Modern CIS solutions enable utilities to perform a variety of functions in demand by their customers from self-service enrollment and moves, adds, & changes to usage analysis, bill presentment, and payment facilitation on portals and mobile applications. The modern CIS sits at the center of an array of functions in the Modern Utility CX.
Increasingly, the CIS ecosystem includes customer engagement for utility programs intended to establish, cultivate, and extend the relationship between utilities and their customers. As the system of record for critical customer information, a properly designed CIS solution becomes the HUB for engagement across virtually every milestone in the customer lifecycle.
Consider the new customer service enrollment. Traditional service starts originated in the customer service center, and most utilities now enable a self-service option for customers on their websites and mobile apps. Configured properly, a CIS/CEM solution turns the commodity enrollment into a full-fledged new customer onboarding experience.
Triggered at account set-up, new customers could quickly receive a welcome email giving them more information about the utility and helpful tips for typical new customer experiences like links to mover support, an invitation to download the utility’s mobile app, and information on utility programs like conservation, payment assistance or time of use rate plans. Nurture campaigns encourage those customers to sign up for paperless billing, invite them to learn about their first bill, and offer rebates on energy efficiency or conservation devices, which increases participation in those valuable utility programs.
With energy equity and payment assistance programs top of mind for utilities and their customers, CIS solutions monitoring commodity usage and billing trends can preempt disruption with helpful alerts or notices to customers designed to avoid delinquencies or increase participation in payment assistance.
And, as the source of truth for customer choice, CIS guides customer engagement campaigns for more personalized engagement in their channel of choice, which dramatically increases customer engagement. We know that sending 1:all emails reduce the chance of capturing attention from our customers. Leveraging the insights of a CIS solution enables utilities to personalize messages to send relevant, timely and impactful communications in customers channels of choice that maximizes attention, engagement, and “activation.”
Ultimately, utility engagement programs seek a measurable outcome, whether that’s a higher CSAT, more participation in their ebill program, higher enrollment in the mobile app, lower delinquencies, or increased customer utilization of rebates for their efficiency and conservation programs. CIS solutions armed with engagement capabilities enables the modern personalized outreach our customers expect and demand from their utilities, which results in much better behavioral achievements than their legacy communication programs. As our customers become more digitally adept, future engagement depends on personalized communication and a utility CX fully equipped with CIS and digital engagement capabilities.