Utility providers have consistently ranked last in customer engagement and satisfaction for decades. What is the reason? Customers have no choice in which provider they use because the majority of utilities operate in highly regulated markets. Service and engagement frequently suffer when there is no need to earn customers.
However, situations are progressing. The utility customer experience is now an important factor in increasing customer satisfaction and engagement. Offering a seamless utility customer experience is now more important than simply providing reliable service to long-time customers. According to the Hardware Business Review report, 62% of utilities said improving the customer experience is their top priority. That isn't the only benefit. Utility providers have an opportunity today to change their engagement model in a way that reduces costs, improves customer consumption behavior, and better serves their customers through self-service technologies.
This represents an opportunity for utility providers to position their companies for the future. Live platform allows you to differentiate yourself. Our solution is providing an outstanding utility customer experience when it is really needed.
In this blog, we will look at what the utility customer experience is, why it is an opportunity for utility providers, and how utility providers can improve their customer experience.
The utility customer experience is the impression that customers have of their utility provider based on every interaction they have with the utility brand.
All interactions a utility provider has with its customers are taken into account when determining the utility customer experience.
Customers interact with utility providers on a daily basis. All of these interactions should be simple and personalized to the customer. The higher a utility provider's customer satisfaction levels are, and the more engaged customers are with their utility, the better the utility customer experience is.
According to Gartner research, 96% of those who go through a high-effort interaction become more disloyal, compared to just 9% who have an effortless utility customer experience. Nowadays, a lot of utility companies are working to improve the utility customer experience they provide them with on the phone, through the mail, and online. Utility providers are looking into new digital solutions as a result of increased competition and customers who are more aware of what excellent service can be. Live has a solution that is always there for your customers in hard times. Timing for the critical services you provide is essential to your customers’ lives.
When utility providers succeed at meeting the customer expectations, they can take benefit of advantages like:
Utility providers that don't keep up with these innovations will only lose customers in the long run. Those who succeed, however, will notice increased in the utility customer experience, more buyers, and a generally satisfied customers.
Do you want to improve utility business profitability while also making customers happier? The following methods can be used by companies to better serve today's utility customer experiences:
Live platform ensures emergency calls take priority with intelligent routing and IVR functionality. By intelligently routing emergency calls to the most appropriate and skilled agents, you can quickly handle the situation and put the customer at ease.
Consolidating and visualizing customer data, communication channels, and information into a single desktop is critical. Live produce actionable customer data and knowledge at your agents' fingertips, so they can solve customer problems. By bringing all customer data to a single screen, agents are empowered to personalize each interaction.
In the utility industry, there are many frequently asked questions and common inquiries that could be automatized with Live in order to reduce operations costs.
Customers should be able to solve most of their problems in self-service channels, but it's best to always provide an easy way for your customers to speak with a live agent. Intelligent IVR routing options will drive a call toward the most skilled agents.
Customers expect more from utilities, so utility companies need to take a better data approach. Utility companies are giving the utility customer experience priority in ways they never have before. This is due to increased competition, regulatory, stakeholder, and stakeholder pressures, and rising utility customer expectations. Companies can make sure that programs are created to maximize participation, energy savings, and customer satisfaction.
Learn more about how the Live product family can help you support and improve your customer experience strategy.
