Water companies are under an increasing amount of pressure to find new ways to thrive in this digital era. As other sectors continue to evolve the customer experience (CX), Ofwat is calling for companies to embrace innovation and deliver more of what matters to customers.
As a whole, the utilities industry is establishing a foothold in the digital space. Today, 59% of Europe’s utilities companies state that they currently provide a fully remote connect/disconnect service, while over half provide mobile usage tracking. 76% of water companies also plan to invest in non-human voice interfaces/chatbots in the next 12 months (CXP Group, 2017). But there’s more to be done and water providers have to focus on other CX trends that are going to be critical to success over the next five years:
1. Advanced personalisation
From Amazon and Netflix using intelligent algorithms to personalise a customer’s homepage, and show recommendations based on an individual’s viewing habits, to Adidas creating shoes tailored to each customer’s foot, personalisation is here to stay. The technologies that accelerate it are maturing, and the data that is needed to feed it is becoming more structured and accessible.
Customers expect providers to treat them individually across all channels, both catering to and predicting their needs. They want pre-emptive messages, concerning an interruption to their water supply for example, and more sophisticated self-service, with real-time access to their usage, and personalised tips on where savings can be made.
52% of consumers will move away from brands that don’t personalise communications (Salesforce, 2018).
Advanced personalisation can’t be ignored by providers that want to drive positive, economical behaviour, and manage customer costs with timely advice and solutions.
2. Channel hopping
‘Typical’ customer journeys don’t exist anymore. People research products on their tablets, buy them on their laptops, then share their experience using their smartphones. Channel hopping exists and people expect to be able to do it whenever they want. As channels continue to emerge – from wearable technology to voice activated virtual assistants – water companies must prepare to adapt and serve customers on the channel of their choice.
It isn’t just about being where your customers are; companies must be poised to integrate new and emerging channels with existing ones to ensure a seamless experience. This might mean bringing together data from smart meters, virtual assistants, social media and chatbots, to achieve the much sought after single customer view. A holistic view also enables companies to identify actionable insights and opportunities to add value or up-sell.
To remain agile, adopt new channels and enter markets quickly, the right people, processes and technology must be in place. Establishing the right platform early on is critical, enabling providers to create content once, and publish it across multiple channels, in the right context, at the right time.
3. Operational ownership
Putting customers in control of their consumption and incentivising them to manage supply and demand will play a big part in addressing the key challenges for water companies, like the increasing demand on the sector’s traditional infrastructure, rising customer expectations, and bad debt.
Other industries are forging ahead in this area, and water companies need to follow suit. In the financial services sector, ‘open banking’ now means that UK-regulated banks are obliged to give customers control over their financial data, allowing them to share it with third parties. It means banking will no longer be siloed in one app or website. This move is designed to encourage more competition and innovation, whereby improving customer experience.
The idea of customers managing their utilities through a single interface is one that has been widely mooted. “Imagine a world in which you don’t even know who your supplier of water and waste water services is” says former Ofwat CEO, Cathryn Ross, “Because you have a contract with an intermediary who takes care of all that for you. You may well have given them the ability to turn some bits of your home infrastructure on and off to manage demand and reduce costs, because this will enable you to get a cheaper deal.”
“To my mind this means the water sector, indeed all utilities, are ripe for a revolution.” (Cathryn Ross, former CEO at Ofwat)
The future of CX in utilities
Customer experience is changing and, driven by PR19, water companies are under arguably greater pressure than other sectors to innovate and deliver. But while there’s a host of significant challenges threatening to slow down the progress of water companies, there are plenty of opportunities that will drive positive changes across the sector.
For more information on the opportunities and challenges for water companies preparing for PR19, download our latest white paper Delivering More Of What Matters, Through Simple, Personal And Powerful Digital Experiences: mando.agency/wij
