Utility customers don’t base their expectations for a mobile app, customer service, or a website based on their experiences with other utilities. Customer expectation is set by their best experiences with brands regardless of their vertical. Therefore, it is imperative for utilities to dramatically improve their user experience and mobile engagement if they want to compete for customer mindshare and loyalty in the 21st century. 89% of consumer would recommend a brand after a positive mobile experience. Can utilities build this kind of positive brand identification? Are there utilities out there that have a mobile presence designed to optimize customer engagement? The answer to both of these questions is yes. UGI, an electric and natural gas utility, based in Reading, PA serving 700,000 customers has built a sleek mobile app that is at the core of the customer engagement strategy.
The UGI mobile app now serves as one-stop-shop for all their customer needs. Common customer engagement activities like paying a bill, reporting an outage, and requesting service are base-level functions that bring the customers to the app. Tracking usage, proactive communication, and efficiency programs incentive customers to stay. Perhaps the most intriguing feature that a customer can use on the app is budget setting. Pairing this with energy efficiency UGI can now engage their customers with programs and communications that make them feel valued and an in control.
By creating a single unified platform for the customer UGI has created a powerful tool for engagement and interaction. Jumping off from an as easy-to-use dashboard the UGI customer can track their usage over time and compare where they have been. This information is useful for the customer and connects them to their energy usage in a meaningful way. Capturing mindshare in the information age requires utilities to provide platforms that are easy to use and content that either informs, educates, or entertains their customers. UGI’s new mobile app and their multi-channel content strategy has ensured they are at the forefront of informing and educating their customers in a deeply enriching way.
UGI will be discussing their approach to customer engagement and their deployment of a mobile app, and their long-term strategy for maximizing the value of an app in a webinar with Zpryme. The webinar will center on how a mobile customer engagement platform can lower operational costs and transactional costs while at the same time improve customer satisfaction. Zpryme will be talking with Thomas Lord, UGI’s Chief Information Officer, and Joanne Fletcher the VP of Water and Energy Solutions at SEW.
