Drive Costs out of Customer Service

Customer Self-Service

The ultimate key in reducing customer service costs is increasing the use of customer self-service, particularly web self-service. Other industries have transformed themselves by moving customers to self-service, while at the same time increasing flexibility and customer satisfaction. For example, banks first successfully moved customers from tellers to ATM’s, and more recently moved many calls to the web. – Banks have reported shifting over a third of all contact center calls to the web, while airlines have shifted a majority of their reservations to the web and their in airport check-in to kiosks.

Utilities have begun to make effective use of IVR; in many cases handles over 25% of all calls. But customers rarely find IVR a satisfactory medium, and IVR does little to be able to change the nature of the relationship with the customer.

Utilities have not yet been able to duplicate the experience of other industries on the web. A recent E-source survey puts utility web sites at the low end of customer satisfaction. Utilities have typically put only a sub-set of customer interactions on-line, and lag far behind other industries in the adoption of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP). One of the key reasons: utilities for the most part have merely tried to duplicate the non-web experience on the web. Research has consistently shown that customers don’t understand their energy bill, resulting in customer frustration, and many phone calls. It is not surprising, therefore, that billing calls are the most common of customer calls to energy companies. Yet, utilities that implement EBPP routinely put the same bill on-line that the customer does not understand.

ENERGYprism^® changes this paradigm by helping customers better understand and manage their bills. ENERGYprism translates a bill from non customer-friendly terminology-like kilowatt hours and transmission charges to information customers can relate to-such as where their energy dollars are going, how their bills compare with those of similar homes and businesses, and why their bill has changed. ENERGYprism can also help customers formulate a plan for better managing their energy use. Customers find these unique tools a reason to do business with their energy company on-line, increasing the penetration of customer self-service.

ENERGYprism accomplishes this with a set of tightly integrated web self-service applications that integrate easily with existing CIS systems. ENERGYprism provides key components of a billing-centric customer portal strategy, and changes the billing experience by putting customer service right on the bill. In addition, ENERGYprism provides an on-line bill inquiry capability so that customers can get all their billing questions fully answered. And ENERGYprism allows the energy company to offer an on-line Energy Center, helping customers identify on their own better ways to manage their energy use.

ENERGYprism has shown itself to be effective at both reducing customer service costs, and increasing customer satisfaction:

• At one utility with the self-service bill inquiry solution, almost 20,000 billing-related calls were avoided in the first quarter of use.
• In a pilot test of the ENERGYprism Dashboard, pilot testers averaged 90% fewer calls to customer service than customers as a whole.
• Customer surveys for all elements of the product line have shown high – in fact increased – customer satisfaction. For example, in focus groups at one large energy company, 90% of business customers indicated higher satisfaction with the company just knowing an on-line- Business Energy Center was available.

The Contact Center

While moving customers to web self-service is the holy grail, the reality is that it will be a while until the majority of customers get there. Until then, energy companies need enhanced tools to better address customers that do call.

The Contact Center Channel of ENERGYprism provides CSRs with an interface optimized for key calls, putting all the information they need at their fingertips. For example, for billing inquiries, ENERGYprism immediately alerts CSRs as to what has aspects of the bill has changed – and why – with an estimate of the actual impact each factor has had. This includes factors such as rates AND weather. The result: CSRs are more confident, calls are answered more quickly, and customers are more satisfied.

Actual results have been most impressive. One utility that implemented the Contact Center Channel of ENERGYprism reported an increase in first call resolution on billing calls from 62% to 88%, while another reported a reduction of 25% in Average Handle Time.