Business Excellence 2019

Acquisition International - 2019 Business Excellence Awards 65 In this latest cross-industry customer satisfaction benchmarking report , launched in March 2019, new insights from TTi Research mark the UK’s Utilities Sector as a firm ‘Must do better’. New Benchmark Report by TTi Research Reveals Customer Satisfaction in the Utilities Sector Below UK Average he 21-month report provides analysis and exclusive insight into the customer experience energy and water companies provide, including: • An overview of these Utilities customer satisfaction and how it then compares to the 11 other sectors, including Retail, Insurance, Banking, Distribution, Telecoms and Airlines. • Insight into both the individual energy and water companies’ performance, including British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power, Anglian Water and more. • The Customer Touchpoints that increase Customer Effort • What customers want from their utility provider • Factors driving and discouraging employee engagement in the sector Glyn Luckett, Commercial Director at TTi Research, commented: “Utility companies face mounting regulatory pressure to deliver a quality customer experience. With both Ofgem and Ofwat moving towards stricter price controls and customer engagement requirements, it has never been more critical for all these energy networks and water companies to demonstrate to its customers that they are getting good value for money and great service for the services they buy.” TTi Research’s UK Customer Satisfaction Benchmark Survey delivers insight into the quality of customer service in Utilities and 11 other industry sectors. Rolling data is derived from an online survey of over 6,000 UK respondents, including 565 utilities customers, conducted over 21 months between 1 May 2017 and December 2018. Respondents were asked to provide customer satisfaction, customer effort and employee engagement ratings, as well as answer questions about their interactions with different service providers. T By measuring the customer satisfaction against customer effort across a range of service interactions, the research specialists at TTi Research were able to pinpoint vital customer pain points for companies to prioritise. Analysis revealed that, despite increased investment in call centre management systems, utilities customers are still finding service to be below par. Common complaints based on sentiment analysis included: • Slow to answer calls • Long hold-times • Complex phone menus • Passed around departments and personnel Focussed research on customer journeys through call centres will provide a robust, comparable measure of what customers expect, whether those expectations are being met and improvements customers want to see, enabling networks to tackle problems at source. Glyn Luckett explained: “With Utilities’ budgets squeezed, company leaders face difficult decisions on which customer strategies to invest in that will create a positive and distinctive customer experience. Our report shows the value customer research plays in improving decision-making outcomes. By examining the customer journey at each touch point, companies can uncover, not only where gaps in service provision lie, but its importance to the customer, enabling targeted, effective action planning.” Ovo Energy received one of the highest customer satisfaction score of 9.1/10 – with 10 being the highest - followed by Anglian Water with a score of 8.9. Scottish Power received the lowest customer satisfaction rating with a score of 4.5, followed by Utilita with a score of 6.3. Winning customer strategies identified among the highest scoring providers include: • Customer-focussed messaging • Self-service • Instilling Trust • Rewarding brand loyalty • Promoting Green Energy • Innovating