What Drives Customer Satisfaction Presentation for Customer Vision Stakeholder Working Group I May 25, 2018
Meet the team Bobbi Schroeppel VP-Customer Care, Comm & HR
What do top-performing companies look like? Source: JD Powers
Our Customer Intent Statement
Our Customer Life Cycle
Current structure • Two virtualized Contact Centers (overflow each other) − Butte MT and Huron SD − Staffed 7am – 6pm M-F and 8am – 5pm Saturday − 24/7 Emergency response • Office Hours 8 am – 5pm M-F • Customer Interactions Channels supported today − Phone − Email − Web Inquiries and service requests − Walk in interactions • InService (Outage and Workforce Management system) − Customer Requests are routed electronically to our field resources − Certain orders auto close when work is completed in the field − Less resources to process orders − Leveraged non billing meter reads to close service requests
Customer-focused quality
First contact resolution - phone 85% 82.97% 80% Source: 2018 JD Power Electric Utility Residential Study through 3 rd wave – 29 (combo) electric & 75% gas utilities in the study 69.32% 70% 65% 60% N_W_E 29 Combo Utilities
Customer service walk-in locations • 18 Walk-in Locations • Montana (7) • Butte • Bozeman • Helena • Missoula • Billings • Great Falls • Kalispell • South Dakota/Nebraska (11) • Provides additional channel and touch point for customers • Branded and designed with customer in mind
Customer assistance • Personalized Payment Assistance • Energy Assistance/Low Income • Weatherization • Home Energy Audits • Medical Account Assistance
Online outage map • Report Street lights (GPS) • Out of power • Text and email notifications • Planned maintenance • Current weather conditions • One of our TOP web page hits
Website traffic
Our customers love it! • 1,375 customer created out of power notifications since January 2018, vs. calling − Significantly higher adoption rate compared to our IVR and Online Customer Care • We average between 6-8 street light problems per day since providing this feature on our map using GPS location • The news media relies on the map to provide outage info • April 2018 stats: − 13,250 customers visited the outage map (4 min view time) − 147 Street light problems reported through the map − 293 enrollments in outage notifications − 900+ text and email outage communications sent to customers
PQR Index by number of outage information points NorthWestern Energy 1.92 outage information points recalled Source: 2018 JD Power Electric Utility Residential Study through 3 rd wave – all brands
Future enhancements • Unified Communication Project • Expanding Customer Interaction Channels − Social Media − Chat (future chatbots) − SMS (texting) − Routed emails − IVR with authentication and predictive analysis Future − Chatbots with AI − Natural Language Processors • High availability one contact center • Web co-browsing • Work volume forecasting and workforce optimization • Foundation for omnichannel • Tentative go live Q4-2018
Customer Preference Center • Allows customers to choose w hat kind of information they want to receive • Promotions • Special Offers • Outage Notifications • Payment Reminders • Payment Confirmations • How frequently they want to receive the information • Which communication channel is the best to reach them • Email • Text • Phone • Chat • Allows the utility to utilize customer preferences to communicate relevant, personalized marketing campaigns • Increases customer engagement & customer experience
Billing & payment options • Billing − Paper bill − Paperless − Web Access − Budget Billing − Summary bill • Payment − Mail (42%) − Customer Service Walk-in Locations (9%) − Western Union/SpeedPay (18%) − Text Alerts − In-house EFT w/Pick a Due Date (16%) − Internet (14%) − Energy Assistance (1%)
Customers’ payment preference 35% 30.1% Source: 2018 JD Power 30% Electric Utility Residential 21.8% 21.3% 21.1% 23.8% Study through 3 rd wave – all 25% 19.4% 19.1% brands 18.7% 20% 15% 3.8% 0.4% 10% 4.6% 2.7% 2.2% 3.1% 2.6% 5% 2.0% 2.2% 0.9% 0% N_W_E All Brands
JD Power verbatims – convenience fee Question: What, if anything, could be improved with the billing and/or payment process? • “ACCEPT CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS WITHOUT AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE” • “not charging a fee to pay by credit or debit card” • “I would like to be able to have my bill charged to my credit card. It is the way that I keep track of my spending.” • “You're charged a fee if you want to pay over the phone or use a debit/credit card. That means I try to save that money by mailing a check each month. but then I still have to pay postage.” • “You cannot pay online without being charged an additional fee. Seems ridiculous in this day and age so we have to mail a check every month.” (relates to credit/debit card fees) • “Auto-pay to a credit card without additional charges.”
Energy Efficiency- Demand Side Management (DSM) • Least Cost Resource − Acquire DSM at cost less than other energy supply alternatives through Rebates and Custom Incentives − All ratepayers benefit − DSM Program participants get dual benefit Favorable effect on total o costs and bill reductions from saved energy − Environmental benefits − Full cost recovery
Energy Efficiency- Universal Systems Benefits (USB) • Public Purpose Categories • Local Conservation: Audits & Appraisals • Market Transformation: Training/Publications • Renewable Generation & E+ Green • Research & Development: Safety Training • Low Income − Bill Discount − Energy Share − Free Weatherization Large Customers: Self-direct Funds •
Energy Efficiency: electric program reporting
Online Customer Care • We currently have three self-service websites: − My Energy Account − Real Estate Corner − Community Action Corner
Top “My Energy Account” visits • Account Dashboard • Pay My Bill • Billing Statement • Billing Information − Charges/Payments • Contact Information − Update to mailing address, email and phone number
Recent enhancements…..pay online
What’s coming….ONLINE Landlord Portal
Research before action 20% of our Customers 27% of our 20% of our Customers Customers 14% of our Customers 16% of our 3% of our Customers Customers
Our channel funnel
Example: Paid Campaign • OBJECTIVE: Increase number of customers on EZ Pay through segmentation • RESULTS: 5,890 customers signed up for EZ Pay = 4.53% response rate
Example: Owned • OBJECTIVE: Increase number of customers on e-billing and EZ Pay prioritizing efficiency Bill insert • RESULTS: • 1,881 customers enrolled in e-billing • 2,148 customers enrolled Employees Offices in EZ Pay Website Facebook
Example: Earned • OBJECTIVE: Identify unique opportunities to highlight and share our work
Channel recall 70% Reported to have seen at least some type of advertising from NorthWestern Energy in the past few months
And finally what impact does it have Those who recalled seeing some type of ad, had better views of the company: • Overall satisfaction • Willingness to advocate on the company’s behalf • Confidence in the company • Reputation pillars and net reputation • Overall likeability of the brand
Supporting our communities • Volunteerism • Economic Development • Charitable Contributions • Local Sponsorships
Volunteerism • Individual and Group • Employee Volunteer Appreciation Grants • Team Participation Grants • Paid Time Off
2017 JD Power Residential Electric Utility Study results A big lift in Corporate Citizenship results when a customer is aware of utility employees volunteering in the community. NWE - Corporate Citizenship - Seen Utility Employees Volunteering 800 775 780 21.5 % 760 740 720 700 680 669 660 78.5% 640 Yes No
Employee volunteer appreciation grants • $150 grants on behalf of an employee who has donated at least 20 to 31 hours of personal time during a work year to a qualifying non-profit • $250 grants on behalf of employees who have donated 32 hours or more of personal time during a work year to a qualifying non-profit • $100 grants for each employee who participates as a team member at a company-sponsored event such as a music festival or a fundraising relay • We pay individual employee grants annually and team grants quarterly
Community service policy • Company Endorsed Volunteer Activity • Activity that is formally endorsed by local Charitable Contribution Committees or Executive Management • Paid as a company- endorsed volunteer activity • 8 paid hours per employee per year • ½ PTO + ½ CEVA after first 8 hours
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