Modernizing the way customers interact with their utility promises everything from lower call volumes to stronger program engagement. But just because a process becomes digital doesn’t mean it provides better customer experiences.
When utilities build self-service initiatives on unclear data, fragmented portals and siloed systems, the moments that matter often become moments that fall short: more frustrating than they were when paperwork and phone calls were the norm.
According to VertexOne Senior Vice President of Product Strategy Andreya Shaak and Senior Vice President of Implementation and Services Christina Schueneman, as utilities design their digital front doors, they face challenges in six areas. Here’s how to get the customer experience right and avoid these common hurdles.
1. Define goals upfront
Many utilities launch portals without defining expected outcomes first. What are the difference-makers for customers, staff and the overall business after go-live? Those answers should drive the project priorities around portal design and scope.
Being specific about goals can also help leaders evaluate ROI by measuring improvements in those areas over time.
How to get it right:
Define what you want your self-service portal to improve, starting with major customer pain points. When expectations are clear, customer journeys can be mapped and success metrics can be defined upfront.
Schueneman shares an example of a utility that took this approach. Its operations leaders determined that the portal would serve as the primary communication channel as it transitioned from flat rate billing to metered billing. “Over several months, customers learned about the change and were prepared for it, so the utility received fewer complaints once metered billing was in place,” she describes.
2. Consider the wider ecosystem
In the rush to get results, utilities move forward without understanding implementation work and dependencies on the back-end — and the role other systems play in self-service portals.
For example, a utility may expect the portal to support complex payment plans or detailed usage views, only to discover mid-project that its customer information system (CIS) can’t calculate or surface that information reliably.
How to get it right:
Invite third-party providers to the table early. Make sure they understand your processes and how their systems connect to the experience you want to deliver. This confirms that all systems can work together to build the digital front door you have in mind.
3. Emphasize data readiness
Data and business rules that feed the CIS aren’t always clean and consistent.
When this happens, the portal exposes ambiguous rate structures, inconsistent billing logic, usage graphs that don’t make sense and jumbled account structures. Customers log in and aren’t sure what they’re looking at.
How to get it right:
Data integrity must be prioritized before portal investments. This means dedicating the right people and the right amount of time to understanding what data exists, where it lives, how it’s used and how to standardize it across teams and systems.
With that knowledge, utilities can define clear rules, decide how to handle exceptions and map how information will flow. “This creates clarity for the portal, which puts the utility in full control of the customer experience,” Schueneman describes.
4. Design around people, not systems
Too often, portals are designed around internal system constraints and boundaries instead of how customers need to interact with them. For instance, when information about outages, billing and usage lives in different areas, customers struggle to complete simple tasks. This also impacts what employees can see when customers call for help.
“The worst-case scenario is a customer who uses the portal, can’t find what they need and ends up calling the care center anyway, more frustrated than before,” describes Shaak. “Agents inherit that failure. What customers can and can’t do online changes what and how agents manage the customer.”
How to get it right:
Design upstream alignment across the moments that matter: bill inquiries, outages, move-ins/move-outs, etc. Think about the best-case scenario for each function in terms of how it’s presented in a portal. Then, work backward to align systems, data and processes so the portal can deliver that experience.
5. Build in the feedback loop
In many rollouts, utilities can’t pinpoint where customers become frustrated. They also can’t connect digital behavior to call center activity.
Without being able to marry what happens in the portal to downstream signals like calls or escalations, utilities won’t be able to tell if digital sessions are successful.
How to get it right:
Develop a cross-functional team — IT, operations, customer service and communications — to test the portal experience within the context of real business processes and customer journeys.
This group should also be responsible for gathering and acting on feedback from customers and staff.
6. Consider a staged roll-out approach
Utilities often launch all their digital capabilities at the same time. “They do too much too fast and overwhelm customers,” explains Schueneman. This approach can also overload staff, who have to learn new tools and processes.
How to get it right:
Take a phased approach to introducing customers and staff to your digital front door. When you’re confident the basics work well, layer in other tools and content that position your utility as a trusted advisor, whether that means offering energy conservation tips or serving tailored, proactive notifications about relevant programs.
When the digital experience creates real progress
Getting the digital experience right pays off in many forms:
- Reduced energy use
- Lower call volumes
- Higher program enrollment
- Lower operational costs
- Better customer sentiment
- Enhanced employee morale
The exact payoff depends on what you’re trying to change. For one utility, improvement came in the form of call center efficiency. Although the number of customers it serves has more than doubled, its digital front door helped maintain monthly call volumes of around 5,500.
For another, portal usage led to energy savings of 3.6 million kWh by enrolling 20,000+ customers in peak-time rebate programs. The portal helped shift 77% of its customers to e-billing and 63% to auto-pay — a huge savings in terms of paper and postage.
When utilities put these practices in place, modernization can live up to its promise: customers who stay informed and satisfied, staff who can focus on higher-value work and an operation that turns investments into outcomes.
