Amanda Jessop of Paragon Customer Communications discusses the enabling technologies and strategies helping organisations seamlessly navigate the complexities of customer communications in the modern market.
In contrast to the first UK-wide lockdown, utilities are now beginning to see the load impacts of Covid-19 as the economic shutdown widens, impacting both commercial and domestic customers alike.
Factors such as increased household energy consumption – driven by remote working and home schooling – and non-household (industrial and business) consumption predictably suffering, have collectively led to growing customer expectations. Add to that the wider macroeconomic conditions leading to greater difficulties paying bills, plus more vulnerable consumers than ever before, and the pressure on utilities is mounting.
As a result, utilities have had to carefully consider their customer communication strategies and infrastructures to ensure they can accommodate a larger volume of incoming communications, as well as engage customers with speed, efficiency and relevancy across a growing array of channels to keep them abreast of change in a continuously evolving world.
Of course, the transitions in consumer behaviour is just one aspect of change that the utilities sector have to overcome. Amidst a highly regulated environment, utilities must not only change their communications strategies, but do so while shouldering the responsibility of complying with constantly fluctuating directives and stringent rules set out by the sector’s authorities such as Ofgem and Ofwat.
Reacting to change
Even the most commonplace and staple tasks undertaken by utility providers now need to be carefully considered and well-managed – particularly amidst increasingly fluid lockdown measures and regional tiering.
For instance, companies have to make their customers aware of when it’s safe to have a meter reading taken or a new meter installed. Likewise, when a business reopens, a utility company will need to get back in touch with them to recommence normal supply, or even communicate how such businesses can get in touch with them should problems such as leaks or water stagnation arise before they reopen.
In this regard, the ability of today’s providers to adapt their strategies and change their messages at an equivalent velocity to the rapid pace of change being experienced in the market can be a determining factor in their success, and fundamental to limiting the risk of losing ground to their competitors. Utilities will need the ability to constantly change their messages, both locally or nationally, on a near daily basis without any resistance.
Vulnerable customers
Customers within certain groups – be that those of pensionable age, living with disabilities, or on low incomes, to name a few – have long-remained the focus of consumer vulnerability strategies for the industry. However, the onset of the pandemic has created an uncertain climate where more individuals now fit the widely accepted definition of vulnerable.
The rise in the number of employees placed on the government’s furlough scheme, as well as the surge of redundancies across a multitude of sectors means a broader spectrum of consumers are being faced with the inability to pay bills.
Clearly there has never been a more critical time for utilities companies to strengthen relationships and build trust through their levels of communication and engagement with customers in vulnerable circumstances.
In this volatile landscape, not only do effective communication strategies have to be increasingly empathetic in their approach, and incorporate carefully considered messaging to reassure and keep customers well-informed across traditional communication channels and digital tools, but also consider the wider socio economic groups they now cater to.
Equally, as government agencies and regulators begin to carefully monitor potentially unfair and deceptive business practices, and aggressive marketing campaigns – especially those directed to vulnerable consumers – utilities need to be aware of their new market environment and reconsider the strategic orientation of their communications.
Re-thinking strategies
As consumer behaviours have transitioned, naturally, spend on marketing has shifted in response. With more consumers largely isolated to their homes, utilities have understandably reduced investment in out-of-home advertising opportunities, while print advertising has also fallen.
With digital consumption on the rise, and the use of social media platforms and streaming growing globally, utilities have adapted by following consumers, which means prioritising digital advertising to get information out there, especially to the younger generation of customers.
Achieving the adaptive delivery infrastructure to support truly frictionless customer communications across a multitude of traditional and digital channels, while also unifying previously disjointed communications technologies across the breadth of an organisation, requires an optimised customer communications management delivery model.