Academy
Module: Knowledge and store Q&A
Build an audit habit for knowledge entries so the assistant cannot drift from policy pages.
Knowledge drift is a launch risk. This module asks operators to compare assistant answers to the live policy page every time knowledge changes. No sample “100 knowledge articles” count is included. Publish the entries you actually maintain.
Store Q&A is not a second product catalog. Product facts belong on SKUs. Knowledge is for operational language: shipping, returns, lead times, care that is store-wide, and prohibitions such as no invented fit.
Study path
- Read Merchant Knowledge and Store Help.
- Read Store Help and Product Q&A.
- Skim Merchant Portal Guide so you know where entries are controlled.
- Open your live shipping and returns pages and write two entries from them—facts only.
- Ask those questions on a staging theme and compare.
Audit habit
- Change the public policy or PDP fact.
- Update or retire the knowledge entry in the same sitting.
- Ask the assistant the shopper question and compare.
- If they disagree, treat it as a release incident, not as “AI mood.”
Seasonal lead times are a classic drift source. A holiday shipping cutoff that exists on a banner but not in knowledge will produce confident wrong answers. Made-to-order bridal timelines belong in knowledge only if they match operations.
Practice: ten questions
Collect ten questions from support, PDP comments, or the questions your team already answers in DMs. For each, identify the public source. If there is no source, do not publish an entry. If the source is a founder opinion about fit, do not publish an entry. Write prohibitions alongside permissions (“do not invent a delivery date”).
Good versus weak
Weak: “We make returns easy.” Better: the actual window and condition from the policy page. Weak: “Runs true to size.” Better: “Use the size notes on the product when present; otherwise do not invent a fit.” Weak: “Try-on proves fit.” Better: visualization language plus the privacy URL.
What knowledge must not do
- Override catalog availability with a hopeful restock story.
- Invent medical, performance, or celebrity claims.
- Quote WardrobeIt plan prices.
- Describe unpublished roadmap items as available.
Failure modes
- A shared Google Doc that is not the portal entry the assistant uses.
- Policy page updated in legal review without a knowledge owner in the ticket.
- One giant “FAQ” entry that mixes shipping, fit, and care so nothing can be retired cleanly.
Where entries live
Portal entries are the source the assistant can use. A shared drive FAQ that nobody copies into the portal is theater. Follow Merchant Portal Guide. Split topics: shipping is not returns; made-to-order lead times are not standard dispatch. Short entries are easier to retire when the public page changes.
Product-specific care or fabric belongs on the SKU when it varies by style. Store-wide care can live in knowledge if it matches a policy or a published care page. Conflicts between PDP and knowledge are launch blockers.
Seasonal and drop-driven drift
Holiday cutoffs, new-season dispatch, and appointment rules change on a calendar. Put the knowledge update in the same ticket as the banner. If you cannot, do not publish the banner language to shoppers via the assistant. Pattern note: seasonal drops in Customer Stories (unnamed, not a case study).
Exit criteria
You can name an owner, show two entries that match live pages, and describe the three-step audit habit. Related: Getting Started, Merchant Portal, and Troubleshooting when answers look stuck after an update—often cache or a theme/embed issue, not a reason to paste a new prompt.
Further reading on the Academy hub: catalog grounding first if you have not taken it. Knowledge cannot fix missing variants.
A two-hour writing studio
Hour one: open shipping, returns, and any made-to-order page. Write three entries in portal language, not slogan language. Hour two: ask the assistant those questions on staging and mark pass, gap, or conflict. Conflicts go back to the public page first. Portal runbook: Merchant Portal Guide.
Add prohibitions in the same sitting: no invented fit, no unauthorized codes, no restock dates operations cannot keep, no try-on as exact-fit, no WardrobeIt plan prices. Store-help product page: Store Help and Product Q&A.
Maintenance calendar
- Same day as any policy page change.
- Same day as a seasonal shipping banner.
- Quarterly review of the ten most common shopper questions.
- After a drop, check lead-time language if production changed.
Quality over volume remains the rule. Five true entries beat a stale library. Launch sequence: Getting Started.
Compare before you publish
Open the live policy page and the draft entry side by side. If a caveat exists on the page, it belongs in the entry. If a slogan exists only in the draft, delete it. Then ask the assistant the shopper question on a staging theme and keep the browser on the policy page while you compare. That habit is the module.
Store-help product surface: Store Help and Product Q&A. Do not use knowledge to invent catalog facts. Those belong on the SKU. Catalog grounding is the prior module if variants are still empty.
If you cannot point at the live page that supports an entry, do not publish the entry. Volume is not a quality metric, and this module still does not issue a completeness score. Five true entries, compared after every policy change, are the practice. Merchant Knowledge and Store Help.
Retire or rewrite the entry in the same sitting as the public page change, then re-ask the shopper question.
