. ✅ Why this works:

Mirrors how prospects actually ask questions
Easy for the AI to match questions to answers
Simple to maintain and update

Include Question Variations (#include-question-variations)

People ask the same thing in many different ways. Adding variations of questions helps the AI match and retrieve the right information, no matter how a prospect phrases their request. Example: Q: What are your business hours? / When are you open? / What time do you close? / Are you open on weekends? / Can I reach you on Saturdays? A: We’re open Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 6 PM (CET). We’re closed on weekends and Italian public holidays. 👆 Five different questions, one answer. The more angles you cover, the more reliably your AI finds the right answer.

The 5W Framework: Anticipate Every Question (#the-5w-framework:-anticipate-every-question)

Use this simple framework to brainstorm what questions your prospects might ask: ❓ WHAT — What is your product? What does it include? What results can I expect? 🤔 WHY — Why should I choose you over competitors? Why does this approach work? ⏰ WHEN — When can I start? When will I see results? When are you available? 👤 WHO — Who is this for? Who’s behind the company? Who will I work with? 📍 WHERE — Where are you located? Where do you ship/operate? ⚙️ HOW — How does it work? How do I get started? How much does it cost? Go through each W and write Q&A pairs for the questions your prospects actually ask.

Document Organization: Think in Categories

Don’t put everything in one giant document. Instead, split your information by topic — this makes it easier to update specific sections and assign only relevant content to specific agents.

Plan ahead for agent assignment. Before creating your documents, think about which AI agents will need which information. If you’re running multiple funnels or selling different products, structure your documents so you can easily assign the right content to the right agent later.

For example, you might create separate documents for:

Coaching Service FAQs — your process, onboarding steps, timelines, common questions and objections
Online Course FAQs — costs, what’s included, payment options, common questions and objections
Company Info — about us, team, credentials

The exact categories depend on your business. Think about the main topics prospects ask about, and create one document per topic.

Formatting Tips

✅ Do:

Use clear, simple language
Include specific numbers and details
Include variations of how people might ask

❌ Don’t:

Use complex jargon without explanation
Include contradictory information
Write walls of text without structure

Pro Tip: Strategic Price Omission for Service Businesses (#-pro-tip-strategic-price-omission-for-service-businesses)If you’re selling high-ticket services, consider not including specific pricing in your Knowledge Base. Instead, add this to your FAQs:“Q: How much does it cost? / What are your prices? A: Pricing depends on your specific situation and goals. Book a quick call with our team and we’ll give you a custom quote based on your needs.”Why this works from a sales perspective: When someone’s first question is “how much does it cost?”, they’re often comparing you on price alone — essentially commoditizing your service.By directing them to a call, you: ✅ Keep curiosity alive: Price curiosity is a powerful motivation to book a call. Once you reveal the number, that motivation disappears — they either dismiss you as “too expensive” without the required context, or they get what they needed and leave. ✅ Create the opportunity to frame value properly: In a sales meeting, you can understand their specific needs, position your solution, differentiate from competitors, and help them see the true value of what you offer.This shifts the conversation from price-based buying (who’s cheapest?) to value-based buying (who’s the best fit for my needs?). In a call, you can better create the right framing.Based on our experience, service businesses that use this approach see more booked calls and higher-quality conversations.

This strategy works best for services and high-ticket offers. For e-commerce or standardized products, clear pricing typically converts better.

🚀 Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your Knowledge Base

Let’s walk through the complete process of adding information to your Knowledge Base.

Access the Knowledge Base

Navigate to your Irelia settings: 👉 https://irelia.ai/settingsClick on the Knowledge Base icon in the left sidebar.

You’ll see two tabs:

Informations — For FAQs, product info, company details
Reviews — For customer testimonials and social proof

Create a New Document

Click the ”+ Create a new document” button at the bottom of the document list.

You’ll be prompted to enter a document name. Choose a clear, descriptive name (e.g., “Pricing”, “FAQs”, “Product Features”).

Important: Document names cannot be changed after creation. If you need to rename a document, you’ll have to delete it and create a new one with the correct name. Double-check your naming before confirming!

Once you confirm the name, your new document will appear in the list and you can start editing.

Add Your Content

Click on your document to open the editor. Start adding your Q&A formatted content.

Each document can hold up to 220,000 characters — that’s roughly 35,000-40,000 words. Plenty of space!

Save and Train

When you’ve added or edited content, you’ll notice the document icon changes to indicate unsaved changes.Click the “Save” button to save your changes and train the AI.

Document with unsaved changes indicator and Save button

Wait for Training to Complete

A loading spinner will appear next to your document name while the AI processes the new information.When complete, the checkmark icon ✓ will appear, confirming your AI is now trained on this content.

That’s it! Your AI agent can now use this information in conversations.

⭐ Adding Customer Reviews

Reviews are powerful for building trust. Irelia has a dedicated section for them.

Switch to Reviews Tab

Click on the “Reviews” tab at the top of the Knowledge Base screen.

Create a Review Document

Click ”+ Create a new document” for each review you want to add.

Use the Recommended Format

For each review, use this format: “[Name] from [Source] says: [review text]”Example: “Marco R. from Google Reviews says: ‘Incredible service! They helped me automate my lead follow-up and I’ve seen a 40% increase in appointments booked. Highly recommended!’”

Important: Each document must contain exactly ONE review. This allows the AI to select the most relevant testimonial for each conversation context.

Save and Train

Save each review document. The AI will now be able to reference these testimonials when social proof would help the conversation.

🎯 Assigning Documents to Specific Agents (#🎯-assigning-documents-to-specific-agents)

If you’re running multiple agents (e.g., different funnels, multiple products or different use cases), you can keep each agent focused by controlling which documents each agent can access.

Why This Matters

Relevance: Each agent only sees information relevant to its role
Accuracy: Less irrelevant information = lower risk of confusion
Organization: Keep things clean and manageable

How to Assign Documents

Go to Agent Settings

Go to your Agent settings (in the agent configuration section)

Find Knowledge Base Section

Find the Knowledge Base section

Agent settings Knowledge Base assignment interface

Choose Assignment Option

You have two options:

Toggle ON “Allow this agent to access all information” — Agent sees everything
Toggle OFF and select specific documents — Agent only sees what you choose

Same options exist for Reviews on the right side

Example Setup

Agent	Documents Assigned	Reviews
Coaching Program Agent	Coaching Pricing, Program Details, Coach Bio, Coaching FAQs	Coaching testimonials only
Online Course Agent	Course Pricing, Course Curriculum, Course FAQs	Course testimonials only
Agency Services Agent	Service Packages, Case Studies, Agency FAQs	Agency client testimonials

This way, your coaching agent won’t accidentally mention course pricing, and vice versa.

🔔 Setting Up “Missing Info” Notifications (#🔔-setting-up-”missing-info”-notifications)

One of the most powerful features: get notified when your AI can’t find information to answer a question.

Why This Is Gold

🎯 Discover gaps in your Knowledge Base
📊 See what real prospects are actually asking
🔄 Continuously improve your AI’s performance

How to Enable

Open Agent Settings

Go inside one of your Agents

Find Events and Notifications

Find the “Events and Notifications” tab

Enable the Notification

Enable the notification for questions the AI lacks information to answer

You can set up:

Webhook URL — Set an automation to send data to Slack, a spreadsheet or your CRM
Email notifications — Get emails for each missing-info question

What You’ll Receive

You’ll get the exact question that stumped your AI. Use this to:

Add the missing information to your Knowledge Base
Identify patterns (are many people asking the same thing?)
Improve your Q&A coverage over time

🤖 Using ChatGPT to Prepare Your Documents (#🤖-using-chatgpt-to-prepare-your-documents)

Don’t have time to write everything from scratch? Here’s how to use AI to speed up the process.

Method 1: Transform Existing Documents
Method 2: Generate from Scratch

Transform Existing Documents & Web Pages

Prompt to use

Prompt: Transform Documents to Q&A Format

I need to create a Knowledge Base for my AI chatbot. Generate a comprehensive document by transforming the following unstructured information into a Q&A format. For each piece of information, create a realistic question that a potential customer might ask, followed by a clear answer.

Guidelines:
- Use natural language that matches how people actually ask questions
- Leverage the 5W+H framework (What, Why, When, Who, Where, How) to find and cover all the potential questions a prospect could ask.
- Include variations of questions where relevant.

Use this format:
Q: [Question a prospect might ask]
A: [Answer based on the document]

Here's my document:
[PASTE YOUR CONTENT HERE]

Generate Questions & Objections from ScratchDon’t have existing content? Use this prompt to generate a complete Knowledge Base starting from just a description of your business:

Prompt to use

Prompt: Generate Knowledge Base from Scratch

I need to create a Knowledge Base for my AI sales assistant.

Based on the context below, generate:
1. The most likely questions prospects will ask (use the 5W+H framework: What, Why, When, Who, Where, How)
2. Common objections and concerns they might have

BUSINESS CONTEXT:
- Product/Service: [DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SELL]
- Target audience: [WHO YOU SELL TO]
- Main benefit: [KEY VALUE PROPOSITION]
- Common competitor alternative: [WHAT THEY'D DO INSTEAD]

Format everything as:
Q: [Question or objection]
A: [Leave space for me to fill in OR suggest an answer I can customize]

Make questions sound natural, like how real people ask in chat.

This gives you a solid foundation to customize with your specific details.

Pro Tip: Review Before UploadingAlways review AI-generated content before adding it to your Knowledge Base:

✅ Adjust tone to match your brand
✅ Add specific details (numbers, names, etc.)
✅ Check for accuracy and remove irrelevant information

🔍 Debugging: Understanding How AI Uses Your Info

Need to understand why the AI gave a specific answer? Irelia has built-in debugging.

How to Access Debug Info

Go to Chat Panel

Go to irelia.ai/leads (your chat panel)

Find the Conversation

Find a conversation where the AI responded

Locate the Info Icon

Look for the info icon (ℹ️) next to AI messages. The icon indicates which message pulled information from the Knowledge Base to reply.

Open Debug Popup

Click the icon to open the debug popup

What You’ll See

The popup shows:

Information chunks pulled: The exact pieces of your Knowledge Base the AI found relevant
Summary: A condensed view of the relevant information pulled (what the AI actually uses to reply)

How to Use This for Improvement

What You See	What It Means	Action to Take
❌ Wrong info was pulled	Keywords in question matched unrelated content	Rewrite your Q&As to be more specific
⚠️ Right topic, incomplete answer	Info exists but isn’t complete enough	Add more detail to that section
🚫 No info was found	The question isn’t covered	Add new Q&A for this topic
🔀 Multiple conflicting chunks	Similar topics causing confusion	Consolidate or clarify your documents

❓ Troubleshooting & FAQs

The AI isn't using information I added

Possible causes:

Document not saved: Check for the checkmark ✓ icon
Document not assigned: Verify the document is assigned to this agent
Question phrasing: The prospect’s question may not match how you wrote the info

Solutions:

Double check whether documents are saved and assigned
Use the debug feature to see what info was pulled.
If you verified the information exists and is saved, but the AI didn’t find it, add multiple question variations so the AI can pull the right info regardless of how a prospect phrases the request.

The AI is giving wrong information

Possible causes:

Outdated content: Old information still in Knowledge Base
Contradictory documents: Conflicting info across documents
Vague answers: AI is “filling in gaps” when info is incomplete

Solution: Review and update your documents. Be specific. Remove old content. 👉 See the debug feature to see exactly which information the AI pulled.

Should I put EVERYTHING in the Knowledge Base?

No! Focus on information prospects actually need. Too much irrelevant information can confuse the AI’s search.✅ Include: Anything a prospect might ask about ❌ Exclude: Internal processes, information only employees need

How often should I update the Knowledge Base?

Update when:

Pricing, offerings or policies change
You notice gaps (use the missing-info notifications!)
You have new products, services or new information to add

Best practice: Review monthly + whenever something changes

Can I use markdown formatting?

Plain text works best. Keep formatting simple:

Use clear line breaks between Q&As
Avoid complex formatting that might not be supported by WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger

What language should I use?

Write in the language your prospects use. Irelia’s AI can understand and respond in 50+ languages, but your Knowledge Base should match your audience.

Should I include my prices in the Knowledge Base?

It depends on your business model:

For standardized products/e-commerce: Yes, include clear pricing. Prospects expect it.
For services and high-ticket offers: Consider omitting specific prices and directing prospects to book a call instead.

👉 See Pro Tip: Strategic Price Omission for Service Businesses for the full sales logic behind this approach.

📝 Quick Checklist

Use this when setting up or updating your Knowledge Base: Prepare

Gathered existing materials (website, FAQs, brochures)
Transformed content into Q&A format (use ChatGPT to speed this up)
Organized into topic-based documents (plan for agent assignment)

Upload

Created and named documents in Irelia
Saved each document (look for ✓ checkmark)
Added reviews (one per document)
Assigned documents to appropriate agents

Optimize

Enabled “missing info” notifications
Tested common questions
Filled gaps based on real conversations

All checked? Your Knowledge Base is ready!

Remember the Golden Rule

Knowledge Base = WHAT your AI knows
Prompt = HOW your AI behaves

Keep them separate, and your AI will perform beautifully! 🚀

🆘 Need Help?

Irelia.ai Support:

Contact support in the WhatsApp priority support group or send an email to info@irelia.ai
Include: Screenshots of your Knowledge Base setup, your account name, example of the issue, and what you expected vs. what happened

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