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Consumers in the UK ranked utilities as the second most difficult sector to connect with despite industry efforts to offer multi-channel communication for customers.
Consumers voted utilities as the second most difficult sector to connect with after mobile operators, according to the survey from customer service technology firm Eckoh.
Seventy three per cent of customers had recently had to repeat details of their complaint in separate interactions during the resolution process and 47 per cent said that phone communications were the most annoying due to call wait times and complex telephone menus, compared to 32 per cent who disliked email communication.
Eckoh head of global communications Tony Porter said: “In too many cases, shoppers find that their service providers are implementing ‘multi-flannel’ strategies, better at hindering communication than improving it.
“It’s vital that companies execute better when it comes to multi- and omni-channel. There are customer retention risks and serious problems with the validity of customer data if businesses don’t do a better job at uniting the various contact streams.”
The firm’s head of communications Tony Porter added: “The results from this research are actually rather surprising to us. There are many examples of highly efficient and well managed service channels across the utilities sector.
“This consumer poll demonstrates that patience is at an all-time low. The expectation for consistent and immediate service means that utilities providers are often better off focusing on fewer channels with less degree of variance.”
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