Trends for 2022
Utilities faced unprecedented headwinds during COVID, from shifting their entire workforce to remote or hybrid operations to the impact of social distancing and safety measures on physical operations and to government mandates that continue to create uncertainty and disrupt budgets and planning. Despite the Omicron surge, we have hope that 2022 offers us all a return to a semblance of normal.  Here's a look at a few of the trends we expect to amplify for Utilities in 2022.
Beyond the Meter Programs
We saw a significant increase in webinars, white papers, and discovery calls with clients on the topic of Beyond the Meter in late 2021, so we expect more utilities to keep a high priority on these programs this year.Â
Beyond the Meter programs create a great way for Utilities to offer their customers new products and services that add value to their homes and bring the utility fully into customers' smart home interests. Customers generally find great value in these high-CSAT programs, and success with BTM becomes a great mechanism for even more engagement throughout the customer lifecycle.  Happy BTM customers tend to be a utility's biggest promoters.
Best of all, BTM programs create substantial revenue to ease budget shortfalls or fund new projects and programs. With all of the budget disruption last year due to COVID pressures, we think utilities can find a valuable funding mechanism in the right BTM programs and delight their customers in 2022.
Digital Self Service
I noticed a lot of press in 2021 related to Go To Zero (GTZ) programs as budget pressures increased and utilities looked to Customer Service and Customer Operations costs as a way to save money.   On the surface, GTZ goals make sense - getting to zero calls dramatically reduces operating budgets and presumably solves a lot of customer issues without forcing a conversation with a customer service representative. Utilities have a tremendous opportunity to increase digital self-service on their websites, making customer calls unnecessary for most support issues.
In practice, however, GTZ programs hide a lot of peril. If achieving zero calls becomes the primary KPI, we risk creating a process that may reduce calls but actually increases customer "rage metrics" and drive more unsatisfactory experiences.Â
We're a fan of GTZ goals that strive to get to zero unwarranted calls, where customers can complete the majority of their primary expectations through self-service on the website, and only have to call for help with critical items or unusual situations that require the help of a trained specialist. Unfortunately, we don’t find an abundance of companies who've done successful work with GTZ, so helpful playbooks remain in short supply.Â
Intelligent digital self-service means enabling a website that customers can use intuitively and easily to accomplish their goals. And, when customer behavior on the site indicates points of frustration, Intelligent Self Service should shift to effective transition to live support via chat, SMS or a call to a trained specialist that can solve the customer's issue without further obstacles. We recommend utilities to find partners with experience in non-voice engagements and customer journey work to optimize the digital lifecycle with as much care as Utilities have focused historically on their legacy customer support programs. It's a worthy investment for 2022 that will save money and improve CSAT for years to come.Â
Marketplaces that Fund Themselves
Too many utilities invested over the past decade in marketplaces for their customers that fail to achieve "escape velocity," fail to earn enough sales to offset the cost of operation or turn a profit. Those sites generally offer a limited product catalog without options for all of a utility's customers and fail to engage customers to build awareness and drive the traffic required for sustainable operations.  Most marketplaces remain hard to find, have a catalog restricted to energy efficiency goods that don't appeal to all customer segments, and deliver little if any content to their customers or special offers to increase traffic to the site.
A successful marketplace depends on knowing the customer and reaching them with personalized, relevant and timely offers that bring them to a destination website with plenty of products and services that they consider valuable enough to purchase. And consistent success means nurturing those customer relationships to maintain strong awareness of your marketplace and keep customers coming back for more.  Success is less about "build it and they will come" and much more about keeping the customer's perspective at the center of that business.Â
Successful programs deliver personalized emails with interesting content to their customers in-boxes and special offers that trigger a visit to the website. Those visits deliver a modern and intuitive eCommerce experience that customers trust to make a purchase with confidence right on the site.  That's a recipe for tremendous innovation in the digital experience that pays dividends across the entire enterprise. Best of all, happy customers tend to share their experiences with their social circles, bringing more traffic and sales to the marketplace. We think every utility can build a compelling digital marketplace that serves all of their customers and funds itself as it improves customer engagement and CSAT.
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