Question 1

How do I write a good Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)?

Accepted Answer

Some top tips for writing a good Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) include:

Think like your customers and try to phrase your title in a way a real customer would ask you a question
Use the brief summary area to provide the initial answer - this is what customers will see in search results and when browsing FAQs
For the full answer you can repeat the Brief Summary information but go into more detail
Try and be concise and punchy with your answer - it can be useful to break up the text with subheadings and bullet points
Don't repeat information if it's available elsewhere - better to link to that information! For example if you have an FAQ answering "What times are you open?" and your opening hours are on your main website your answer can simply be "Our opening hours can be seen on our website here" and you can add a link
If you have images or media (eg a YouTube video) that can help with an answer don't be afraid to include it in your answer - Malcolm! fully supports this and customers love it!
Remember to use tags and categories as that will help your customer find their way to the FAQ
Use the feedback option in Malcolm! as that will let customers tell you if the content is useful or not. Regularly review the feedback you get in MyMalcolm!

Question 2

Can I change the reply-to email address of an email answer alert to be the person who completed the Workflow?

Accepted Answer

Email answers are automated emails sent by Malcolm! when a customer completes a Workflow. You can send these emails to members of your team, your suppliers, the customer or anyone else you'd like.

Sometimes it can be useful to set a reply-to address for these emails. This can be a fixed value or a value supplied by a customer when completing a Workflow (eg their email address)

To use this feature, when creating your email answer, toggle the custom email setting

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/qR57A24eot/Enabling%20the%20option%20to%20customise%20the%20email%20theme%2C%20sender%20and%20content%20in%20MyMalcolm.png (Enabling the option to customise the email theme, sender and content in MyMalcolm)

Then you'll see an option to either type a reply-to address or assign a field from the Workflow for this value.

Question 3

How do I switch between Instances?

Accepted Answer

If you are a user on more than one instance you'll see a "My Instances" screen when you login to MyMalcolm.

Once you are in one instance you can also easily switch to another via the drop down that appears at the top of the MyMalcolm interface.

Question 4

What is my Hosted Hub?

Accepted Answer

Every instance of Malcolm! comes with a Hosted Hub. This is a website that we host for you. You can customise it entirely to your requirements. You can change the branding, the colours, the fonts, the layout, the copy, the icons etc etc. You can even configure it to work on one of your own domains or sub domains.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/V93ed8Zu51/brand-facebook%402x.png (Hosted Hub on Malcolm!)

If you don't have a current website your Hosted Hub could be your main website. If you already have your main website at www.domain.com you could set up your fully branded Malcolm! Hosted Hub at a sub domain like support.domain.com or help.domain.com or customers.domain.com

Some customers may not wish to do this and instead may wish to integrate Malcolm! into their current website. No problem! We have a whole section in the MyMalcolm Control Panel dedicated to this and there a variety of ways you can bring content and functionality from Malcolm! into your own website. We've also got a plugin for Wordpress and a variety of widgets and further integration options coming soon. Customers on our Enterprise plans can have full progamatic access to Malcolm! content and functionality via our comprehensive API.

Question 5

How do I delete data submitted to a Workflow?

Accepted Answer

You can delete some or all of the submitted data (including uploaded files) associated with a Workflow by selecting "Delete Data" in the Analyse tab of the relevant Workflow.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/tRaFrYJwoo/resources/lcSsh5w64C/Screenshot%202020-11-20%20at%2023.06.05.png (Delete Data dialogue in MyMalcolm)

You can choose to delete all data or selected data between two dates. Note that as well as removing data the delete process will also remove any exports you previously generated that contain the data plus any files uploaded via the Workflow and MyMalcolm activity logs. Please therefore export and download to your local system any data you wish to keep before starting the delete process in MyMalcolm.

Ratings, analytics and feedback associated with deleted Workflow completions will be kept and can still be reviewed via MyMalcolm post delete.

Question 6

How can I password-protect my hub with Memberstack?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm supports using Memberstack to password-protect your content.

This guide will help you set up Memberstack.

First go to MyMalcolm > Settings > Instance > Visibility and toggle the option to use a third party service for Hosted Hub password protection. This automatically enables the built-in password protection.

Activating third party Single Sign On (SSO)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/M5riHygBgk/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.10.03-05_58_09.png (Choose Memberstack from the dropdown)

Next, from the Memberstack Dashboard, go to Dev Tools > Add Integration.

Add a new custom SSO Integration

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/9pIEqPe6kK/Screenshot%202022-10-03%20at%2007.00.53.png (Add a new custom SSO Integration)

Copy the Redirect URI from MyMalcolm and paste it into Memberstack.

Redirect URI in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/IHbM8Ppu1v/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.10.03-05_58_32.png (Cut and paste this into Memberstack)

Then, in Memberstack, press Add Integration.

Once created, in Memberstack click the Edit button next to the Integration and copy the Client ID and Secret Key.

Your Custom SSO Integration

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/I1TfM7CL3a/Screenshot%202022-10-03%20at%2007.01.12.png (Obtaining the Client ID and Secret Key from Memberstack)

Paste these values into the boxes in MyMalcolm.

Client Credentials in MyMalcolm

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/Oq33GMwLTG/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.10.03-05_58_32%202.png (Add your credentials from Memberstack here)

Save the settings on both sides and you should see your Memberstack login page appear in your Hub.

Login to Hosted Hub

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/DkMgxR3Mti/Screenshot%202022-10-03%20at%2007.01.36.png (Hosted Hub login using Memberstack SSO)

Attributes from your Memberstack users can be pre-populated in Malcolm! Workflows. To enable this feature choose a suitable field on a Workflow, edit the field settings and enable "Allow a value to be set in the URL query". Enter one of the two attributes name or email to pre-populate those values directly into your Workflow.

Question 7

Can I turn tags off?

Accepted Answer

You can turn the display of all tags or individual tags off/on. This will also affect the tag listing/results screens.

This feature can be useful in a number of ways, for example if you are prepping a new tag to go live and want to attach it to all your relevant FAQs/Articles but don't want it to display just yet you can simply leave it switched off until you are ready.

You can turn Tags off globally in Settings --> FAQs --> General (under the "Listings" heading)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/WW0eQrCvC4/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2023.04.02-15_42_17.png (Turning tags off globally in MyMalcolm)

Individual tags and their associated listings/results can be turned off via FAQs --> Tags then the three-dot menu to the right of the tag in question

Question 8

Understanding Malcolm! - some concepts and how to use the product

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! is a super powerful and flexible web based product but it might seem a bit confusing at first. Here is a quick primer on some core Malcolm! concepts and features which we hope will help you understand the product and use it in the way that makes sense to you and your business.

Core Components of Malcolm!

Malcolm! has two core content components: Malcolm! FAQ and Malcolm! Workflow.

Malcolm! FAQ is all about answering your user's questions and/or providing information (eg a how-to or a policy).

Before we created Malcolm! we spent a lot of time building online systems that helped companies digitise what they do.

We found that - in broad terms - this came down to designing and developing systems that:

answered questions and
took users through a process.

For example

Lets say you sell and service industrial heating systems. A potential customer might want to know if you service a particular type of boiler that they have in their office.

You can let that potential customer find the answer to that question themselves via Malcolm!. You'd create a question along the lines of "Which types of boiler do you service?" and in your answer you'd include all the makes and models that you work with.

Your potential customer would come to your website, and be able to find the answer themselves using Malcolm!

Next, having learnt you do indeed service the boiler they have in their office they might want to book a service appointment.

To do this you are likely to need to know a few details - for example their name, their company name, where their office is and perhaps a few other details like their phone number and email, when they are available for a service visit, any issues they are having with the boiler and when it was last serviced.

You can create a form that asks all those questions in Malcolm! and add that form as a "Book a service" link onto your website. When a customer fills that form in Malcolm! can email you all the details. Malcolm! can also do lots of other clever things like pass that request into other systems that you might use.

Why would I want to do this?

Customers like it - nowadays more and more people prefer to do things online
You look professional and slick - Malcolm! can integrate with your existing website and you can style all the screens to match your brand
It's available 24/7/365 - customers can find what they need at a time that suits them
Save time - stop burning time answering the same questions or doing the same process again and again
Consistency- receive complete information from your customers in the format you need it
Efficiency - pass customer information collected via Malcolm! into your other systems automatically
Get feedback - Malcolm! let's your customers feedback to you whether the information they found was helpful or areas for improvement
Analytics- get statistics on what customers are searching for, what they are reading and the most popular times for certain types of requests
Great management tools - You and your internal team / staff can see everything at a glance via MyMalcolm - the comprehensive control panel area of Malcolm!

You can see some examples of possible uses of Malcolm! here

Use Malcolm! FAQs and Workflows together or separately

One of the things to bear in mind is that you can use the FAQ and Workflows parts of Malcolm! together or individually. It may be that you want to build a customer knowledge base using Malcolm! FAQ but you have no need for Workflows at the moment. That is no problem! Similarly you might want to create a series of web forms for various user servicing tasks using Malcolm! Workflow but don't need to answer questions with FAQs. Again this is no issue. You simply use the parts of Malcolm! that make sense to you and your business.

How does Malcolm! work with my current website?

At the heart of Malcolm! is flexibility. We want to make it as easy as possible to work with our system. We also want to offer options for a wide user base - from a one man band with no or limited web development knowledge through to big companies who may have large in house technical teams.

At one of the end of the scale is our Hosted Hub. Every instance of Malcolm! comes with a hosted Hub. This is a website that we host for you. You can customise it entirely to your requirements. You can change the branding, the colours, the fonts, the layout, the copy, the icons etc etc. You can even configure it to work on one of your own domains or sub domains.

If you don't have a current website your Hosted Hub could be your main website. If you already have your main website at www.domain.com you could set up your fully branded Malcolm! Hosted Hub at a sub domain like support.domain.com or help.domain.com or customers.domain.com

Some customers may not wish to do this and instead may wish to integrate Malcolm! into their current website. No problem! We have a whole section in the MyMalcolm Control Panel dedicated to this and there a variety of ways you can bring content and functionality from Malcolm! into your own website. We've also got a plugin for Wordpress and a variety of widgets and further integration options. Want a floating widget? No problem. Want a button which opens a modal/overlay? No problem. Customers on our Enterprise plans can have full programmatic access to Malcolm! content and functionality via our comprehensive API.

Don't forget your Internal Customers!

Remember that your business or organisation may have more than one type of "customer!". As well as using Malcolm! with members of the general public you can also use it internally to help a particular business function or department.

For example:

In our example of being an industrial heating sales & service company above you could use an instance of Malcolm! for your service engineers. Various knowledge about things you service could be stored in Malcolm FAQ! and you could build digital versions of processes or business procedure in Malcolm! Workflow - for example job sheets or part order forms.
You could use Malcolm! as an online presence for your Human Resources or Finance department
You could use Malcolm! as a way of communicating information about your premises or facilities
You could use Malcolm! as a home for an internal project or initiative

Question 9

Does the free trial have any restrictions?

Accepted Answer

The free trial follows the quotas for the Team plan, but with a lower limit for file uploads.

A trial therefore allows:

Up to 100 FAQs
Up to 10 Workflows
Up to 5 team members
Fle uploads to a total of 100MB.

If you sign up to a plan via the Billing section of MyMalcolm your restrictions will be lifted. If you have a particular requirement for higher FAQ, Workflow, team members or file upload limits during your trial please get in touch with us to discuss.

Question 10

Do you support Google Tag Manager?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we support Google Tag Manager. You put Google Tag Manager, and the subsequent tags and behaviours you configure in GTM on all your user facing pages. See this FAQ for further details.

You can also put Malcolm! content into an external site using our widget and Google Tag Manager. See this FAQ for further details.