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Meter-to-Cash Digitisation; it s right here, right now and your Customers are demanding it

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Digital, digital, digital … is a word ringing around many a uti lity company boardroom as both water and energy providers are rightf ully focussing on digitalising their businesses, not least a shift towards low cost digital customer engagement channels where real benefi ts can be delivered. Our online experiences with retailers like Apple, Spoti fy and Amazon have changed the game completely for uti liti es with a shift to real-ti me customer engagement, at the customer’s convenience, and via the customers preferred channel. The digital environment necessitati ng the transformati on of uti liti es is no longer just around the corner; it’s right here, right now!

While energy uti liti es seem to be well versed in digital for the most part, water uti liti es are playing catch-up and with the competi ti ve market on the horizon in the UK, it needs to shift gear to close the gaps soon. Shift ing customer engagement to lower cost channels like emails, web-chat/online messaging, SMS and Social Media (to name a few) is clearly a no-brainer. But is it quite that simple?

The growth of the tech savvy Millennials, Gen Xs and Ys who will account for 50% of the UK workforce by 2016, and are therefore likely to be involved in uti l-ity purchasing decisions, is a key stati sti c for energy and water companies alike. These customers have enthusiasti cally embraced technology such as mobile internet and social networking and are on the look-out for the next digital trend to make their engage-ment process even simpler, more convenient, more grati fying and arguably more public.

But this segment is only half of the uti lity market’s audience, and every digital trend and innovati on must be met with considerati on as part of a balanced approach to customer interacti on.

The trends in customer engagement channels

and technologies

The current and emerging trends in customer engagement provide an insight into the level of digitalisati on across every market sector — uti liti es must follow suit as consumer demands

are universal, they will not tolerate a lower level of service just because they are purchasing energy or water. Their expectati ons are driven by other online retailers and service providers such as banks, telcos, streaming music services and online TV/movies, deal sites and many more.

The boom in social media is set to conti nue, most organisati ons are becoming well versed in engaging consumers through Twitt er and the like. The necessity for using social media platf orms appropriately is well established and understood by many uti liti es, but there are sti ll plenty of other channels yet to be fully uti lised in the industry. • There is a growing trend for embedding

customer care into mobile apps which are assuming greater importance in service providers’ omni-channel strategies. The next stage involves building in more capabiliti es to apps such as webchat, callback and instant messaging — eff ecti vely off ering a digital IVR capability for those customers unlikely to use traditi onal contact channels.

• The growing use of mobile apps will coincide with the rising use of web chat, desti ned to become the dominant customer contact channel in the future. Chat will conti nue to grow in terms of channel representati on, as it transiti ons from website/browser based web chat to live messaging on customer mobile apps.

• The volume of digital content being generated requires Universal Text Analyti cs ready to handle increased volume of text. Whether it’s messages from mobile apps, social media, web chat, email or Visual IVR channels, many businesses are concerned about the dramati cally escalati ng volume of text as customers increasingly engage via digital channels. Necessity being the mother of inventi on, there is no doubt that organisati ons off ering a soluti on will prosper in the coming months and are well worth paying att enti on to.

Meter-to-Cash Digitisation; it’s right here, right now

— and your Customers are demanding it

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The emergence of digital and the proliferati on of digital channels and its growing use is clearly a key considerati on for uti liti es, however they are well advised to factor in the persistent generati onal divide when talking about digiti sati on. There is no one size fi ts all! For years to come for example, the telephone, lett er and printed bill will remain important communicati on formats of the baby boomer generati on.

Generati onal divides in customer experience

Simply put, businesses need to know their customers and deliver services tailored to their requirements. Simply replicati ng traditi onal services models into the digital world is not the answer — a full digital transformati on that touches all customer types is essenti al.

In a survey carried out across the UK by Enghouse Interacti ve1, nearly half (45%) of 16-24 year-olds

claimed that a brand’s ability to engage with them via social media was important compared to just 16% of the baby boomers.

Only 9% of respondents in the millennials bracket said engaging with a company using online com-municati ons was not important to them at all, that fi gure rises to 41% among the 55 and over category. The uti liti es market does not tailor to a specifi c audience with current and potenti al customers spanning every demographic — the result is that their communicati ons practi ce must encompass a mix of traditi onal means (telephone and lett ers) and the latest, low cost and convenient digital soluti ons like Social Media, mobile apps, email and SMS. All court diff erent audiences and meet their demands in diff erent ways, understanding the diff erence in these demands is a linchpin for every uti lity’s future success.

Millennials or Gen Y are the most demanding group, however they can be dealt with in the most cost-eff ecti ve way. They have very high expectati ons married with low pati ence levels and

1 htt p://www.customerexperiencemagazine.co.uk/new-digital-secti on/ featured-digital-arti cles/the-new-age-of-polarised-customer-service/

the desire to communicate wherever they are in the world with ease.

This segment of customers also takes on informati on diff erently by learning through collaborati on and networks. They expect more opti ons and increasingly make decisions based on peer recommendati ons rather than adverts, and as a result they are constantly giving each other their opinions and views on products, services, and brand experience on digital platf orms.

Uti liti es need to mirror other sectors by deploying digital tools that allow these customers to self-serve at will. Website FAQs, web chat portals and dedicated customer service channels on social media are all core channels for millennials. The older Gen Xs or Baby Boomers want a more personalised human experience. People that fall into this demographic are looking for personal engagement — they want to talk to someone who knows and understands them.

Getti ng this tailored customer service and engage-ment right is vital, it is the cornerstone of every business’ success — as the public prizes customer service very highly when it comes to purchasing habits. Over 40% of the Engage survey respondents said they based their buying decisions solely on an organisati on’s reputati on for customer service. The rise of the customer centric uti lity OVO Energy is testament to this. The company has spent its ti me constantly improving its customer service becoming the fi rst and only Which? Recommended Provider for energy in January 2015. While the company is not the cheapest energy and gas supplier, it has conti nued to take a bigger market share as a result of its well-publicised customer oriented approach. This emphasis on customer service underlies the importance to organisati ons of developing and protecti ng their reputati on by focussing on customer sati sfacti on.

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Benefi ts of digiti sing customer engagement

channels — cost savings with moving to low

cost channels

The benefi ts of digiti sing engagement are wholesale for both uti liti es and consumers alike. And while the requirement to maintain a traditi onal approach will remain as the generati onal divide between millennials and baby boomers persists, a shift to digital will see uti liti es reaping signifi cant benefi ts.

Broader audiences

Informati on hosted or provided through a website, social media channels or via email is accessible by a much broader audience (anyone with internet access) than traditi onal media.

The content of the communicati on can and oft en will be ostensibly the same — a promoti onal off er, a service alert or even a general company announcement, however the delivery mediums are now omni-channel in nature and reach a wider audience as a result.

This maximises the return on investment made in generati ng the material.

Cheaper

As digital channels are ‘owned’ by the communica-tor, the costs associated with their use drops sig-nifi cantly. There is no requirement to pay for paper, postage, adverti sing space and most importantly, a reduced requirement for call centre capacity. The cost associated with an increase in personnel needed to manage these channels is easily off set by the reducti ons in spend menti oned previously.

Quicker

Communicati on through digital channels is almost instantaneous, meaning problems can be identi fi ed, handled and potenti ally resolved immediately and cost eff ecti vely. This meets the growing demand from millenials for instant grati fi cati on and supports higher levels of customer sati sfacti on and therefore loyalty.

Measurable and traceable

Perhaps the most important benefi t for a uti lity is the consumer data gathered through digiti sing its customer engagement processes.

Website traffi c and behaviour fl ow, engagement levels on social media, email open rates and SMS replies all provide instantly accessible results and datasets. Assessing the success of a campaign or evidencing your customer engagement eff orts is achievable with a range of sophisti cated and rela-ti vely simple to use analyrela-ti cs tools.

With the growing trend for digital self-service chan-nels for customer service, typically much cheaper to run than traditi onal methods, businesses in all sectors are saving money. This is a trend that the uti lity sector must buy into, and the early movers will be rewarded with increasing customer numbers and loyalty.

6 ti ps to approaching a digital strategy for your

uti lity business

Taking advantage of digital can be a risky eff ort if it is not properly planned and implemented. It’s a signifi -cant business transformati on requiring technology change as well as a shift in ethos and company values combined with the need for employee buy-in.

Uti liti es must have a strategy in place that allows them to engage proacti vely with a customer base that is heavily polarised in terms of preference. Gentrack has created the following ti ps every uti lity should consider before fully committi ng to a digital strategy:

1. Take stock of customer personas

The fi rst step for uti liti es is to take stock of your customers and identi fy the many personas that exist amongst your household and non-household customer base. Segmentati on based on these personas will provide input to various customer engagement acti viti es where listen-ing and talklisten-ing to customers will enable you to identi fy their prioriti es and diff erent journeys as they engage with their uti lity provider. Only once these prioriti es and values are understood

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can uti liti es start to look at current communica-ti on praccommunica-ti ces and establish whether the right messages are being delivered eff ecti vely to the appropriate audience, and via a channel best aligned with the prioriti es and expectati ons of the diff erent customer personas.

2. Understand communicati on platf orms

At an early stage, water and energy retailers should develop a comprehensive understand-ing of the various communicati on platf orms and how they can be leveraged to improve customer engagement. Ideally this would be undertaken internally by an appropriate marketi ng or com-municati on department, but specialised agencies are well equipped to provide this kind of service.

3. Make decisions and think short term

Businesses should establish at an early juncture who is going to be responsible for communica-ti on for the business, what informacommunica-ti on they will be issuing and the platf orms they’ll be using. Agreeing and setti ng clear guidelines and policies in line with the uti lity’s brand identi ty at an early stage is also an absolute must.

While uti lity businesses will have long-term strategies and a series of planned projects in place, only short-term developments are of interest to customers. Uti liti es should commu-nicate whatever changes are going to take place in advance of them being implemented and give customers an appropriate platf orm to gather informati on, voice any concerns and provide feedback following the implementati on.

4. Think broad

Uti liti es should provide customers with as many ways of getti ng in touch as possible as very few people have the pati ence or inclinati on to wait in phone queues, especially during working hours. Email, text services, call-back services and online support are all very simple ways of allowing customers to engage with their energy and water providers.

5. Get social

Digital nati ves use social media to interact with brands and service providers, oft en to complain or share their experiences. This younger genera-ti on is stargenera-ti ng to take up a larger porgenera-ti on of the uti lity customer base and their preferred plat-form of communicati on must be factored into any strategy. This isn’t to say that all communica-ti ons should be exclusively channelled through Facebook or Twitt er, but they should certainly play a role in the development of any strategy. Social media platf orms also allow businesses to listen, engage and talk to customers quickly and in a more informal environment.

6. Listen

Customers will tell their uti lity provider what they want so long as they are given the platf orm to do it. Importantly, the uti lity company must capture the informati on eff ecti vely and then actually do something with it to show they are listening. Customers who feel that their say actually matt ers and that they have some infl u-ence will be more engaged with their supplier and in the end, more loyal.

Implementi ng a digital communicati ons strategy must be part of a broader shift towards a customer centric business structure and ethos.

This comes with a health warning — a signifi cant porti on of uti lity product buyers remain outside of the digital-savvy bracket and considerati on for traditi onal communicati on must also be given. This challenge can be daunti ng, but by empower-ing customers to interact with their uti lity providers more easily using their preferred communicati on channels, uti liti es can reap signifi cant benefi ts. Im-proved customer sati sfacti on rati ngs, more effi cient operati ng systems and an improved public image will all prove benefi cial for uti lity retailers in energy and water markets. Customers are already engaged on-line with retailers and service providers — they now want to take their uti liti es on that same journey.

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References

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