2014

CUSTOMER SUCCESS

United Way of Greater AtlantaConnecting People in Need with Community Resources

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc. 2

CUSTOMER SUCCESS United Way of Greater Atlanta

United Way of Greater Atlanta wanted to expand on the tremendous success of its 211 telephone referral program, which connects community members with a wide variety of social services. In 2012, the agency launched a revamped website with several new options

for engaging with agents: email, text message, and live chat powered by LivePerson. The new e-services

emphasis increased the total number of contacts by 25 percent. And visitors are overwhelmingly positive

about the live chat channel, with satisfaction rates for waiting time, agent performance, and issue resolution

all above 95 percent.

Few charitable organizations enjoy the brand value of the United Way, and one big reason for that

longstanding success is strong leadership at its local chapters. A great example is the Greater Atlanta

chapter, one of the nation’s largest and one long known for its innovative approach to service delivery.

One innovation that started in Atlanta is the 211 phone service. “Our First Call program was a phone

service that connected people with a wide variety of services,” explains Monica Hammond, the outreach

and marketing manager for United Way of Greater Atlanta. “Our CEO wanted that information to be even

more accessible, so we approached the Georgia Public Service Commission to get the number 211 assigned

as a 24-hour helpline. It has become a great way to connect the community. Now, many regions across the

U.S. have 211 lines.”

Company profile

United Way of Greater

Atlanta is one of the largest

United Way agencies in the

United States, with more

than $100 million in annual

revenue. It invests in more

than 200 charitable programs

in its 13-county territory.

Business results

Customer Satisfaction

99% resolution

rate with first live

chat conversation

96% satisfaction

with live chat

response time

100% found the

live chat agent to

be helpful

E-services benefits

238% increase

in total engagement,

from 299,000 to

713,000 annually,

since launch of

live chat and

other e-services

Connection with a

new generation of

donors who prefer

to give digitally

25K

25K

25K

25K

25K

We saw a 76 percent increase in volume from the first month to the second; it was amazing how quickly

people took to it. – Monica Hammond, Outreach and Marketing Manager, United Way of Greater Atlanta

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc. 3

CUSTOMER SUCCESS United Way of Greater Atlanta

Getting up and runningThe agency deployed LiveEngage concurrently with

the other new channels and the refreshed website.

“We were ready to go—including agent training—a

week and a half after we first logged into the

platform,” Hammond reports. “It was a

really easy deployment.”

The team felt that it was important to have highly

skilled agents on the live chat channel. “All of our

phone agents are extremely talented and well

versed in connecting people with resources,”

Hammond asserts. “However, we had some above-

and-beyond achievers that had a great average

handling time, connected emotionally with callers,

and did a thorough job of providing resources. So

we chose these individuals in order to add the most

value to the chat process.”

The agency’s database manager conducted training

for the live chat agents who were chosen. “She

was instrumental to our success,” Hammond says

gratefully. “She used a training module provided

by LivePerson, which she customized to reflect

our branding and practices. Once an agent was

chatting with visitors, she would gradually increase

the number of concurrent chats he or she could

conduct—from one to four. We even have one

agent who handles five live chats at a time; I

don’t know how she does it.”

We have begun to reach people who would never call us by phone, but feel more comfortable

communicating with digital channels. – Monica Hammond, Outreach and Marketing Manager, United Way of Greater Atlanta

The Challenges • Create digital connections

with those seeking help,

as well as potential donors

and volunteers

• Provide a comfortable

channel when asking for

help is uncomfortable

The Solution Engagement Model:

Live chat and content

targeting to connect

with community members

who need help or want

to volunteer or donate

Key Capabilities:

LiveEngage platform

with proactive chat,

content targeting, and

enrichment analytics

Extending the phone channel’s successBy the time Hammond joined United Way eight

years ago, the 211 program was a huge success,

but the phone remained the only way to access the

service. “Our website had a lot of information, but

it was really targeted more at social services case

managers than the general public,” she recalls.

“And the only options for contacting us were

by phone and postal mail.”

By 2010, United Way of Greater Atlanta realized that

it could build on the success of the 211 program—

and extend its benefits to a larger population—

by revamping its website and adding online

engagement options. The agency underwent 18

months of strategic planning, fundraising, and

development work before launching its new

online portal in April 2011. “We revamped all of

the content on our website to make it easier for

the public to find information, and we transformed

our call center into a full-service contact center,”

Hammond remembers. “We added access to

services by email, text message, and live chat.”

For live chat, United Way of Greater Atlanta selected

LivePerson’s LiveEngage platform, which the team

found easy to use, reliable, and scalable. “The fact

that it is based in the cloud was a real benefit, as

we did not want to maintain a solution onsite,”

Hammond notes. “And we were very impressed with

how intuitive the platform was.”

We now have a new generation of donors that

prefers to communicate

digitally.– Monica Hammond, Outreach and Marketing Manager, United

Way of Greater Atlanta

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CUSTOMER SUCCESS United Way of Greater Atlanta

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc.

Building an effective operationUnited Way of Greater Atlanta started with four agents staffing the

Live Engage platform during local business hours. “We had to quickly

increase that number due to demand,” Hammond recalls.

“We saw a 76 percent increase in volume from the first month to

the second; it was amazing how quickly people took to it.”

The agency now has 13 trained chatters who take turns staffing six

concurrent agent positions. A few agents chat full time, but most of

them multitask with phone calls, texts, and email. Agents have access

to a variety of tools within the LivePerson platform that helps them

provide the best experience. A few that the United Way team utilize

include the browsing history of visitors on the website and a library

of canned answers to frequently asked questions.

The canned answers have been created gradually over time. “We have

different programs at different times of the year, so building the library

has been a year-round process,” Hammond relates. “But one of our

canned responses is used at the end of almost every conversation.

We always ask, ‘Is there anything else that we can do to help you?’”

Agents also occasionally use the push page feature of LiveEngage to

send direct URL links to different pages of United Way websites. “You

can’t easily do that over the phone,” Hammond observes. “Getting

people to the right page on the website is one of the most time-

consuming parts of phone service.”

The LiveEngage platform’s enrichment analytics capabilities also bring

value for the larger organization. “It’s great that we can pull a variety

of reports from the platform,” Hammond says. “For example, we know

that our number one live chat request is for electric bill payment

assistance, number two is for assistance with rent, and number

three is for food. The same holds true for our phone channel.

This information helps us make long-term decisions from a

resource allocation perspective.”

Optimizing the visitor experienceA Click-to-Chat button is always available to website visitors,

regardless of what page they are on. In addition, United Way of Greater

Atlanta extends proactive chat invitations to visitors who visit certain

pages or use certain keywords. “When the names of programs like

Project Overcoat, Shoe Box, or Toys for Tots are used, then a live chat

invitation floats across the screen,” Hammond explains. Proactive chat

invitations are also extended to anyone who is on the website for 40

seconds or longer.

In addition, United Way of Greater Atlanta uses LiveEngage’s content

targeting tools to send timely information to people browsing the

website. “If your behavior shows that you’re looking for certain things,

we have pop-ups that direct the visitor to the right place,” she says.

“And visitors to our homepage sometimes see messages about one

of our featured initiatives—usually a seasonal project like Project

Overcoat in the fall.”

Measuring resultsLive chat volume leveled off after initial spike two years ago, but it

remains robust. Agents now participate in an average of 900 to 1,100

live chat conversations per month. “We get closer to 1,200 chats

during the back to school and holiday months,” Hammond reports.

Exit surveys sent through the LiveEngage platform show that live chat

participants are overwhelmingly happy with the experience. “In April

2014, for example, 96 percent were satisfied with the response time of

live chat, 99 percent got the information they needed on the first visit,

and 100 percent found the agent to be helpful,” Hammond reports.

“We have achieved numbers in this range every month for the

past year.”

Traffic for the other channels, including the original 211-phone service,

also increased after the launch of the new website and e-services

emphasis. “We were averaging 299,000 contacts per year previously,

but we had more than 560,000 contacts through all channels in the

first year of e-services,” Hammond relates. “And that number increased

to 713,000 in Fiscal Year 2013-14, which is astounding. We have begun

to reach people who would never call us by phone, but feel more

comfortable communicating with digital channels.”

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CUSTOMER SUCCESS United Way of Greater Atlanta

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc.

A nationwide impactAtlanta’s e-services emphasis is well known in the larger United Way

community, and a number of other chapters are now replicating the

success achieved by the Atlanta team. “As digital engagement spreads

nationwide, we have begun to see a side benefit,” Hammond notes. “It

turns out that live chat is a great way to connect with donors. People

wanting to give time, money, or goods have always called the 211

number, but we now have a new generation of donors that prefers

to communicate digitally.”

As these digital service delivery ideas spread, the team at United

Way of Greater Atlanta is evaluating the next steps for their own

groundbreaking program. One initiative under consideration is to

integrate LivePerson’s mobile Click-to-Chat tool into its 211 mobile

apps. “So far, the apps allow users to search the database and connect

with the phone number, but it would be great to add live chat to the

experience,” Hammond says.

Such expansion of digital engagement options is becoming a part of

the agency’s identity. “We will never stop with the 211 calls,” Hammond

emphasizes. “But we have changed the tagline on our 211 logo to ‘Call,

Click, Connect.’ That is a major. We are becoming a digital engagement

resource, and our future success will be determined by the unique

ways we are reaching out to our community.”

To watch the customer video, visit http://bcove.me/bn2zjqem Follow the conversation on Twitter: #LiveEngage

About LivePerson

LivePerson, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPSN) offers a cloud-based platform that enables businesses to proactively connect in real-time with their customers

via chat, voice, and content delivery at the right time, through the right channel, including websites, social media, and mobile devices. This

“intelligent engagement” is driven by real-time behavioral analytics, producing connections based on a true understanding of business

objectives and customer needs. LivePerson is headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Tel Aviv, London,

Amsterdam, and Melbourne.

Contact

LivePerson, Inc.

T: 212.991.1794

475 Tenth Ave

F: 212.609.4233

5th Floor

info@liveperson.com

New York, NY 10018

www.liveperson.com

Our future success will be determined by the unique ways we are reaching out to our community.

– Monica Hammond, Outreach and Marketing Manager, United Way of Greater Atlanta