Encouraging Community Self-Service

Self-service = lower support costs

But what if customers want more

What if they want social connection?

What if they want more interaction with peers?

Is there a way to encourage community self-service

Absolutely.

Penn Foster—a distance learning company providing college, high school and career training to more than 130,000 students—experienced rising service transactions and costs.

Average of 687,000 service transactions per year.

Cost per interaction

= $7.75

Penn Foster had Facebook and Twitter to engage prospective students.

But something unexpected happened: Students started using social channels for service-related questions.

The big challenge: How do we combine self-service with social interactions?

Solution: Build out a self-service community.

What is a self-service community

For PennFoster it is: An online community of students who can share solutions and help solve each other’s problems. Includes:• Groups organized by area of study• Discussion forums• Polls, student blogs, calendar of events• Documents and video links• Gamification and participation badges

Self Help Many to Many One to Many One to One Self Help Many to Many One to Many One to One

Community Self Service Flips the Service Pyramid

How did the self service community help PennFoster solve its big challenge?

Since 2012, user adoption rose by over 200% to 64,622.

By May 2014 there were 75,000 registered users.

More numbers: • 158,000 pieces of content

• 19,000 questions answered

• 7,250 daily active users on average

And the BIG result: Cost per service interaction have dropped an average of $1.06 each year since 2010.

At the end of 2013, the cost per service interaction was $5.49…

41%That’s a improvement!

Unexpected Benefits:• Many to Many Communication: one question

answered can benefit all students.

• Relationship Building: students work through their program by interacting with others who have a common goal.

• Peer to Peer Support: students who have completed course work become leaders for those who are still working.

“Our institution is completely online and we knew the importance of peer to peer connections but we did not have a way to facilitate these interactions. Now our students can connect with each other, create social relationships and get the help they need when they need it.”

—Dara WarnPennFoster, Chief Marketing and Product Officer

“With our online community, a stronger bond is forged by personalizing the relationship, instilling a sense of school spirit and going beyond the limits of independent learning by enabling information sharing and collaboration.” —Mark SlaytonVice President, CRM & Contact Center Operations

For more information about Penn Foster, go to www.pennfoster.edu For more information about a building your own self service community, go to www.jivesoftware.com/products-solutions/customer-communities

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