customer communications: insights and opportunities · insight for tomorrow’s utility our utility...

Customer Communications:

Insights and Opportunities

June 23, 2016

A PRESENTATION BY CHARTWELL, INC.

INSIGHT FOR TOMORROW’S UTILITY

Our mission Provide unbiased, actionable

quantitative and qualitative

research to the utility industry

Fast Facts

• 23 years helping utilities

improve customer

satisfaction and

operational efficiency

• 10 of the 10 largest

electric and natural gas

companies are members

• 37 utilities participate in

Chartwell’s Research

Councils



Our utility members



Our focus

• Opportunities • Challenges • Goals • Strategies • Programs • Services • Innovations • Successes • Lessons

Improve Satisfaction

Save Time

Increase Engagement

Save Money



What are your greatest challenges?



Challenges: Utility communications

Value Rate

increases New energy

options Digital

strategies

Mobile-first Segmentation Personalized

messages Fragmented

media

Resources Renewables Technology Metrics



Chartwell insights

• Utilities recognize that customers want more in terms clear, two-way communications on outages, energy usage and billing issues

• Yet, many utilities lack the complete, integrated view of each customer needed to deliver on those expectations

• Customer communication remains a critical component for improving customer experience



ERT is King Priority Information – Top 2 Box response

12%

25%

34%

31%

41%

58%

12%

20%

29%

30%

38%

70%

Total customers witout power

Time the outage began

Geographic area affected

Crew status

Cause

Restoration estimate

All customers

Source: Chartwell 2015 Residential Consumer Survey (n=1,502)



More than half of your customers expect an

ERT within 15 minutes of reporting an outage

25%

36%

20% 16%

4%

Immediately Within 15mins

Within 30mins

Within 1hour

> 1 hour

61%

Source: Chartwell 2015 Residential Consumer Survey (n=1,502)



Source: Chartwell’s 2015 Residential Consumer Survey, n = 1,502

Consumers say they want more

energy information (Top 2 box response)

77%

67%

67%

66%

62%

60%

49%

37%

22%

Usage information on bill

Monitoring usage more closely

Usage information on web

Smart appliances

Smart thermostat

In-home display

Smartphone control

Solar

EV



More utilities are providing proactive

outage alerts to customers

45%

75%

2014 2015

Sources: Chartwell’s 2014 Outage Communications Industry Survey (n=52) & 2015

Outage Communications Industry Survey (n=47)



…but digital bill alert offerings still

minimal

Chartwell's 2015 Credit and Collections Survey, n=45

89% Email

44% Text

42% Phone

33% Web Alert

16% Mobile Alert



52.8%

27.3%24.0%

17.9%

54.2%

32.8%34.3%

25.2%

50.6%

39.9%36.5%

26.8%

Website (PC) Website (mobile phone) Text Social Media

Top 2 box interest in channel preference for receiving info/updates from utility 2011/2014/2015

What’s your mobile-first strategy?

+12.6pp

+8.9pp

+12.5pp



[PERCE

NTAGE]

, Yes

[PERCE

NTAGE]

, but

plans

to do

so in

the

next 1-2

years

[PERCE

NTAGE]

, No,

and no

plans

to do

so

Does your company have a

dedicated customer

experience strategy or

initiative?

13.6%

15.9%

31.8%

38.6%

Less than one year

2-3 years

1-2 years

3 or more years

How long has your company

had a customer experience

strategy or initiative?

Source: 2016 Customer Experience Industry Survey, n=53

Yes,

81% Not yet,

15% No, and

no plans,

4% …but 61% are less than 3

years old!

CX initiatives are under way

at most utilities…



Verbatim: If you could choose one

company you’d like your utility to be more

like, which would it be? And why?

Source: Chartwell’s 2015 Residential Consumer Survey, n = 1,502



31.2%

24.5%

23.8%

20.7%

20.2%

17.2%

16.8%

20.1%

25.4%

20.0%

21.9%

29.0%

Online retail

Bank

Mobile provider

Shipping

Insurance

Cable

2015: Satisfaction with your utility compared to...

Less satisfied with utility About the same More satisfied with utility

How utilities stack up



Satisfaction ‘sweet spots’

42.5%

43.1%

45.4%

48.8%

59.2%

60.7%

67.5%

67.9%

70.6%

72.5%

73.8%

75.0%

Community Involvement

Price/cost

Renewable resources

Corporate Image

Billing Options/Programs

Communication w/customers

Ease of Doing Business

Customer Service

Overall Satisfaction

Payment Methods

Understand my bill

Reliability

Top 2 box response: "How satisfied are you with your utility's performance on the following" (n=1502)

Source: Chartwell’s 2015 Residential Consumer Survey



Utility messaging focuses on

reliability and safety

9%

9%

11%

34%

36%

Easy to do business with

Trusted advisor

Value

Safety

Reliability

Source: Chartwell 2015 Marketing and Communications Industry Survey, n=56



Got brand? Less than half of utilities share a specific brand promise

with customers

Source: Chartwell 2015 Marketing and Communications Industry Survey, n=37

Yes, 47.2%

No, 52.8%



Avista’s Customer Experience

Intent Statement



Chartwell’s Best Practices

Duke unveils strategies to

reduce customer-

facing scams

SRP boosts storytelling power with

engaging blog posts

Puget Sound Energy

delivers news broadcast, live tweets



Chartwell’s new Customer Communications

Research Council

Benefits

• Collaborative consulting

• Two custom research projects per year

• Monthly conference calls

• In-person meetings each spring and fall

• Conference registrations

• Peer network

• Direct access to Chartwell senior analysts



Thank You!

Scott Johnson Vice President

[email protected]

Tim Herrick

Director, Sales and Member Services

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

customer communications: insights and opportunities · insight for tomorrow’s utility our utility...

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