Six months ago, if you needed help with your Contabo server at 3 AM, you might have waited hours for a response. Today, you’ll connect with a knowledgeable agent within minutes, any time of day. That transformation didn’t happen by accident – it required completely rethinking how customer experience works when you’re growing fast.
The challenge wasn’t just about hiring more people or buying better software. It was about building systems where every team member, from sales to technical support, focuses on one question: “What does the customer actually need right now?”
We sat down with three key players behind this transformation to understand how they turned customer frustration into genuine satisfaction. Their stories reveal something important about our “Always Improving” philosophy: the biggest changes often happen behind the scenes, in processes and systems that customers never see directly but feel in every interaction.
Starting from Honest Assessment
Benjamin Krell, Director of Customer Experience at Contabo since 2024, leads the team that’s responsible for Support and Customer Satisfaction. He and his team are hyper-focused on finding the ideal balance between customer needs and business goals to create real value and an optimized customer experience. In his own words: “What drives me is the belief that great customer experiences are not a coincidence, but the result of clear strategy, lived responsibility, and strong teams.”
With over two decades of experience in customer-focused leadership roles, Benjamin’s had more than enough experience to know when things are working, and when they’re not. He doesn’t sugarcoat what things looked like when he arrived. “It’s almost impossible to compare the situation back then with what we have today. Contabo had grown rapidly over the years, but the Customer Support and Experience departments didn’t keep pace.”
The symptoms were familiar to anyone who’s experienced poor support: long wait times, complex solutions that didn’t actually solve problems, frustrated customers, and equally frustrated team members who found themselves unable to deliver a high standard of service despite their best efforts. “Many team members were frustrated because they couldn’t deliver the kind of service customers deserved,” Benjamin remembers. “The workload was overwhelming.”
When teams feel like they’re constantly fighting fires instead of solving problems, it shows up in every customer interaction. The first step towards a better support system wasn’t technical – it was cultural.
“Reinstalling a belief in change and improvement and providing a clear vision of where we were headed were the first steps towards setting a transformation in motion,” Benjamin explains.
The 3 AM Test: True 24/7 Support
Here’s a practical example of what “Always Improving” looks like in action. Previously, if your server had issues during off-hours, you might get slower responses or have to wait for the right specialist to come online. The new shift structure changes that entirely.
“Thanks to our new shift model, we now offer true 24/7 availability,” Benjamin notes. “That means customers around the globe can reach us anytime, day or night, and receive quick, competent assistance – even at 3 AM.”
But availability alone isn’t enough. The real improvement comes from having properly trained agents who can actually solve problems during those off-peak hours, not just acknowledge tickets and queue them for the next business day.
Quality Over Speed: The Counter-Intuitive Approach
Most support organizations get trapped by the wrong metrics. Tickets closed per hour becomes more important than problems actually solved. Benjamin’s team took the opposite approach.
“Previously, the focus was on handling a high volume of tickets in the shortest time possible – quantity over quality. Today, precision is key. Our first responses aim to resolve the issue fully.”
This shift required changing how the team thinks about success. Instead of rewarding fast ticket closure, they focus on first-contact resolution. Instead of rigid time constraints, they emphasize quality standards. When customers are dissatisfied, that feedback drives targeted improvements and personalized training.
The results speak for themselves. Average chat response time is now 1-2 minutes, while complete problem resolution averages 12-15 minutes. More importantly, over 70% of chat users give positive feedback on their support experience.
The Onboarding Challenge: First Impressions Matter
Furkan Gencer, our Sales & Onboarding Manager, tackles one of the most critical moments in the customer journey: those first few days when new customers are setting up their servers and forming lasting impressions about Contabo.
The data tells a clear story of improvement. “We closed May with a 79% positive onboarding survey result, and as of now, June has already reached 81%,” Furkan reports.
But percentages don’t tell the whole story. The real work happens in identifying and systematically addressing the specific friction points that frustrate new customers. The most common complaints – login problems, provisioning times, and performance issues – became the focus for targeted improvements.
“After implementing several changes – such as optimizing email communication, improving product pages, and addressing product-related issues at first contact – we’re seeing a clear increase in customer satisfaction,” Furkan explains.
The improvements show up in concrete numbers. Login-related issues, which had been affecting 48-52% of new customers, dropped to 40% in May and just 29% in June. That’s not just a number – it represents hundreds of customers who can access their servers without frustration. It’s a big win for us – and for you, our customers.
Beyond the Obvious: The Customer Journey Map
Real improvement requires understanding the complete customer experience, not just individual touchpoints. Furkan created a comprehensive customer onboarding journey map that reflects the full experience from start to finish.
“This includes different personas, such as experienced users who already know what they’re looking for, and inexperienced users who need more guidance,” he explains. “The mapping starts from the product discovery phase, continues through the first contact with support, initial setup and onboarding, and even extends to the cancellation process.”
This systematic approach revealed gaps and improvement opportunities that weren’t obvious when looking at support tickets individually. By analyzing each step from the customer’s perspective, the team identified specific pain points, expectations, and support needs for different user types. We’re committed to continuing this process of investigation to provide you with more personalized support than ever.
Turning Critics into Champions
Gillad Scheindling, our Rating Manager, handles perhaps the most challenging aspect of customer experience: dealing with unhappy customers who’ve already shared negative feedback publicly. His role involves what he calls “closing the loop” – proactively reaching out to customers who have had a negative experience to make sure they get the assistance they need.
The results are remarkable. During Gillad’s tenure, our Trustpilot score increased from 3.5 to 4.2, all within four months. More impressively, 2025 has already collected 1,036 positive reviews compared to 808 for the entire year of 2024 – representing more than a 200% increase at the current pace.
“When facing an unhappy customer, I’m trying to understand the root of the issue and deciding on the right way and tone of approach,” Gillad explains. “Some customers are seeking a quick solution while others expect more apologies and explanations.”
This individualized approach pays off. Gillad shares an example: “A customer who recently gave a very bad review on Trustpilot was clearly frustrated and wanted a quick solution. I reached out directly and fixed the issue quickly, and they edited their review from 1 to 5 stars.” Clearly, a personal touch makes all the difference.
Reaching the Silent Majority
The most interesting insight from Gillad’s work involves what he calls “the silent customers” – the majority who never contact support or leave reviews. These customers are generally happy, but their satisfaction remains invisible unless you actively seek it out.
“In the last months I have found many ways to reach out to these ‘silent customers’,” Gillad notes. “For example, targeting a specific country and asking for sincere feedback from all customers from that country has gotten some good results.”
This proactive approach reveals something important: most customers are actually satisfied, they just need encouragement to share their experiences. The challenge isn’t just fixing problems – it’s also making sure the positive experiences that already exist are heard.
The Tiered Specialization Model
Supporting customers efficiently while maintaining quality requires smart organization. Benjamin’s team implemented a tiered specialization model that ensures the right expertise handles each type of issue.
“General Support handles the majority of inquiries – about 80% – thanks to their broad expertise. New hires are mentored by seasoned team members to ensure knowledge retention,” he explains. “More complex cases are escalated to specialized teams like Billing or Technical Support, who not only resolve those issues but also regularly train the general support to ensure their broad knowledge.”
This creates a learning organization where knowledge flows both ways. As a result, you can count on expert support whenever you need it.
Measuring What Actually Matters
The transformation we’ve achieved shows up in metrics that directly reflect your experience as a customer:
- Chat response times averaging 1-2 minutes
- Over 70% positive feedback on chat interactions
- 25% of all support interactions now happen through chat
- Complete problem resolution averaging 12-15 minutes for chat
- Onboarding satisfaction improving from 79% to 81% month-over-month
- Login issues for new customers dropping from 48-52% to 26%
But the most meaningful change might be cultural. As Benjamin puts it: “I always knew we had a strong and capable team. The real task was to create an environment where they could reach their full potential.”
Through smart management choices and systems that work for the team as well as for customers, we can say with confidence that the Contabo customer experience is constantly improving – and we’re not stopping here!
The Always Improving Mindset in Action
What makes this customer experience transformation part of the “Always Improving” philosophy? It’s the systematic approach to learning from every interaction and using that learning to build better processes.
We’re working continuously to improve your experience. Benjamin’s team refines chatbot and support flows based on feedback and usage analytics. Furkan reviews onboarding survey results individually to identify recurring issues and act on them. Gillad tracks success rates in resolving complaints and uses past cases to understand ideal approaches. And many other hands behind the scenes contribute to this mission.
Every customer interaction becomes data that improves the system for future customers. Problems don’t just get solved – they get prevented through better design, clearer communication, or improved processes.
What This Means for Your Projects
These behind-the-scenes improvements translate into tangible benefits when you’re building and running your applications:
- Faster problem resolution when issues arise, so your projects stay online
- Better guidance during setup so you spend less time troubleshooting and more time building
- Proactive support that catches and addresses issues before they impact your users
- Consistent quality regardless of when you need help or which agent you connect with
- Feedback loops that ensure your specific challenges improve the experience for everyone
The goal isn’t perfect support – it’s support that gets better every time you interact with it. When your hosting provider treats every support interaction as an opportunity to improve your personal experience, you benefit not just from getting your immediate problem solved, but from a system that becomes more helpful over time.
As Benjamin puts it: “We’ve made significant investments to improve our service experience – but we’re far from done. With modern technologies and a clear customer-first mindset, we’re building a future-proof customer experience: intelligent, empathetic, and scalable.”
Your projects deserve hosting that improves along with your needs. When customer experience becomes everyone’s job, that’s exactly what you get. And the good news? We’re just getting started. Our Always Improving mission promises many more enhancements to your customer service experience in the weeks and months ahead. Watch this space!