As a journalist, one of my pet peeves with companies is that it’s often difficult to make contact.
Whether it’s by design (people who call or email tend to want something) or by inattention, it’s often hard to find someone to answer a question, solve a problem or address any of a myriad of other potential needs.
Don’t let this be your utility.
Consider your utility’s website landing page. Is it easy to find contact information?
How easily can customers find phone numbers for reporting outages, questioning their bills or speaking about energy programs such as old appliance buybacks or home energy audits?
Aside from phone numbers, are email addresses readily available for those issues? And are there links to your social media, an increasingly popular way to make contact?
How will other kinds of site users fare?
How easily will reporters locate contact information for your PR team? Can shareholders find numbers for investor relations, if your utility is publicly traded?
If contacting your utility is akin to one of those infuriating clickbait slide shows found on the web, it’s a problem. You’ll be sure to anger reporters, customers, investors and anyone else trying to reach you.
Also note that it’s not difficult to fix.
It’s ideal to place pertinent contact information at the same spot on every website page: The top right corner is always a good option. Include the main phone number and an email link, as well as a link to a phone/email directory.
Use large type so people can see it. Anyone over the age of 40 who suddenly can’t see any more will thank you. Increase the size of your social media icons, too.
Don’t overlook other possible locations for contact information; include it on all correspondence you issue, billing inserts, emails and the bills themselves.
It should go without saying that if you publicize your contact options, someone needs to be there answering them. Immediate (or near-immediate responses) should occur during business hours and within a day or two on holidays and weekends. As always, emergency lines must always be monitored.
Phone trees may be an evil necessity, so keep them as simple as you can. And include the option to speak with a live representative as often as possible.
It should be noted that no matter how well you position your contact information, there’s a certain percentage of the population that due to laziness or stupidity will still have trouble contacting you. Sadly, there’s nothing you can do about that.