DIRECT ENERGY

I was engaged to work with an energy provider primarily in service design role and secondarily to assist in a CX strategy initiative

Understand the reasons for the negative customer outcomes and offer recommendations to solve the problem

Develop a roadmap for change to help the client understand how to stand up their own CX practice

The Business Problem

The task was to understand the causes of these negative customer outcomes and provide recommendations as to how to mitigate them

64%

of new customers get disconnected for non-payment within the first 90 days.

35%

of customers cancel their service in the first 90 days and sign up with another provider

Primary Issues Identified

While numerous issues that were identified throughout the customer journey that contributed to negative customer outcomes, several issues were found that systemically led to negative customer outcomes:

How sales teams are incentivized

Sales teams under pressure to achieve sales quotas meant plans were being sold to high risk customers that would likely be miss payment within the first three months of service. 68% of customers were considered high-risk equalled an unsustainable rate of disconnects and lost long term revenue.

Hardest for the highest risk customers to avoid late or non-payment

The business processes and timelines leading to late fees and disconnect were much more stringent and aggressive for those higher risk customers least able to absorb any unforeseen cost or fluctuation in their monthly bill.

Customers misunderstanding their plans

The labeling and copy around different plans and offers are often misunderstood by customers leading them to disconnects between expected and actual monthly energy costs.

Approach

Understand the negative customer outcomes (outside in) and identify the

touchpoints within the business that affect them (inside out).

Then offer recommendations and a plan to address them.

Identify all the points within the business and customer journey that cause or contribute to these negative outcomes and develop actionable recommendations for the organization

INSIDE OUT

ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

UNDESIRABLE CUSTOMER OUTCOMES

OUTSIDE IN

Understand the customer - gather insight into what caused them to get into the position that resulted in these negative outcomes and develop actionable recommendations for the organization

Actions

12

80

Core Team Sessions

Daily Stand-ups

12

46

Documents Reviewed

Customer Research Participants

7 1050

Transcribed Minutes

Stakeholder Interviews

4 1,430

Stakeholder Workshops

Miles Travelled

Journey Mapping

Pinpointing the Problem

Mapping the the customer journey was key to understanding current state experience.

Starting with a war room, the customer journey was mapped and aligned with supporting

actors, processes and technology systems

Touchpoints

Touchpoints in the customer journey that could contribute

to our negative customer outcomes and organized them into functional categories

COMMUNICATIONS

Physical and digital communications between organization and customer - late notifications not available on customer portal

REPS

Issues where human

interaction is required - customer service, sales

TECHNICAL

Issues that are purely technical in nature

- log in failures,

bank payment glitches

PROCESSES

Shortcomings in operational processes and protocols - no affordance for late payment options

CX Focus Areas

In addition to identifying the primary reasons for the clients negative customer outcomes we also developed several CX tenets and focus areas going forward

Focus Areas