Case Studies
SportPesa’s winning bet on a customer experience digital transformation
SportPesa, a leading sports entertainment company, has revolutionized the betting industry across Africa and beyond since its inception in 2014. As customer preferences shifted towards digital channels, SportPesa recognized the need for a unified messaging solution to replace multiple systems and deliver exceptional customer experiences. By partnering with LivePerson, SportPesa embarked on a customer experience digital transformation journey to consolidate their customer service, leverage AI-powered digital technologies, and provide seamless assistance across various channels.
The journey in numbers
70%
of customer interactions in Kenya are now digital
58%
containment rate achieved through automated bots
80%
customer satisfaction score
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Enhancing the betting experience through connected customer conversations
SportPesa, founded in Nairobi, Kenya, quickly expanded its presence to Tanzania, South Africa, and globally through its .com domain. The company’s largest division, the customer service team, plays a crucial role in onboarding, retaining, and handling customer inquiries. Prior to partnering with LivePerson, SportPesa primarily relied on voice support to assist customers. However, as the appetite for messaging grew, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, SportPesa sought a digital technology partner to help them navigate the digital landscape and deliver truly connected customer conversations.
To achieve this, SportPesa leveraged LivePerson’s Conversational Flywheel™, a powerful framework for digital transformation initiatives. By embracing all four stages of the flywheel — Understand, Connect, Assist, and Automate — SportPesa was able to gain valuable insights into customer needs, engage with them on their preferred channels, empower agents with AI-powered tools, and streamline operations through automation.
“We have strived to be innovative-first. Our commitment to be part of our customer journeys through LivePerson’s innovative services remains unmatched. This is in line with our core values to invest in best-in-class technology that provides the most benefits to our customers and to our Customer Service teams that support and interact with the customers on a daily basis.”
~ Walter N., Head of Customer Service
Challenge #1: Addressing diverse customer needs across different languages and regions
SportPesa’s customer base spanned multiple regions, each with their own unique language preferences and betting habits. In East Africa, where Swahili is widely spoken, customers primarily sought assistance with bet results, jackpot entries, and account top-up inquiries. Meanwhile, in South Africa, where English is more prevalent, customers frequently required support for password resets, withdrawal inquiries, and error resolution. SportPesa recognized the need for a solution that could effectively cater to these diverse linguistic and regional challenges, ensuring a seamless digital customer experience tailored to each market’s specific needs.
“Recognizing that the world has become a global village and we have to stay interconnected with our customers, technology has become a key enabler and a driver of our business.”
~ Walter N., Head of Customer Service
Solution: Embracing digital transformation with multilingual bots and AI-powered intent management
To tackle this challenge, SportPesa leveraged LivePerson’s chatbot builder to create multilingual AI chatbots capable of handling frequently asked questions. These bots, available in English and Swahili, achieved an impressive 58% containment rate. LivePerson helped SportPesa with intent recognition and analysis, enabling them to build automations that enhance customer experience and improve operations across the entire organization.
Challenge #2: Providing 24/7 customer support
As SportPesa expanded globally, the need for round-the-clock customer support became evident. However, providing 24/7 coverage through human agents alone posed challenges.
Solution: Meeting people where they are with omnichannel customer engagement
SportPesa utilized LivePerson’s omnichannel messaging platform to engage customers on their preferred channels, including web messaging, SMS, Apple Messages for Business, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. This seamless omnichannel experience allowed customers to connect with SportPesa whenever and wherever they needed assistance, fostering more connected customer conversations. Additionally, SportPesa used Proactive Messaging to initiate two-way conversations, sending personalized messages, reminders, and alerts to increase loyalty and drive revenue throughout the customer journey.
Challenge #3: Improving customer care agent productivity and efficiency
With the increasing adoption of digital channels, SportPesa aimed to enhance agent productivity and efficiency. The company sought a solution that could empower agents to handle multiple conversations simultaneously while maintaining high-quality service.
Solution: Streamlined customer support with a unified approach to messaging
By consolidating multiple systems into LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud platform, SportPesa significantly improved their customer care agents’ productivity. The platform’s agent workspace provided agents with a single view of conversation history, customer data, and other information. This unified approach, powered by LivePerson’s conversational intelligence tools, enabled agents to deliver more personalized and effective interactions across all customer support channels. Transitioning from voice to messaging allowed SportPesa to optimize their workforce and provide more efficient support. Additionally, SportPesa used LivePerson’s conversational AI-powered agent tools, like Conversation Assist, to drive agent efficiency and streamline their workflow.
Results and outcomes of these customer experience digital transformation efforts
Through their partnership with LivePerson, SportPesa saw a significantly higher customer satisfaction, with an 80% CSAT score. By consolidating multiple systems into LivePerson’s Conversational Cloud, SportPesa increased agent productivity, enabling them to handle more customer demands and inquiries efficiently. Moreover, the implementation of the AI chatbot successfully contained 58% of customer inquiries, reducing the workload on human agents and providing swift resolutions to common issues.
“Our customers are now more satisfied and happy with how fast, swift and effective we handle their queries from time to time, thanks to having a partner as LivePerson, with whom we share a similar vision of innovation and continuous improvement.”
~ Walter N., Head of Customer Service
Looking ahead
As SportPesa continues to grow, they plan to expand their conversational capabilities by supporting more languages and exploring LivePerson’s generative AI tools. With LivePerson’s digital solutions, SportPesa is well-equipped to deliver seamless, personalized, and efficient customer experiences across the globe, further strengthening their position as a leader in the online gaming industry.
SportPesa’s success story is a testament to the power of LivePerson’s Conversational Flywheel™ in accelerating digital transformation to remain competitive. By bridging the gap from calls to conversations, SportPesa has not only improved customer satisfaction but also optimized their workforce and streamlined their business operations.
Accelerate your digital transformation with LivePerson
Ready to unlock the potential of connected conversations to exceed customer expectations? LivePerson’s Conversational Flywheel is your blueprint for success.