8 Beyond the hype: What is the value of customer satisfaction to aregulated utility?
In these examples, high customer
satisfaction is clearly not the only driver
of revenue and market share gains.
However, it is difcult to ignore the
high customer satisfaction achieved
by companies such as Netix or
Southwest, as a leading indicator of the
differentiated customer experience and
its role in capturing market share.
How do I keep up with evolving
customer demands and create a
superior customer experience?
Solar panels and energy management
devices, among other technologies
have opened up a new world of energy
supply and control possibilities for
customers. As a result, some customers
are becoming more attuned to their
energy consumption and thinking
about their energy and the relationship
with their utility in new and different
ways. For the incumbent utility, the
increased penetration of advanced
metering infrastructure (AMI) and
“behind the meter” devices has
created more potential interactions
between customers and their energy
utilities. This means there are
more opportunities to please—or
displease—customers with the service
they receive. Moreover, customers
are demanding multichannel access to
utilities through call centers, web sites,
mobile apps, and walk-in centers. They
want the convenience and availability
of digital technology, including mobile
and social media, to enable easier
and simplied use of services, get
information from the utility and other
customers, and express their opinions.
To meet these evolving customer demands
for digitally supported interactions,
utilities should:
1. Create the foundation. To simplify
complex interactions and create
enjoyable experiences, utilities
should focus on their highest-volume
interactions—billing, eld service,
and outages. The start-service
experience should be the highest
priority, so that new customer
relationships begin with a positive
rst impression. Utilities should
segment the start-service experience
into each of its components, from
receiving the request and initiating
service to providing the rst bill, and
strive for excellence throughout the
end-to-end process.
2. Personalize interactions. Today’s
consumers expect personalized
interactions, which means that
utilities must take a more ne-grained
approach to providing products and
services than traditional customer
segmentations allow for. Fortunately,
by applying advanced analytics to
increasingly available customer
data, utilities can gain insights
into customer preferences on an
individual level and tailor products
and services accordingly—offering
them at the right time and through
the right channel. Understanding the
preferences of self-service customers
is critical. In addition, timely and
personalized communications about
outage events can work to ease
customer dissatisfaction during
uncertain and emotional situations.
3. Add value. When designing a
personalized customer experience,
it is essential that utilities maintain
a sharp focus on providing value-
added products and services. This
value-added focus will require a
signicant mindset shift for utilities
that have spent generations providing
commoditized products and
services to ratepayers. The ultimate
aspiration should be to motivate
customers to proactively pursue new
and different ways to engage with
a utility, in contrast to customers
regarding such interactions as a
necessaryinconvenience.
For many utilities, the starting point on
the journey to providing a value-added
customer experience will begin with
applying this new mindset to customer
service and operations. Utilities can
apply advanced analytics to anticipate
customer behavior and take proactive
steps to resolve situations before they
become bigger problems. For example,
analyses of customer inquiries can be
used to proactively address area-wide
service problems and resolve issues
before most customers contact the
utility. The mobile and social media
strategies included in the foundation of
the customer experience are essential
elements of a value-added approach to
service and operations. Utilities should
strive for mobile and social interactions
that enhance service and operations and
provide measurable outcomes.
Utilities have traditionally taken pride in providing
“safe, reliable, and affordable” energy and this
promise should continue to lie at the heart of their
value proposition.