Case Study: Coursera achieves 20% ticket deflection and 1-minute, 98.5% CSAT live chat with Zendesk Messaging

Coursera recognized Zendesk Support as a system they could grow with

Coursera, a global online learning platform with more than 1,800 courses from 140 partners, faced mounting support challenges as its learner base grew. When Mike Robichaud joined in 2014, the team was limited by a single inbox, few automations and triggers, long resolution times, and poor access to ticket data—hindering the ability to route, analyze, and scale support operations.

Coursera migrated to Zendesk Support, Chat, and Guide, rebuilt its support stack, launched two self-service help centers and community forums, and used Zendesk’s APIs to feed ticket data into a data warehouse and custom apps. The changes drove measurable gains: up to 20% ticket deflection via Guide, ~2,800 tickets handled per week, live chat average first response of about 1 minute with 98.5% CSAT, faster incident detection and resolution, and a scalable infrastructure for future growth.

Coursera

Michael Robichaud

Manager of Support Product