Case Study: How an ISP Used Online Chat to Lower Customer Service Costs and Achieve an 80% Customer Satisfaction Rate

Company: Earthlink, Inc.
Contact: Dave Flammia, Director of Call Center Innovation
Location: Atlanta, GA
Industry: Internet (B2B, B2C)
Annual revenue: $1,300,000,000
Number of employees: 2200

Quick Read:

Earthlink is one of the country's smaller Internet service providers, serving just over 5 million customers. As such, it needs to differentiate itself—and has decided to do so by providing superior customer service. As a public company listed on NASDAQ, it is also under constant pressure to improve service without adding costs.

An early adopter of chat technology, Earthlink has sought to actively offer efficient online customer service via chat technology, encouraging customers to help themselves. In the process, it has been able to shift customer support away from the phone channel, increasing customer satisfaction and dramatically reducing expenses. The cost of each service chat is about one-third that of a phone contact.

The Challenge: