Why Data is Key to Targeted Business Customer Engagement

Article - published on Energy Central on July 14, 2017 - Link

Business customer engagement continues to become more and more important in the utility industry, as business customers use 60 percent of the electricity utilities sell (United States Energy Information Administration). Because of the complexity of their needs, businesses are also a historically difficult group for utilities to engage. In fact, a 2016 JD Power study found most business customers do not even know about the programs or services offered by their utility. In order for businesses to know what their options are, a more targeted and personalized approach is required by utilities. When considering how to develop a strategy for business customer engagement, it is important to understand its intrinsic connection to one of the biggest buzz terms in technology: big data. The two are fundamentally intertwined because data is the building block for targeted customer engagement. Data helps businesses better understand their customers, and the wealth of available data in today’s market provides utilities with more opportunities to learn about their customers than ever before. Today’s savviest utilities are leveraging data to engage their business customers in more dynamic and personal ways, and as a result, improving customer relationships and increasing customer satisfaction. Know the customer For utilities to understand business customers and connect with them on a personal level, they need customer data. With worldwide big data and data analytics revenues projected to reach $187 billion by 2019 (IT research firm IDC), data is not just an in-house project, it’s big business. Leveraging customer data to deliver value is the path to successfully engaging business customers, and leading utilities have taken advantage of market tools to provide customers with personalized insights into their energy usage. By doing so, utilities have created a positive experience and built trust with customers who recognize utilities are paying attention to their unique needs. When customers are prompted to provide additional information to improve the insights further, many are more than willing to share. By volunteering data, the customers are rewarded with even better analysis, while the utility is rewarded with more customer data. Dig deeper with data analytics Data analytics can help utilities navigate the big data maze by pulling out anomalies and trends and helping identify and connect the dots for customers. The market’s leading data analytics tools automate this process, providing tremendous advantages for utilities. When utilities engage their business customers using personalization, they build stronger relationships and, as a result, increase overall customer satisfaction. In fact, one utility found that by personalizing customer interactions through data analytics, it doubled program conversion rates and customers reported satisfaction rates of 4.5/5.0. Divide and conquer Utilities can also leverage data to develop customer segmentation strategies. By using data to group customers based upon geographic or demographic qualities such as location, business type or size, utilities can gain a more nuanced understanding of customer needs so they can target engagement programs for different segments. By using a segmentation strategy, utilities can create targeted outreach campaigns, craft segment-specific messages and speak directly to the pain points of these segments. Rather than taking a mass-market approach to communicating with customers, utilities can ensure they’re speaking to each customer about the most relevant programs, products and services. Utilities can also leverage data to create more detailed customer “personas.” This type of segmentation goes a layer deeper by accounting for not only demographic and geographic data, but also the behaviors and motivations of different customer types. For example, the C-suite generally has different priorities than building operators. Tailoring messaging and focusing on areas that are pertinent to each persona-type builds credibility and ultimately strengthens relationships. Today’s consumers expect tailored and relevant communication from service providers in all areas of their lives. If a utility has to ask a customer about something the customer already expects them to know, such as last month’s bill or total usage, the customer will wonder why they had to ask when the information should have been readily available to them. By personalizing customer engagement, utilities position themselves as trusted advisors to their customers by delivering value based upon actual need, leading to better results for both the customer and the utility. When executed correctly, personalized customer engagement reverberates through all customer channels, from customer accounts to e-mail campaigns to program recruitment. Data is the foundation upon which utilities can target their business customer engagement on a personal level, and utilities that have taken initiative are already reaping the rewards.