By Nigel Baker, Managing Director at specialist outsourcer Echo Managed Services
With the non-household water market now open for competition, and the household market primed to follow suit by 2020, water companies must look for new ways to differentiate themselves in order to stay ahead of the competition. In any crowded market, businesses can’t compete on price alone – customer service is sure to remain a key differentiator.
But it’s not necessarily the best practice of others within the industry that water businesses should follow – inspiration should be drawn from companies in other sectors that consistently practice great customer service. Research shows that those in more competitive markets such as the leisure and financial industries tend to score best for customer service. Yes, the nuances of each sector may be very different, but the principles of great customer service remain the same – satisfying and keeping customers loyal.
Balancing technology and human interaction
One of the core elements of good customer service is achieving the correct balance of helpful technologies and meaningful human interaction. Sure, customer relationship management (CRM) systems are vital to ensure knowledge is at a customer service advisor’s fingertips – however, water companies should be looking first and foremost at their people to deliver great service and added value.
Customer service agents should be engaged, empowered, and provided with in-depth training of any CRM system to ensure they get the most out of its features. While a well-designed CRM can add value by providing a single customer view and minimising key strokes for agents, it’s the human touch which really adds value for customers. Indeed, our research into customer contact preferences found that 53% of people still prefer to deal with service providers over the phone or face-to-face compared with other digital contact channels.
It’s also worth noting that while collecting data to build an accurate profile of a customer is vital, incoming changes to the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) could bring about challenges for water companies– so they’ll need to be prepared for this.
Don’t let fast growth hamper customer service
While there is lots of opportunity to be seized in the new market, businesses must remember that fast growth can often endanger customer service levels. Water companies should be prepared to scale up quickly to accommodate rapid growth by properly forecasting to ensure knowledgeable resource to handle enquiries quickly and effectively is in place. Some companies might choose to bring in an experienced outsourced team to assist in-house teams in ensuring customer service levels are maintained during busy periods.
Appropriately engaging vulnerable customers
Customers in circumstances of vulnerability must be a key priority for water companies. In 2014, it was recorded that 2.5 million UK households struggled to pay their water bills. But simply offering schemes to support those struggling to pay isn’t enough. Water companies must be more proactive in identifying instances of vulnerability, and ensure the process of applying for an affordability scheme minimises customer effort and supports as many eligible customers as possible.
Reducing avoidable debt
In both the household and non-household markets, water companies incurring debt from non-paying customers can run into cash flow issues. This is particularly prominent for those operating in the competitive retail market where margins are low and the wholesaler must be paid for the water they provide, no matter what – therefore, avoiding instances of non-payment wherever possible is a key priority.
It is worth remembering that some debt can be mitigated through the application of great customer service. That’s because not all late and non-payments are as a result of financial hardship. Research we conducted revealed that poor service and billing issues can lead to protest debt or customers simply forgetting to pay, with 47% of those surveyed saying they had defaulted on payments for these reasons. Therefore, investing in reliable and accurate billing, coupled with proactive customer service, such as pre-bill payment reminders and swift complaint resolution, can mitigate the numbers of customers who fall into debt and reduce the costs involved with recovery.
Riding the waves of opportunity
The non-household water sector is going through times of great change, with the domestic market set to follow. Whilst price will be a key driver in both markets, it’s those companies that put their people first, benchmark themselves against the best and apply a common-sense approach to customer service, who will continue to thrive in a changing marketplace.
For more information see echo-ms.com
