Utilities Increase Engagement with Consumers; 44 Named 2015 Customer Champions

In 2015, many of the nation’s 125 largest electric and natural gas utilities made significant strides in strengthening bonds with residential consumers compared with 2014. Along with the release of its 2015 Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential Study which includes these results, Cogent Reports™, a division of Market Strategies International, also named 44 Customer Champions, an elite group of utilities that achieved top-tier Engaged Customer Relationship (ECR) scores based on feedback from more than 52,000 residential ratepayers.

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Details of the report show year-over-year industrywide gains across a spectrum of 74 attributes related to Brand Trust, Operational Satisfaction and Product Experience, the three core components that comprise the overall ECR scores first introduced by Cogent Reports in 2014. However, the biggest gains in 2015 were related to the emotional connection consumers feel with their utility—a key aspect of Brand Trust—satisfaction with safety and reliability, and improved ratings for education efforts to promote the benefits of utility value-added programs.

In the wake of the industry’s current mergers, mandates and new market entrants, Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Market Strategies notes that improved customer engagement performance bodes well for all stakeholders and believes the current momentum will continue.

“These results prove that the industry is in transition and is becoming more engaged with its customers on important topics and forming stronger relationships with them,” said Oberle. “This is proof the industry sees value in and is getting focused on building real franchise value beyond its pipes and wires presence.”

According to Cogent, an area where there is room for improvement is better targeting by utilities to increase engagement with specific customer segments on the offerings, products and options they have developed. This is a reflection of the fact that along with the obligation to serve defined geographies, comes an industry challenge to build relationships with a very diverse customer base.

“We have found that customer ratings on brand, product and satisfaction vary greatly by customer type. Utilities that have successfully targeted customer segments based upon their product offering needs have much higher customer engagement scoring,” Oberle added. “In addition, some utilities lag on serving diverse customer bases. For instance, among 23 utilities that were top performers on engaging Hispanic customers, only three come from border states. Top performers in the future will be utilities that have built a successful customer management strategy.”

About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement Study: Residential

Cogent Reports conducted surveys among 52,007 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 125 largest US utility companies (based on residential customer counts). The sample design uses US census data and strict quotas to ensure a demographically balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age, gender, income, race and ethnicity. Utilities within the same region and of the same type (e.g., electric-only providers) are given equal weight to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey results. Market Strategies will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.

About Market Strategies International

Market Strategies International is a market research consultancy with deep expertise in consumer/retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, technology and telecommunications. The firm is ISO 20252 certified, reflecting its commitment to providing intelligent research, designed to the highest levels of accuracy, with meaningful results that help companies make confident business decisions. Market Strategies conducts qualitative and quantitative research in 75 countries, and its specialties include brand, communications, CX, product development, segmentation and syndicated. Its syndicated products, known as Cogent Reports, help clients understand the market environment, explore industry trends and monitor their brand and products within the competitive landscape. Founded in 1989, Market Strategies is one of the largest market research firms in the world, with offices in the US, Canada and China. Read Market Strategies’ blog at FreshMR, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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