In the midst of the current cost–of–living crisis, there is no doubting the fact that customers are increasingly paying attention to how well utilities providers, and specifically energy suppliers are meeting their needs. For customers, every penny counts now more than ever before, but just as important is the feeling that their energy supplier deeply understands their specific needs and requirements.
Now more than ever, delivering customer experiences that are intuitively personalised to customerneeds is essential for such companies to sustain long-term customer relationships. If energy suppliersfail to be sensitive to customer expectations, customers are more likely to move their customelsewhere without a second thought. As a result, energy suppliers must find a better way to manage their ability to deliver a personal touch, which requires a radical rethink of internal processes in order to do so.
Be proactive, not reactive
Recently, the energy supply value chain has come under severe pressure from multiple vantage points. With the cost-of-living crisis, many customers are unable to pay their bills on time or at all due to their financial vulnerabilities. On the other hand, many energy suppliers have struggled for resources to reinvest into improving services with a wide variety of financial pressures including the soaring cost of energy, creating pressure on all stakeholders involved.
Personalised experiences are key to meeting the needs of the customer base, as well as avoiding the risk of services becoming commoditised. They are the conduit to deeper relationships with customers by enabling them to feel like they are being listened to – which is the key to retaining their business.
Energy suppliers should consider doubling down on the use of historic and current real-time customer data to drive personalised, context driven customer experiences, as well as leveraging predictive analysis. With historic data, energy suppliers can have early conversations with customers vulnerable to the cost-of-living crisis and to educate them ahead of time on the availability of charity or industry funded hardship schemes if applicable. This allows energy suppliers to help customers get ahead of problems that could snowball left unchecked, making them feel valued in the process. Yet, historic data on its own will not drive the best customer experience, energy companies must be aware of a customers’ current situation, what webpage they are currently looking at what actions the customer has just taken to ensure the best service.
Engaging customers with empathy
The UK government recently announced help for customers in the form of the Energy Price Guarantee, which aims to limit the price each household pays per unit of gas and electricity they use. This means that a typical family will pay no more than £2,500 per year on energy bills, but this figure is still dependent on energy usage levels – if customers use more energy, they will pay more. In theory, this guarantee is a way to protect customers, but many of the most vulnerable will remain at risk despite this action.
With many energy customers struggling financially at this time, many are not aware of the financial support that their providers can help direct them to. A recent shocking statistic released by OfWatrevealed that many customers are more than three times as likely to pay their bills using a credit card than to ask for help from their water supplier.
It is clear that energy suppliers need to apply empathy more widely and take a more proactiveapproach to communicate the availability of such aid to help customers avoid unnecessary financial hardship. The key for suppliers is to recognise the needs of each customer ahead of time, especially those who are vulnerable and manage these relationships with empathy and understanding.
“Always on” Customer Centricity
Any customer facing organisation worth its salt must consistently be aware of customer needs as they evolve in order provide the appropriate solutions at the right time. For energy suppliers, adopting customer centric “always-on” approach to meet this challenge powered by real-time decisioning can help bridge this gap. By combining real-time decisioning with omni-channel monitoring and AI, insights can be efficiently fed to customer services agents who can then direct customers to the most appropriate resource for their needs.
Take call centres as another example, which often constitute the first line or customer touchpoint for many energy suppliers. When customers need to speak to an agent, predictive analytics based on existing customer data and automation can help route customers to the most appropriate agent for their needs quickly and efficiently. This helps to minimise unnecessary transfers between agents as well as to avoid excessive call-handling time, minimising resource waste. Customers are then effectively directed to the right department to help with their needs in the first instance.
As the utilities sector has become significantly data-driven in recent times, there is a massive opportunity for organisations to modernise by leveraging customer data to improve their services. Analysing this data can ensure that customers receive the tailored offers, actions, and services based on their needs. As a result, energy suppliers can ensure they act quickly on insights to help customers quicker.
Author: Jo Allen, Utilities Customer Experience Expert at Pegasystems
