From 2 hours to 2 minutes: How Hostinger sped up customer support with Intercom

Having the right tools to support customers is vital if your customer base is growing at a fast clip. How fast? Try 1 new customer every 5 seconds.

That’s been the experience of web hosting provider Hostinger. Launched in 2004, the company supports over 29 million users in 178 countries. With slow loading websites costing the US economy more than $500 million every year, Hostinger equips businesses with reliable web hosting and fast loading times that directly contribute to their bottom line.

Sustaining that level of growth and managing their customers’ (and their customers’ users) expectations is no easy feat, as Hostinger’s Head of Customer Service Darius Grigorjevas told us:

“Being at the helm of so many people’s websites is both a huge responsibility and a privilege. To ensure customers are getting the best level of support and service possible, we’ve doubled down on hiring and internal onboarding processes.”

And when it comes to giving their customers the round-the-clock assistance they expect, Hostinger has chosen to use Intercom.

Email ticketing = lengthy wait times

Prior to using Intercom, Hostinger tested a number of different support tools. The team tried a traditional email ticketing system, but they soon discovered customers were experiencing lengthy response times and delayed resolutions with this setup.

“They needed a tool that would let their customers seek help in a fast, easy and user-friendly manner”

They also tried live chat which accelerated response time, but the tool they chose provided a suboptimal experience. Chat sessions were frequently disconnected and customers weren’t able to track the resolution of their issue over multiple chat sessions.

These kinds of technical issues were preventing the Hostinger customer success team from providing the kind of customer service they aspired to. They needed a tool that would let their customers seek help in a fast, easy and user-friendly manner.

“We have an amazing team of highly skilled specialists. We identified that the problem was tied to limiting software rather than the team itself and that was the breaking point. We simply couldn’t offer customer service that is anything less than perfect,” says Darius.

Supporting customers personally at scale

Hostinger wanted a way to allow its customers to get support without having to wait in a chat queue.

“We looked at a few solutions, including Kayako and Zendesk, but all of them had this ticket plus live chat option, which wasn’t what we were searching for,” notes Darius.

Intercom gave Hostinger the conversational support experience it was looking for. Customers can message the team directly without having to join a queue or take a ticket. Using a combination of Messages Pro, Inbox Pro and Articles, Hostinger is able to provide its customers with 24/7 hands-on support.

“The only sensible way to achieve 24/7 support was to go completely live and scrap the ticket system. For that reason, we chose Intercom. It offered a messaging experience that allowed our customers to jump back to the conversation at any time without losing their chat history.

Our customer queries and questions go straight to members of the success team, which meant that all issues were being solved on the spot.

We are now able to work efficiently and maintain a high level of quality in our service. We no longer have to worry about juggling live chat and tickets. We no longer lost customers to disconnecting chats, thanks to the Messenger that Intercom offers. Even simple features like GIF implementation was a contributing factor. It adds a healthier and more personal approach, something both our customers and customer success specialists love,” says Darius.

Since implementing Intercom, Hostinger has seen its response time go from 2 hours to under 2 minutes. Their customer satisfaction score has risen from 83% to 95% – and continues to rise.

The road ahead

Exceptional customer support has always been a key part of Hostinger’s identity – and Intercom has helped make it a reality. With every customer interaction, the team is always seeking to understand the customer’s mindset and their query in order to find the best solution. It is this kind of thorough approach that led Hostinger to Intercom.

“The customer’s feedback is what motivated us to look for the best solution available. We needed a customer-centric approach to meet constantly rising standards – one where the team does diligent research and sees the user as an individual rather than a group,” Darius explains.

“The goal is not to jump to new tools simply for the sake of change, but rather to tackle and challenge existing ones in order to find better ways to reach the customer and make sure our improvements make a positive impact for the user.

Providing better, more thoughtful ways of solving problems on the road ahead is something we won’t stop pursuing.”