SWANA Knowledge Base

2020–2024

Tony MacFarlane built this knowledge base to provide customer support for Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) members. Initially, Tony set up a chat flow through HubSpot to help the SWANA Membership department manage customer contacts. Over time we noticed similar questions being asked in chat, so Tony built out a decision tree within the chatbot itself. A user opening the chatbot would see a set of common questions, which they could chose for an immediate answer. These questions linked to a knowledge base that Tony developed and curated.

First, Tony audited content from FAQs scattered throughout SWANA.org.
After revising these FAQs (sometimes with input from stakeholders), Tony created articles in the knowledge base structured according to the main website’s taxonomy.
Tony then linked each chatbot branch to a relevant article, leaving an option for customers to continue to a live chat session with SWANA staff.
Over time, Tony revised and elaborated each article’s content, sometimes adding graphics for clarity. Some articles went through several iterations from feedback provided by SWANA members and staff.

This content strategy resulted in significant relief from customer support, and less frustration from SWANA membership.