Increase the Hit Rate for Questions
When your bot does not find existing information, it is almost never down to a single "magic" switch. Most of the time, clear terms, synonyms, or context are missing in the document. Zeptix searches your knowledge base for matching passages. The more unambiguously your content is written, the more reliably the right sections are found.
TL;DR
- Write the way your customers ask.
- Repeat important product, plan, and process names.
- Explain synonyms directly in the document.
- Separate languages, topics, and target audiences.
- Use file names that describe the actual content.
Why the same meaning does not always look the same
Customers often use different words than your internal team:
| Your term | Customer question |
|---|---|
| Subscription | "How do I cancel my subscription?" |
| Onboarding | "How do I get started?" |
| Credit package | "How do I top up my balance?" |
| Internal bot name | "My chatbot" |
If your knowledge base only uses internal terms, the bot finds the answer less well. So build bridges between customer language and technical language.
Practical tip 1 — Build term bridges
At the beginning of important documents, add a small terminology section:
## Key terms in this document
In this document, we use the following terms interchangeably:
- "Sub" = "Subscription" = "Plan" = "Membership"
- "Cancel" = "Quit" = "Stop" = "End the contract"
- "Credits" = "Balance" = "Points" = "Tokens"
- "Onboarding" = "Setup" = "Getting started" = "Initial configuration"
- "Bot owner" = "Operator" = "Account holder" = "Administrator"
This section is short but helps enormously with synonym questions. It works especially well in pricing, onboarding, support, and FAQ documents.
Practical tip 2 — Repeat the key term in every paragraph
Bad — vague reference, no semantic anchor
The system is controlled via the web interface. It offers all the functions you need. The operation is intuitive.
What is "the system"? For people the context may be clear, but for the bot the sentence is too generic.
Good — key term repeated
Acme Pro is controlled via the web interface
app.acme.com. Acme Pro offers dashboard, reporting, team management, and billing in one interface. The operation of Acme Pro is optimized for mouse and keyboard.
"Acme Pro" three times in four sentences. That is not particularly elegant, but very good for a knowledge base: the section has a clear thematic anchor.
How much is "enough repetition"?
Rule of thumb: the central term should appear multiple times in short sections. This looks repetitive in the source text, but your visitors later only see the finished answer.
Practical tip 3 — Split or spell out compound words
Very long German compound words are harder to match than cleanly spelled-out terms.
Bad — long stacked noun phrase
The DataProtectionRegulationApplicationPractice stipulates that…
Good — broken up
The application practice of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) stipulates that…
Both versions describe the same thing. But the second version contains more terms that users might actually ask about.
Practical tip 4 — Separate multilingual content
Welcome to Acme! Acme es la mejor solucion for your team needs.
Sign up at acme.com to get started. El registro toma 2 minutos.
You can cancel anytime — puedes cancelar cuando quieras.
Mixed languages make content blurry. Questions in one language fit sections written in another language worse, and vice versa.
Solution: separate PDFs per language (acme-onboarding-en.pdf and acme-onboarding-es.pdf).
In the bot settings or in the prompt:
Answer in English when the visitor writes in English, in Spanish when the visitor writes in Spanish. Use the knowledge that matches the respective language.
Practical tip 5 — Use file names as content labels
File names are important for you, your team, and the source display. Use clear names:
good: preise-pro-business-2026.pdf
good: support-kuendigung-rechnung.pdf
bad: final_neu_2.pdf
bad: infos.pdf
When a visitor sees an answer with a source, support-kuendigung-rechnung.pdf immediately looks more trustworthy than final_neu_2.pdf.
How to spot hit-rate problems
Typical symptoms:
- The bot says "I have no information on that" even though you uploaded it.
- The bot finds the right file, but the wrong section.
- The bot answers pricing questions with marketing text.
- The bot mixes old and new information.
Then check first:
- Is the topic in its own file?
- Are the product name and the technical term in the same section?
- Are there synonyms for customer language?
- Is the information current and unambiguous?
- Are there duplicate, contradictory sources?
What you take away from this as an owner
- Repeating the key term is not a writing tic, but quality work for your knowledge base.
- Important terms belong multiple times in the relevant section.
- Make synonym bridges explicit — visitors use a different vocabulary than your technical language.
- Break up compound words.
- Do not mix languages — a separate PDF per language.
- For "I don't know" problems: sharpen the sources, do not look for technical details.
Where to read next
- Improve knowledge base quality
- Split your knowledge base correctly — practical rules for your PDFs.
- The 7 most common anti-patterns — what you should avoid.