Company: Study Island, Dallas, TX
Company Description: Study Island is a leading provider of online, standards-based assessment for the U.S. K-12 educational market. Named in Inc500 as one of the top small businesses of 2006, and winner of District Administration’s Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products for 2008, Study Island is used by over 8.1 million elementary and secondary students in over 18,000 schools, and is adding over 400 new schools per month.
Nomination Category: Customer Service Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Department of the Year

Nomination Title: Study Island's Customer Relations Department Helps to Grow Business

Tell the story about what this nominated organization/department achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

From our very first customer to our 18,000th, Study Island’s goal has been to
provide unmatched customer service.  Our department is comprised of
approximately 45% former teachers, with the rest coming from customer service
and IT backgrounds.  Because Study Island’s primary callers are teachers, they
feel a sense of solidarity when speaking with a fellow teacher, plus our
representatives are familiar with the environment of our users.  With a 68%
word-of-mouth referral rate, we take care to treat all customers to the same
level of care whether they are a $20 or a $7000 client.  There are never any
fees for contacting us; customers enjoy unlimited free support. 

Users may contact us via phone, live chat (essential since most of our users
are in a classroom setting without phones), or through an email ticketing
system.  Our team currently maintains a chat satisfaction rate of over 99.5%
with five out of five stars, and a support call hold time of 30 seconds or
less.  In addition to our three main avenues of contact, users can comment on
our questions to send immediate feedback to our writers as well as complete a
customer survey.  We regularly review all suggestions received and implement
many of them in an effort to provide the best possible product.  Over the
years, our product has developed and grown based upon our customer’s wants and
needs. 

Study Island offers training through online webinars or onsite sessions as well
as free customized implementation assistance to provide schools with solutions
and motivation (both student and teacher.)  A free informative newsletter with
ideas and suggestions is provided as well.  Upon purchase, schools receive both
administrative and teacher manuals (also available online) which include Parent
Letters to send home to all students’ parents.  New employees are subjected to
rigorous, ongoing training to impart the information necessary to help our
customers in the quickest, friendliest, most knowledgeable manner possible. 

In an effort to maximize our customers’ service experience even more, we have
recently added a number of service-related features, including  hiring a
grant/bid writer to assist schools in obtaining funding,  an updated help
feature, and new video tutorials which provide detailed instruction on an
immediate basis, 24 hours a day.  In addition, Study Island extended username
and password support to 24 hours/7 days a week.   Our attention to customer
service has helped lead to an 80% renewal rate, which in turn has been
instrumental in helping Study Island double in size each year.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.studyisland.com/salessheets/DAReadersChoice.pdf
http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/company-profile.html?id=2006048
http://studyislandky.blogspot.com/2008/09/study-island-llc-names-greg-smith-as.html
http://www.studyisland.com/demoAsk.cfm?action=GGT&myState=TX#assist – grant writing   
http://www.studyisland.com/salessheets/Grant%20Recipients%20Press%20Release%20-%202009.pdf

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:

Becky Wofford is Vice President, Customer Relations and Marketing for Study
Island, LLC and has been with the company since 2003. She truly knows what it
means to serve the customer, having worked in customer service for over 15
years.  Becky holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from Texas A&M
University and is expected to receive her Masters of Business Administration in
Marketing and Strategy from SMU Cox School of Business in August 2009.  During
her studies at SMU, she studied at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and SDA
Bocconi School of Management in Milan.