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LivePerson > Case Studies > Engaging with Students to Build an Affordable Education
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Engaging with Students to Build an Affordable Education

Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries
  • Education
Applicable Functions
  • Sales & Marketing
Services
  • System Integration
The Challenge
StraighterLine, a provider of self-paced college courses, was looking for a way to engage with students and prospective students in a familiar channel. They wanted to provide engagement options for mobile users and improve conversion and customer satisfaction rates. The company had a live chat solution from LivePerson, but it was not being used to its full potential. They were completing around 100 chat conversations per month, with inquiries fielded on an ad-hoc basis by members of the telephone call center team. They realized they were missing substantial opportunities and needed to optimize their live chat.
About The Customer
StraighterLine is a rapidly growing provider of self-paced college courses. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, the company has served over 15,000 students to date and transferred over 16,000 credits in 2013. StraighterLine offers self-paced, independent study college courses at an affordable price. They partner with top universities so that students can take their general education courses, and then seamlessly transfer the credits to their partner institutions. The company is able to cut the cost of courses dramatically because of the way they are delivered. They don’t have the physical overhead that a brick-and-mortar institution has and they price their courses much closer to cost than many online schools.
The Solution
StraighterLine decided to optimize their live chat solution from LivePerson. They hired two dedicated live chat agents and within two months, they were having 500 conversations per month. The program was transferred to the student support team, where it continued to grow. StraighterLine now owns five concurrent agent seats for the LiveEngage platform, and the number of live chat agents has grown to seven. Different agents handle sales inquiries from prospective students versus support inquiries from current students. StraighterLine also uses rules-based targeting through the LiveEngage platform to invite high-value visitors to proactive live chat. The company just launched a new mobile-friendly website with responsive design, and mobile live chat from LivePerson is integrated into that site.
Operational Impact
  • Sales and customer relationships improved with a 10 percentage points higher conversion rate for live chat participants compared with all website visitors.
  • There was a 2,500% increase in monthly chat conversations in one year, from 100 to 2,500 per month.
  • The live chat channel achieved a 90% customer satisfaction rate.
Quantitative Benefit
  • 10 percentage points higher conversion rate for live chat participants.
  • 2,500% increase in monthly chat conversations.
  • 90% customer satisfaction rate for live chat channel.

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