Keeping Your Customers Connected

“Honestly, I don’t know what I would do without this app. It’s a lifesaver.”

“It tells me exactly what I have left in my account and gives me an estimated amount of days that I have before it runs out.” 

— Heather, MyUsage user.

You may think it’s hard for a utility company to inspire engagement in customers. You provide a service and send a bill, the customer pays it, and the cycle repeats.

However, all companies, including utility companies, owe it to themselves (as well as their customers) to provide an engaging and informative service.

This could make all of the difference with customers paying on time and being genuinely happy with their service.

One of the easiest ways you can inspire engagement and keep your customers connected is through Exceleron’s MyUsage mobile app.

In this article, we will look at the benefits of customer engagement, and how MyUsage mobile can change the relationship you have with customers for the better.

Engagement drives satisfaction

In simple terms, customer engagement refers to the relationship you have with the consumers that use your services. You want to make sure that you have a positive, healthy experience with as many of your customers as possible.

Think back to the last product you bought online. How long did it take to arrive? Did you receive timely communication with the business? Were they easy to contact if you had any questions?

The experience you had plays a critical part in whether you order from them again, recommend them to friends and colleagues, and certainly your satisfaction as a customer. Loyal customers are five times more likely to purchase from a business dedicated to improving the customer experience. Even in the utility industry where customer turnover is much less frequent than other industries, customer engagement drives customer satisfaction!

Engagement drives positive payment behavior

According to NEADA, utility companies across the US have $24.3 billion parked in unpaid bills. With this staggering figure in mind, it’s critical to make sure it’s as easy as possible for your customers to pay you.

Here are three of the reasons why keeping your customers engaged leads to better payment behavior and most importantly, higher customer satisfaction.

Personalized engagement makes it easier to pay

With personalized alerts, it becomes much easier for customers to pay their bills on time. They can receive the alerts that are most helpful to them. This prevents getting an excessive amount of alerts that could result in customers tuning you out entirely, resulting in missed payments and late fees. The best way to get customers the information they need is to give them personalized, timely, and actionable notifications (e.g. providing a pay-by-text option).

Engage with better customer choice: Enabling smaller, more frequent payments

Customers who typically pay their bills late are more likely to pay on time if a business offers the ability to split payments over time. Paying a bill all at once can feel overwhelming, especially for the many people who live paycheck to paycheck. Breaking up the bill into smaller amounts makes it more manageable, both mentally and financially. Customers can budget accordingly and feel empowered by their ability to manage their utilities bill.

Transparency is a form of self-service

If customers have all of the information up front about their usage and how it translates to their bill each day, they are more likely to self-serve when it comes to answering questions they may have about their service.. This means your customer service representatives can focus on helping customers with more complicated issues instead of simple requests. In the modern-day, customers crave the combination of self-sufficiency with a human touch when needed.

Engagement grows trust in your business

All relationships are based on trust, and this applies to business interactions too. Being authentic, honest, and transparent is the best way to win over customers through a process of providing high customer satisfaction that leads to trust. By giving customers information before they ask for it you are empowering them to take control over their bill which leads to greater customer satisfaction and ultimately, your customers placing greater trust in you.

Engaging Customers with the MyUsage app

It’s not a coincidence that some of the most customer-centric brands are the most successful, and many brands have mobile apps in place to help their customers.

Mobile app downloads have grown 23% since the start of the pandemic, helping to change the way that people interact with businesses.

With the MyUsage app, you can provide a comprehensive payment experience to your customers, without them having to call your office or turn on their computer.

When your customers utilize the MyUsage app to stay informed and make payments, they are creating a daily dialogue with you and leveraging a mobile-first customer engagement platform.

10-Fold increase in engagement eliminates end-of-the-month surprises

The typical MyUsage customer checks their account ten times a month — a 900% increase in awareness compared to a customer who would receive their bill on a monthly basis.

With the MyUsage app, we offer engaging daily touchpoint opportunities, not just payment details, and alerts, but handy hints on how to reduce energy usage too.

A customer that is more mindful of their account is more likely to know when their bill is due and more likely to make payment.

The freedom for customers to pay how they want

All customers are different, and this means that they will want to pay their bills in different ways too.

With MyUsage, customers can make payments on the app at any time of the day or night. Rather than making a customer work to pay you, it’s an app that blends into your customers’ lifestyle.

One in four Americans are under and unbanked, meaning they may not have access to a credit card or bank account. MyUsage also allows them to pay by cash at numerous retail locations around the country.

It’s simple, convenient, and hassle-free for customers and makes it easy for them to pay on time too!

In summary

“Pay as you go lets me keep track of how much money I spend on electric day-to-day.” Thelma, MyUsage user

Customer engagement is no longer something that just the big retail companies need to do — it has become an essential tool for all businesses in today’s digital landscape, including utilities.

The MyUsage app will do all the work of improving the customer experience for you, leaving your team with more time and resources to manage your utility operations.

94% of MyUsage customers use the app on a mobile device. Considering that the average US adult now spends nearly four hours a day on their phone (an increase of 61% since 2014), you have a captive audience, just waiting to be engaged.

Contact us today to see how MyUsage can be your perfect partner when it comes to collecting payment and enhancing your customer experience.

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Sources:

• https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/paul-greenberg-defines-customer-engagement
• https://www.powermag.com/utilities-challenged-by-shortfall-from-unpaid-bills/
• https://experiencematters.blog/category/roi-of-customer-experience/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2019/06/30/100-of-the-most-customer-centric-companies/
• https://www.annexcloud.com/blog/5-trust-transparency-stats-every-business-should-see/
• https://elitecontentmarketer.com/screen-time-statistics/
• https://magicbell.com/blog/alert-fatigue
• https://hrmars.com/papers_submitted/2821/The_Relationship_between_Customer_Satisfaction_and_Customer_Trust_on_Customer_Loyalty.pdf