Your digital services need to do more than keep pace with consumers’ expectations, they need to set the bar.
Technology, by definition, is always changing. What is “cutting edge” one moment quickly becomes “the new normal,” and then, simply, expected. This holds true for any technology, from power steering in automobiles to mobile phones. It is especially true when it comes to anything online!
But more than the changes in technology, one of the most amazing phenomena is the speed at which consumer expectations change. It’s crucial to understand your customers’ comfort level with all things tech so that your offerings are relevant and your brand image is solid.
Who Are Your Customers?
Who are your customers? It seems a simple question, but … most first-time home buyers are between 35 and 40 years old. Millennials! Not the early Baby Boomers (or their parents) of decades past. Not even Gen X – who are now receiving AARP membership offers! Far from being “too old” to understand a pay online application, your newest customers are digital natives who have grown up with technology, and were the early adopters with each advance. They exhibit the highest usage rates of most types of newer technology, prefer texting to phone conversations, and prioritize smart technology for security, energy efficiency and convenience.
Naturally, they’re mobile-first. The metrics bear this out, with as much as 65 percent of web traffic coming to home comfort companies’ websites from mobile devices. What is today’s younger, tech-savvy customer looking for from a provider?
- More automation and ease of use
- Fast, on-demand results and responses
- Personalized offers and promotions
- To be “seen” across departments, without being asked the same basic information with every transfer.
To keep your next generation customers satisfied, your business needs to offer them next generation technology. While it may not be necessary for you to keep up with the latest TikTok trend … if your team is up on the newest dance moves, it wouldn’t hurt to grab a quick video and post it!
On The Go Automation
The latest studies show that 88 percent of consumers prefer to work with a company that offers convenient, mobile-friendly self-service web options.
It’s time to step back and take a look at your digital presence. Are you keeping up with the latest, and best, tech trends in our industry? Do you have a meaningful MyAccount portal, one which provides your customers an enhanced user experience while creating efficiencies for your organization? When done right, a MyAccount portal can save you time and money by reducing your customer service load, creating operational efficiencies and reducing overhead, gaining better penetration of your value-added services, and increasing customer satisfaction and retention.
On-Demand Response
Business hours are a thing of the past. We are all so used to paying bills, ordering gifts and groceries, and even renewing our insurance and driver’s licenses online whenever we have a few moments to do so.
Your MyAccount portal can offer the same conveniences, acting as a 24/7/365 customer service representative. Customer doesn’t remember their last delivery? The portal has the answer. Needs to know how much their budget payment is? The portal has the answer. Wants to enroll in a price protection agreement? Again, available at any time through the portal.
Years ago, the first portals transferred the customer data once or twice a day. It was cutting edge at the time, but the information on the portal had a daily lag. Today, real-time integration between portal and enterprise software is prevalent and offers many advantages.
With this real-time data transfer, digital contracts – including price protection agreements, service contracts, budget plan enrollments, and even propane tank lease contracts – can be automatically customized for each customer to reflect constantly changing fuel prices as well as the customer’s specific level of usage, system size or number of zones, local pricing and tax structures, and more. These agreements can have limited-time availability, offer expiration dates, and additional discounts for speedy responses. The contracts, once signed and paid for, are securely stored and the account information updated.
Personalized Services and Offers
Even as we utilize more technology and automation, the services offered can become more personalized. Many surveys reveal that consumers do not mind offers and promotions when they are relevant to their needs. The first party data in fuel retailers’ account management systems provide a wealth of opportunities to communicate directly to the customer in meaningful ways.
Marketing messages can be delivered directly on the portal, via email, or by text. This can range from “thank you for being a valued customer” on their anniversary with your company, to timely tune-up reminders, contract renewals, requests for online reviews, and more.
Companies can manage these messages, as well as pop-up notifications, through a simple WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) editor, that can include custom images, font choices, sizes, and colors, and link to specific pages and promotions on your web site and portal. For instance, you can post a marketing ad for automatic delivery as the customer is placing a will-call order; place a budget plan ad on the payment screen of your non-budget customer; or promote your service contracts on a request service or service history page if that customer doesn’t yet have a service contract. Once again, this type of messaging can be fully automated to work off the customer data you already have, and to great effect.
Text and email communications can be fully automated and can accomplish a myriad of important functions. Thank your customer for doing business with you another year. Let a will-call customer know that you’ll be in their area on Friday. Ask Mrs. Jones for a review after her annual tune-up. Thank her for making her budget payment this month. Alert all your generator customers that a storm is coming so that they check their fuel supply ahead of time. In short, your in-portal marketing messages and outbound texting and email communications can go a long way in building and strengthening your customer relationships.
When you promote a product or service to a customer who already has that product or service, you appear tone deaf. But when you promote a product or service that your customer doesn’t yet have but which would be helpful or convenient for them, they are appreciative and your company looks smart. And consumers want to work with smart companies.
A Name, Not a Number
The generation that grew up with user names, anonymization, and digital personas prioritizes being known as more than an account number.
Perhaps this generation prefers managing issues online rather than through a telephone call in part because each time a call gets transferred, they have to re-identify themselves and repeat their reason for calling.
This, too, can be rectified with your updated portal. When everyone in the company can access the same customer profile, they can share and review notes from previous conversations, whether they were five minutes earlier or five months earlier. CSRs and service managers can also access service history, reports, and any comments added by technicians about the home or system.
These upgrades to your online services are not just for the Millennial customers. Every customer at every age will appreciate greater ease of use, faster responses, more convenience, and – most definitely – personal recognition. The more your customers feel that they are known by you, the greater will be your customer retention and the value inherent in your business.
Richard Rutigliano is President of PriMedia, Inc., an integrated marketing and communications firm specializing in the home energy sector and offering a wide array of SaaS products nationwide. He can be reached at 516-222-2041 or rrutigliano@primediany.com.
