Case Study: ESPN achieves 91% fan satisfaction and reduced agent attrition with Medallia

Improving customer satisfaction and reducing agent attrition by building a feedback-driven culture

ESPN, the multinational sports entertainment brand, needed to improve fan experience and reduce agent attrition while capturing the “dark data” that flows across calls, chat, text, email and social media. To move away from traditional call‑center metrics and build a feedback‑driven, quality‑focused support culture, ESPN deployed Medallia in 2018—specifically Medallia Agent Connect as part of the Medallia Experience Cloud—to collect real‑time fan feedback and surface actionable insights.

Medallia enabled ESPN to capture post‑interaction feedback across channels, power coaching and a Karma rewards program, and drive product and service improvements. The results include a 30% year‑over‑year increase in surveys completed, sustained 91% customer satisfaction year over year while operating at roughly 60% of the original budget, agent attrition under 10% (near 4% excluding COVID), and substantial agent engagement with over 25% earning rewards and many redeeming multiple times. Medallia’s real‑time insights also helped prioritize features like fantasy football enhancements and set ESPN up for faster, live issue detection.

ESPN

Doug Kramon

Head of Fan Support and Customer Care