Exceptional customer service will help customers navigate tough financial times

What does Echo Managed Services do?

Echo Managed Services is a specialist outsourced provider of complex multi-channel customer contact services, comprehensive debt recovery solutions, revenue protection services and the developer of the Salesforce-native billing software, Aptumo.

What role does Echo play in creating high levels of customer satisfaction in the water sector?

Echo combines best practice technology and processes with highly skilled and knowledgeable people to provide public and private sector organisations with end-to-end customer contact capabilities.

Choosing Echo outsourced contact centre services gives water utilities control over every aspect of its customer contact strategy. Working alongside the client, Echo uses its deep domain industry knowledge to enhance the quality of customer interactions at every touchpoint, providing an inclusive, tailored, and regulatory compliant service for customers, improving customer satisfaction.

Has the water sector seen high levels of customer satisfaction over recent years?

According to the latest UKCSI report from the Institute of Customer Service, the average customer satisfaction for water companies is up 1.5 points since July 2021, with satisfaction now being 76.1 points.

The research showed that 75.7% of customers found the service they experienced got everything right the first time, 42.7% of respondents had their complaints dealt with immediately, and 38% said that the resolution time was quicker than expected.

The C-MeX mechanism which was introduced in 2020 encouraged water companies to improve engagement with customers which could go some way to explaining why they water companies out-performed the utility sector’s average score of 74.1.

The cost-of-living crisis is currently on everyone’s minds. Do you believe this will impact the water sector?

The cost-of-living crisis will certainly impact water bill payers as even customers with a reasonable disposable income are at risk of experiencing financial difficulties as the cost of living continues to increase.

Water bills are rising steadily with an 1.7% increase a year on average. Water providers need to ensure the right support is accessible for bill payers that are struggling with payment increases. WaterUK said that around 1 million households are now getting help with their water bills, and that's expected to rise to at least 1.4 million by 2025.

Clearly, the cost-of-living crisis is having a significant impact on customers, meaning water providers have a responsibility to respond with the appropriate help. Echo works with a variety of partners, including debt advice charities and community organisations, to support customers who have concerns about being able pay their water bill.

How will Echo be able to help maintain high levels of customer satisfaction during times of hardship?

As a customer service provider, Echo can ensure that water utilities are effectively communicating the support and guidance that is available to customers, and billing communications are the perfect time for customer service teams to reiterate these messages. Echo ensures that all communications including letters, emails and phone calls use clear, simple, non-technical language to avoid confusion and additional stress for bill payers. It also explores various communication methods including messaging on bill envelopes to remove the barrier between customers and available support.

Echo’s recruitment policies also consider behaviours as well as skills to ensure customers’ needs are met. Specialist customer care teams are set up to deal with the most complex cases, with skilled agents trained to engage with customers that are struggling, or vulnerable to payment difficulties. The team can take customers through the payment journey according to their specific needs or limitations. Some accounts might have an additional care flag which means the account needs to be checked regularly to prompt engagement with the customer. Deploying these techniques can ease the burden placed on customers through the cost-of-living crisis to ensure that customer satisfaction levels remain high.

Support is also extended to our own staff to ensure that they can manage at times of crisis or difficulty.

What advice do you have for water companies to help them maintain their high levels of satisfaction?

Proactive engagement strategies are essential, along with establishing a business-wide vulnerability policy, implementing long-term training, effective communications, and affiliating themselves with other support organisations to accommodate vulnerable customers. This will make the billing process easier for both parties and build trust which translates to greater customer satisfaction.

What should companies be focusing on when it comes to staff training?

All customer service team members should be confident they can support customers through this financially difficult period. Teams should be trained on how to spot signs of affordability issues, and how to identify subtle clues which could indicate additional needs. These are sensitive and very personal issues; therefore, specialised, and targeted training is a must.

What do you see happening to customer satisfaction levels in the next couple of years if cost of living pressure continues to rise?

If water providers support customers through the cost-of-living crisis, customer satisfaction levels can remain high and perhaps even increase. Showing that the provider cares and supports its customers through the period will be very beneficial to overall customer satisfaction.

Recent research from the Institute of Customer Service found that customers who felt an organisation responded to their personal needs and situation gave an average UKCSI score of 83.7, much higher than when an organisation failed to respond to personal needs (53.9) or when a customer did not require a personalised experience.

Evidently personalisation and consideration of individual circumstances are of high importance to customers. If water providers want to keep customer satisfaction high through the cost-of-living crisis, offering a tailored customer approach will be the key to success.