LivePerson service solution assists visitors and generates a 200% ROI
“Customer service has always been a strategic differentiator for EarthLink,” said Dave Flammia, director of call center strategy for EarthLink. “We’ve found that our customers appreciate multiple contact options and expect fast resolution to their issues through their preferred channel of communication. Delivering new ways for them to connect with EarthLink helps us build customer loyalty and maintain our position of leadership in the marketplace.”
The Challenge
EarthLink implemented click-to-chat in 1998 to improve customer service, increase agent productivity and drive bottom-line savings. The technology facilitated faster customer issue resolution by allowing agents to assist three customers simultaneously, compared to one-on-one email or phone interactions.
In 2006, EarthLink sought to develop a proactive service application to reach customers who were likely to abandon online self-service, or skip it altogether.
“We viewed proactive service as a natural extension of both our existing ‘click-to-chat’ implementation and our commitment to improving customer service,” said Flammia. “If successful, this would allow us to reach out to our online customers proactively, before they reached the point of frustration, serving their needs better and providing us with additional opportunities to build customer loyalty.”
LivePerson Solution
Creating an industry proactive service solution, LivePerson configured its Timpani platform to monitor visitors browsing EarthLink’s online support center, identify those most likely to call or email, and offer chat as a method for instant issue resolution.
With goals of increasing customer satisfaction and deflecting incoming customer support calls to the more cost-efficient chat channel, EarthLink employs LivePerson’s rules-based platform to:
Identify Hot Leads In Real Time. EarthLink identified the specific web pages that drove call volume and monitored visitors to determine the actions that led them to phone or email for support. Using this knowledge, the company developed business rules to pinpoint visitors experiencing difficulty in the self-service channel.Business rules trigger a proactive chat invitation when a visitor:
• Exhibits defined behaviors on certain pages, including FAQ sections associated with connectivity issues and the “Find a Phone Number” page.
• Indicates that their issue was not resolved in an FAQ query.
• Encounters an error on the “My Account” login page.
• Remains on the My Account “Password Retrieval” or email landing page for an extended period of time.
Deliver Prompt Customer Service. EarthLink uses LivePerson’s predictive dialer to ensure that visitors only receive chat invitations when agents are available, and skills-based routing capabilities match visitors with appropriate agents.
Continuously Optimize Results With Comprehensive Reporting. Operational and transcript reports allow EarthLink to conduct detailed analysis of operational metrics and review chat transcripts for ongoing program optimization. EarthLink leverages customer exit surveys to constantly monitor customer feedback and oversee agent performance.
To maximize its investment and results, EarthLink takes advantage of LivePerson’s methodologies and domain experience.
“LivePerson has extensive, practical experience in the development of business rules aligned to targeted behaviors,” said Flammia. “They know how to leverage this background, share best practices for agent training and build programs for ongoing process improvement.”
Using LivePerson’s Timpani Sales and Marketing platform, EarthLink identifies and engages visitors most likely to abandon self-help or call for assistance and proactively offers an immediate, text-based live chat with a customer support agent. LivePerson’s predictive dialer ensures that visitors only receive chat invitations when agents are available, and skills-based routing features match visitors with appropriate agents.
Tangible Results
After conducting an eight-week pilot, EarthLink assessed the value of LivePerson’s proactive service solution based on customer satisfaction, cost reduction and agent productivity metrics.
Proactive service chat increased customer satisfaction ratings; and by deflecting calls and emails to chat, the company also dramatically reduced service costs while promoting a lower-cost channel for future contact.
10 Point Increase In Top Customer Satisfaction Score. EarthLink witnessed a 10-point increase in their top CSAT score (customers rating the experience “very satisfied”) for proactive service over their existing click-to-chat deployment.
The company saw a 7% increase in first contact resolution, and 88% of visitors using proactive chat indicated they were either “satisfied” or “very satisfied”, seven basis points higher than feedback from the click-to-chat channel.
15% Increase In Agent Efficiency. The proactive nature of LivePerson’s platform and predictive dialer ensure agents work at maximum capacity throughout their shifts. During the eight-week pilot, EarthLink experienced a 15% increase in total number of chats per week without adding any additional agents.
“There is a certain ebb and flow to chat volume when contacts are based on customer choice with click-to-chat,” said Flammia. “LivePerson’s predictive dialer allowed us to ‘fill the trough’ in agent capacity by reaching out and engaging customers not only when they need help, but when we’re best able to provide them with prompt service.”
200% Return On Investment. EarthLink drove significant cost reductions by moving volume from voice and email to chat; their overall chat volume increased by 15% while phone volume dropped 5%.
With the value of each deflected call estimated at $2.70, the proactive service pilot delivered annualized savings of over $600,000 with no increase in staff. Because program analytics showed there was additional demand beyond the number of invitations sent to customers, EarthLink is increasing chat staff to deflect more call volume; the projected annual direct cost savings is approaching $1M.
About LivePerson:
LivePerson makes life easier by transforming how people communicate with brands. Our customers use our conversational commerce solutions to orchestrate humans and AI, at scale, and create a convenient, deeply personal relationship — a conversational relationship — with their consumers.
About Earthlink:
EarthLink is an Internet service provider (ISP) headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It claims 5.4 million members (2004 estimate)
Published: Thursday, August 23, 2007
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