2014

CUSTOMER SUCCESS

Association of Certified Fraud ExaminersEngaging clearly with members around the world

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc. 2

CUSTOMER SUCCESS Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Seeking to provide a clearer channel for communication with international members, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners deployed a digital engagement solution from LivePerson two years ago. The program grew exponentially

in the first year, and agents from the membership department now conduct more than 2,000 live chat

conversations per month. Visitors wait only 11 seconds on average before being greeted by an agent, and

time to resolution averages 11 minutes. And the live chat channel boasts a 95 percent customer satisfaction

rate.

In 1988, a CPA named Joseph T. Wells founded the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) to

establish a certification program for the discipline and help practitioners share best practices in combating

white-collar crime. Wells knew the field well: he took part in thousands of fraud investigations in 10 years

with U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation—including the infamous Watergate scandal—and subsequently

founded a private criminology firm.

The association has grown rapidly over 25 years, and now boasts more than 70,000 members in more

than 150 countries around the world—including more than 40,000 who have earned the Certified Fraud

Examiner (CFE) credential. The CFE designation is sought by professionals in the accounting, legal, and

law enforcement fields to demonstrate their qualification for a variety of job positions and contract

opportunities related to fraud investigation.

It is the job of Ross Pry and his 20-person team to shepherd applicants through the certification process

and provide customer support to current members. “If you ask whether my team does sales or service, I

would have to say that it is really both,” says Pry, the director of membership for the ACFE. “We help people

that we’re trying to recruit into the organization, as well as those who are already members. For everyone,

we work our hardest to provide the best member experience, and our customer service standards are very

high.”

The need for a new channelIn 2010, the membership department elected to seek a live chat solution to augment its phone and email

channels. “One of the primary drivers was in providing service for our international members,” Pry explains.

“When someone calls from Nigeria, for example, the connection may not be good, the caller’s accent

might be difficult for us to understand, and the caller might not understand everything our agent is saying

if English is a second language. These things get in the way of great customer service. Live chat had the

potential of improving communication in such situations because it is written and in real time.”

The team knew that members in North America would benefit from digital engagement as well. “People

here are very accustomed to the live chat experience, and most see it as a time saver,” Pry notes. “Besides,

someone might be in an office space that’s not conducive to making a call, and might assume that email

would take a long time. Having live chat channel available makes it that much easier for someone to get a

question answered.”

Company ProfileFounded in 1988, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is a professional organization for practitioners in the accounting, legal, and law enforcement fields who investigate white collar crime and other financial fraud. Its 83 employees serve more than 70,000 members, including 40,000 who have earned the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) designation.

Business Results• Operational Efficiency

1-2 headcount savings in call center through deflections of phone calls to live chat

• Customer Service

11 second average waiting time for live chat

11 minute time to resolution for live chat

95% satisfaction rate for live chat channel

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc. 3

CUSTOMER SUCCESS Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Deploying of a digital engagement solutionAfter evaluating several solutions, the ACFE settled

on LivePerson because of its reputation in the

marketplace and ease of use. The team started with

just one concurrent agent license and deployed it

in early 2011. But it quickly became apparent that

the single license would be inadequate. “After we

had the solution in place for three months or so, we

started seeing our live chat volume double or triple

every month for the rest of the first year,” Pry relates.

The ACFE ultimately purchased two additional

licenses to bring their total to three.

One reason behind the dramatic growth in live chat

volume in the early months was better placement

of live chat buttons. “We made some modifications

to our website so that the chat icon was visible

throughout the website regardless of the page,” Pry

recalls. “We also have a second live chat button on

pages that generate a lot of inquiries.”

Over time, data gathered from a post-chat survey

sent through the LiveEngage platform has helped

the ACFE to improve its website in other ways. “The

certification process has its complications, and

feedback from users has helped us to make the

various steps clearer for our users on the website.”

Providing excellent customer serviceToday, the member service center in Austin, Texas is

staffed from 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Central Time. When

visitors click on the live chat button, the agent’s name

and photo appears and the agent quickly sends a

greeting. “Our goal with phone service is that we

answer the call after two rings, so we wanted a similar

experience with live chat,” Pry asserts. “Our average

wait time for live chat is now 11 seconds.”

Ten member service agents on Pry’s team share

responsibility for the live chat channel. “We assign

agents to staff live chat lines for a couple hours at

a time,” Pry explains. “We typically have one team

member designated as the primary live chat agent at

a given time, with one or two backup agents to field

chat requests when the primary agent is busy.”

Because of the fast pace of the channel, new agents

aren’t asked to staff live chat lines until they are very

familiar with the business. “We find that it’s better

to put them on the phones first,” he says. Once

they’re approved for live chat, Pry tends to schedule

their first few shifts during the afternoon hours, as

international inquiries with potential language issues

typically come during the morning.

After three months, we saw our live chat volume

double or triple every month.– Ross Pry, Director of Membership,

ACFE

The Challenges• Facilitate communications

with international members with a written,

real-time channel

• Provide service for members and prospective members who might not call in

The Solution• Engagement Model:

Live chat for sales/services engagement

• Under the Hood: LiveEngage platform with click-to-chat

• LivePerson Customer Success: Ongoing monitoring and advice

Chatting with the CEOThe ACFE makes one very unique use of the live chat platform. “A couple times per year, we open the live chat

lines for members to have conversations with our president and CEO, James Ratley,” Pry says. “We market each

event as an opportunity to connect with him directly, and we make him available for an hour.”

The events have proved to be very popular. “He’s very charismatic and people love talking with him,” Pry says.

“People around the world are very interested in his thoughts on where the field is headed, and they love to

hear his stories from his years as a police investigator. He typically chats with 15 to 20 members at every event.

It is a great tool for member relations—digital engagement in the most literal sense.”

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CUSTOMER SUCCESS Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc.

A thriving engagement channelDuring regular customer service hours, agents on Pry’s team now conduct between 2,000 and 2,500 live chat conversations every month. Phone

volume has remained relatively steady since live chat was introduced, and might have grown without live chat due to membership growth. “We

might have needed to add one or two phone agents to our staff if live chat did not exist,” Pry says. “On the other hand, I believe that most people who

chat with us would not have called in. So live chat helps us to provide service that we wouldn’t otherwise have been able to provide.”

Once they click the chat button, visitors wait for only 11 seconds on average before being greeted by an agent, and the average conversation time

is 11 minutes. The quick response time is no doubt a factor in a 95 percent customer satisfaction rate in post-chat surveys. “For several months in

a row, we actually had 100 percent of respondents say they were satisfied or extremely satisfied with the agent’s service,” Pry relates. “And on the

rare occasion that the survey indicates dissatisfaction, a quick look at the transcript shows that the visitor is really unhappy with our policies or

certification requirements, rather than the agent or the live chat channel.”

LivePerson’s Customer Success team has periodically kept in contact with Pry and his team to monitor performance. “He shares a scorecard with us to

help us understand how things are going,” he explains. “He encourages us when we’re doing well, and lets us know about some of the new tools and

services that might help us do even better.”

For several months in a row, we had 100 percent say they were satisfied with the agent’s service

– Ross Pry, Director of Membership, ACFE

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CUSTOMER SUCCESS Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

© 2014 LivePerson, Inc.

Words of advicePry’s first word of advice for his peers regarding digital engagement is

to be prepared for success. “We expected live chat to be popular, but

we were surprised at how quickly it grew,” he says. “We determined

early on that we had to be resilient enough to make quick decisions to

make the best experience for our members.

“LivePerson has been successful for us because it allows another level

of personal engagement with our members without adding too much

to our plates as a team,” Pry concludes. “This helps us to better serve

our members.”

Looking to the futurePry is looking to expand ACFE’s digital engagement footprint in several

ways over the next couple years. At the top of his agenda is providing a

customized Click-to-Chat experience for visitors using mobile devices. “I

was in a meeting just the other day where we discussed mobile traffic,”

Pry says. “Mobile visits to our site went from 50,000 in 2012 to 140,000

in 2013—a 124 percent increase. We are working to optimize our site for

mobile, and we will want to deliver the best live chat experience to those

users.”

Pry’s team is also looking at launching proactive chat with rules-based

targeting later in 2014. “I’m currently in conversation with our marketing

department to determine the best opportunities to target high-

value visitors,” Pry says. He adds that he would like to use LivePerson’s

enrichment analytics features to gain insight into user behavior

on the site, which could help the association make further website

improvements to enable more effective self service.

About LivePersonLivePerson, 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, 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