Don’t leave customers out in the cold with bad communications

Utilities must expect the unexpected when it comes to extreme weather and put systems in place to keep customers constantly informed.

The Consumer Council for Water ­(CCWater) published its annual household complaints report in September, calling on England’s largest water company to reverse a 10 per cent rise in the number of customers having to pick up the phone to resolve service problems.

This spike in complaints was attributed to the extreme weather experienced during the winter months – Storm Emma and The Beast from the East being the primary suspects.

While just about any organisation can blame the weather for poor performance, the reality is that utilities really are at the mercy of extreme weather. Such events can put a huge strain on many aspects of the business’s operations – especially its customer contact function.

It is for this reason that having robust processes in place to ensure a swift and effective response to any operational surge can make a big difference to customer outcomes. Being quick to respond should result in a boost in customer loyalty and brand advocacy. In contrast, businesses that don’t get their act together quickly following an extreme weather event could suffer from a flood of complaints, defecting customers and, potentially, performance penalties from regulators.

Last month, experts at University College London (UCL) issued a first-of-its-kind extended-range weather forecast for central England and predicted that Britain should prepare for the coldest winter in a decade. If their forecasts are accurate, it could mean widespread disruption and a challenging set of conditions for suppliers to navigate.

It’s time to act now, before the temperatures plummet.

Perform root cause analysis

The first step for utilities is to review their root cause analysis framework to ensure it is effectively identifying opportunities for both issue reduction and proactive resolution.

Once the framework has been re-evaluated, the data should be used to pinpoint issues that have caused or contributed to spikes in complaints so they can be mitigated. Consider whether your business has appropriate contingency resources ready to be deployed to respond to customer contact surges, for example. Or whether you have appropriate technology, security and basic infrastructure in place. Even something as simple as slippery walkways outside your headquarters or frozen pipes can mean delays and setbacks for your operation.

Businesses must also ensure their approach is in line with their regulator’s expectations around the fair treatment of customers. It should go without saying that customers should be central to any planning or remediation activity.

Strengthen teams

As part of their preparation, it is important that utilities providers take a long, hard look at their resource ahead of the winter months and ensure processes are in place that will allow them to flexibly up-scale resources.

By partnering with a trusted third party, firms can reassure regulators that they have the resources, skills and specialists on hand to deal with any spikes in customer contacts at a moment’s notice. It is important to note, however, that firms should choose a partner that can bring added value to a customer contact and complaints handling operation, not simply a partner that can provide a group of staff with little regard for their training and expertise.

Not only will an up-skilled, contracted workforce reduce costs in the long term, it will also serve to limit the number of complaints escalated to the Ombudsman and ultimately increase customer retention.

Extreme weather often results in situations where complaints cannot be resolved immediately – it might take a while to drain a flooded area or reconnect an interrupted supply. This will no doubt be frustrating enough in itself, but will be even more so if customers cannot get hold of their provider for updates.

The Out in the Cold report, written last year by Ofwat in response to the Beast from the East, highlighted that in some of the worst affected areas 40 per cent of customers impacted by water loss received no communication from their company, and when they did this communication lacked timely, targeted or accurate information

This must change. Utility companies need to proactively reach out to affected customers to warn them in advance about forecasted extreme weather conditions, make them aware of what they should do to stay safe and what to do if they need support.

Huntswood’s recent Complaints Outlook 2019 found that only 13 per cent of utilities customers were satisfied with how they were kept informed through the complaints process and 81 per cent of customers had to contact their provider to chase for an update. Fast and responsive communications across all channels – phone, online and social media – is essential.

Take an integrated approach

When huge spikes in customer contact and complaints do occur, your business may well find many customers will be seeking the same information. As such, firms should explore the use of technology solutions – for example, automatic updates or smartphone “push notifications” – and integrate these into their current processes.

Businesses should also start looking into effective data amalgamation, that is, ensuring they have a single view of any given customer relationship across any and all channels. This will enable a holistic view of all interactions and activities, readily available for all frontline staff. In turn, this will enable a seamless complaint handling experience, even between channels.

Building trust continues to be a major focus for utilities. But if companies are not prepared to adequately support customers when extreme circumstances hit, that trust can evaporate instantly, even if the flood waters don’t. While ongoing and effective communication should be the norm, it becomes absolutely critical when customers are under pressure and lacking the basic services they expect.