Business Customer Satisfaction Best Practices and Trends Mike Hildebrand Vice President, Consulting Solutions, E Source Chad Garrett Senior Manager, Consulting Solutions, E Source Rachel Cooper Senior Manager, Market Research Services, E Source Web Conference www.esource.com February 12, 2015
Presentation Outline Top Findings from the 2014 Large Business Customer Satisfaction Survey Techniques for Improving Large Business Customer Satisfaction Best Practices for Providing Proactive Energy Advice to Large Business Customers www.esource.com 2015 E Source 2
Overall Customer Satisfaction and Perceived Value Benchmark www.esource.com 2015 E Source 3
Study Backgrounds Sixth annual survey assessed how well utilities and account representatives are satisfying the needs of their large business customers. Respondents rated 19 attributes relating to utilities and utility account reps for: Importance Utility or account rep performance Additional questions addressed: Overall satisfaction and value by utility and account rep Utility communications and engagement Energy-efficiency program participation and decision-making www.esource.com 2015 E Source 4
Methodology For the survey sample, participating utilities provided a list of large business accounts assigned to utility account reps. More than 1,700 large business key account customers of 25 US and Canadian utilities (13 large utilities and 12 small/medium-sized utilities) Online surveys completed in summer 2014. Average response was 23 percent. www.esource.com 2015 E Source 5
Participating Utilities Large utilities AEP Ohio (n = 183) Alliant Energy (n = 126) Florida Power & Light Co. (n = 30) FortisBC (n = 97) JEA (n = 78) KCP&L (n = 72) Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (n = 143) PECO (n = 103) PNM (n = 85) Portland General Electric (n = 53) Public Service Electric & Gas (n = 110) Southern California Edison (n = 30) Wisconsin Public Service (n = 136) Small/medium utilities Austin Energy (n = 44) City of Palo Alto Utilities (n = 22) Clark Public Utilities (n = 36) Johnson City Power Board (n = 34) Memphis Light, Gas and Water (n = 49) Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corp. (n = 35) Orlando Utilities Commission (n = 29) Seattle City Light (n = 25) Silicon Valley Power (n = 18) Snohomish County PUD (n = 52) Tacoma Public Utilities (n = 25) WPPI Energy (n = 86) Participating utilities (n = 25). Note: Number of respondents represents the number of key accounts completing the required benchmark survey questions per utility. In other words, if multiple contacts at one account responded to the survey, those responses were aggregated for the benchmark analysis and only counted as one account response. Stars illustrate the survey methodology confidence index. For example, 5 out of 5 stars indicates that the utility sent more than 50 percent of its key account customer list for sampling and received at least enough responses for a ±10% margin of error. 5 stars = high (5 out of 5 possible) 3 stars = fair (3 out of 5 possible) 1 star = poor (1 out of 5 possible) www.esource.com 2015 E Source 6
Participating Industry Sectors www.esource.com 2015 E Source 7
Most Respondents Have Energy Management Responsibilities www.esource.com 2015 E Source 8
Respondent Primary Job Responsibility www.esource.com 2015 E Source 9
Half of Customers Gave High Marks for Satisfaction with Their Utility www.esource.com 2015 E Source 10
Utility Performance: Sample Average Compared with Best in Class www.esource.com 2015 E Source 11
A Majority of Customers Gave High Marks for Account Rep Satisfaction and Value www.esource.com 2015 E Source 12
Utility Account Reps Receive Positive Net Promoter Score (NPS) NPS is the difference between the percentage of promoters and the percentage of detractors www.esource.com 2015 E Source 13
Account Rep Performance: Sample Average and Best in Class Communicates with me when appropriate Resolves my issues on first contact Is trustworthy 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Provides resources that help me manage my organization's energy costs Sample average Best in class Effectively communicates during energy emergencies Is a proactive energy advisor Understands the needs and challenges of my business Is easy to get a hold of Is attentive to my needs Question S2_2: Using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = poor performance and 10 = excellent performance, for the same set of attributes we asked about in the previous question, now please rate how well your utility account representative performs. E Source www.esource.com 2015 E Source 14
Nearly Half of Customers Said They Participated in Energy-Efficiency (EE) www.esource.com 2015 E Source 15
Majority of EE Program Participants Likely to Recommend It to Others Utility EE program NPS=61 www.esource.com 2015 E Source 16
Who Do You Trust Most for Energy Advice? 62% of large business customers selected their utility when asked who they trust most for energy advice www.esource.com 2015 E Source 17
Presentation Outline Top Findings from the 2014 Large Business Customer Satisfaction Survey Techniques for Improving Large Business Customer Satisfaction Best Practices for Providing Proactive Energy Advice to Large Business Customers www.esource.com 2015 E Source 18
Utility attribute Room for Improvement When Communicating Energy Emergencies Performance Importance 8.0 Effectively communicates during energy emergencies 1.5 9.6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Average rating on a 10-point scale where 1 represents the lowest score and 10 represents the highest score Base: Large business key accounts included in the benchmark (n = 1,701). Question S1_1: Using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = not at all important and 10 = very important, how important is it for a utility to have the following attributes?; S1_2: Using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = poor performance and 10 = excellent performance, for the same set of attributes we asked about in the previous question, now please rate how well your utility performs. E Source www.esource.com 2015 E Source 19
Do You Know How Your Key Account Customers Want to Be Contacted? www.esource.com 2015 E Source 20
Account rep attribute Understanding the Needs and Challenges of Key Account Customers Understands the needs and challenges of my business 8.4 9.0 0.6 Performance Importance 8.2 Is a proactive energy advisor 0.6 8.8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Average rating on a 10-point scale where 1 represents the lowest score and 10 represents the highest score Base: Large business key accounts included in the benchmark (n = 1,701). Question S2_1: Using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = not at all important and 10 = very important, how important is it for a utility account representative to have the following attributes?; S1_2: Using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 = poor performance and 10 = excellent performance, for the same set of attributes we asked about in the previous question, now please rate how well your utility account representative performs. E Source www.esource.com 2015 E Source 21
Satisfaction Improves When Actual Rep Visits Meet Customer Expectations www.esource.com 2015 E Source 22
Presentation Outline Top Findings from the 2014 Large Business Customer Satisfaction Survey Techniques for Improving Large Business Customer Satisfaction Best Practices for Providing Proactive Energy Advice to Large Business Customers www.esource.com 2015 E Source 23
Source: Bing Images www.esource.com 2015 E Source 24
Foundations for Proactive Energy Advisors Define your mission and protect against mission creep Sell and re-sell the importance of account management Get and use the right tools for the job. Are your CRM and outage-management/communications tools working the way they need to? Become specialists; it makes people happier and allows for more-efficient teamwork. www.esource.com 2015 E Source 25
Account Planning in a Sound Byte What s your strategy with Acme Inc. over the next couple of years? Your CEO How would you respond? www.esource.com 2015 E Source 26
Energy Efficiency and Customer Service Source: Bing Images www.esource.com 2015 E Source 27
For More Information Mike Hildebrand Vice President, Consulting Solutions mike_hildebrand@esource.com 303-345-9176 Chad Garrett Senior Manager, Consulting Solutions chad_garrett@esource.com 303-345-9151 Rachel Cooper Senior Manager, Market Research rachel_cooper@esource.com 303-345-9117 Spencer Sator Business Line Manager, E Source spencer_sator@esource.com 303-345-9130 CONTACT US 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723) customer_service@esource.com www.esource.com Have a question? Ask E Source! Submit an inquiry: www.esource.com/question www.esource.com 2015 E Source 28
Your Chance to Participate Large Business Customer Satisfaction Survey 2015 coming soon! To learn more about the study: www.esource.com/largegpb Reach out to: Spencer Sator Business Line Manager, E Source spencer_sator@esource.com 303-345-9130 www.esource.com 2015 E Source 29