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32 | OCTOBER 2020 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Analysis I n a world where new channels are con- stantly being developed, particularly with the proliferation of social media, what most utilities would appear to agree on is that good communication is about offering customers a choice and personalised jour- neys – both for inbound and outbound com- munications and engagement. "Personal communication is more impor- tant than it's ever been," says Hilary Ben- nett, director of customer service at Severn Trent. "Choice is important; we don't all want to communicate in the same way. So while digital is brilliant, some will prefer telephony and we must be able to offer a wide range of channels." Alexander Constanti, commercial direc- tor, Shell Energy Retail, emphasises the point: "Every time we communicate with a customer we're intruding in their personal lives. So it's important that when we do engage, we do so in a channel that is right for them and with purpose and relevance." When the lockdown came, Shell was quick off the mark in reassuring customers that services would not be impacted. "We also wanted to highlight the support we are providing, especially around payments, so we encouraged any customers affected to reach out and contact us. We're set up to allow us to be very reactive in our customer communications. We have a technical plat- form that allows us to rapidly update the content and messages as well as send." Constanti continues: "We use a wide range of channels, both digital and offline, including email, SMS, phone, post and using in-app notifications. We've seen a really positive response from our custom- ers, demonstrated in increased conversion and extremely low opt-out rates. Of course, we also want our customers to be able to engage with us, so the same channels apply for inbound communications, but with the addition of social media such as Twitter, Live chat and Facebook messenger. It's all about customer choice which reduces the customer effort." Similarly, for onboarding there is also a growing awareness of the need to make it simple and straightforward for custom- ers, again offering greater choice of chan- nels. This means allowing customers to, say, change their address in the way that is best for them (phone, webform, live chat). Making the investment South East Water is one of the utility firms investing in technology that will make the process more convenient. "At the moment, new customers might have to fill in an online form or ring up. What we're putting in place is a system which will allow them to go online and create an account immediately and use it straight away. They will also be able to do the same to close a bill," explains Tanya Sephton, customer services director, South East Water. "And while we're doing this," she adds, "we're also looking to communicate in greater detail their water usage to help us meet water efficiency targets." Sephton says that during lockdown, more customers applied for online accounts, so that now 20 per cent have them and 80 per cent receive posted out bills. In addition, phone calls are down by 20 per cent, she says, while communication by email has increased by the same amount. During the outbreak of Covid-19 she and her team have upped their outbound communications, either by phone or by email or through mes- sages on their website, to offer payment breaks and special tariffs and to encourage people to contact them. All 200 of the con- tact centre staff were quickly moved to home working and have been able to operate effi- ciently this way. All communications, both inward and outward, are logged against customers' bill- ing accounts, to provide a unified view of the customer interaction, she says. Similarly, Severn Trent has also intro- duced a streamlined digital process during the past 12-18 months for new customers moving into the region, allowing them to register in less than five minutes, says Ben- nett. "And the first bit of the journey is done by a robot, a virtual assistant. Anybody who doesn't want to do that can, of course, come into a contact centre and we'll put it online as they tell us." Like South East Water, Severn Trent has seen an increase in customers opting to self-serve during the lockdown. "We've seen about 500 customers a day who have signed up to our self-serve option, and that's grow- ing all the time, probably more so because of Covid-19." She puts that down to the fact that although Severn Trent has kept its con- tact centre open as usual 24/7, many utili- ties haven't, and a general assumption has arisen amongst customers that they won't be able to get through on the phone. Permanent change in behaviour Bennett thinks that the change in customer behaviour during the pandemic will be per- manent: "I think it will accelerate a desire in customers to self-serve and to experience that seamless interaction across all channels. Peo- ple will make that switch and not go back." SES Water is another utility that is upgrading its customer interfaces to offer more choice and a self-serve option, which has proved timely given what has happened Maintaining effective lines of communication The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital customer engagement. But as utilities open up more communication channels, how can they ensure their operations become more efficient, asks Denise Chevin?