Improving customer service has never been more important. Whether your company’s operations are driven by the need to improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs, or please regulators, these objectives should be met starting with your interactive voice response system (IVR) and on the call center floor. E Source can help you stay on top of call center and IVR best practices, credit and collections processes, and the best ways to train and motivate your customer service representatives.
The E Source Utility Customer Care Service provides analysis, tools, best practices, and an IVR assessment and industry benchmark that can help you improve all of your customer service processes—from payment processing to the call center. We equip our members with strategies and case studies to help lower costs without sacrificing service to your customers, increase the use of IVR self-service, and improve first-call resolution.
If you already have an esource.com account, visit My E Source and sign up for the E Source Utility Customer Care Service newsletter (in the Manage My Newsletters section) to find out what members of this service are talking about. If you don’t have an account, you can create one now. Check out previous issues in our newsletter archive.
What You Get with the E Source Utility Customer Care Service
Benchmark Your IVR Against Others in the Industry and Get Recommendations for Improvement
Get Real-Time Responses to Your Most Pressing Questions About Customer Care
Gain Access to Your Peer Community and Experts in the Field
Learn Industry Insights from Our Timely Research Reports
To Subscribe or for Additional Information
Download the E Source Utility Customer Care Service benefits flyer (PDF) to learn more or contact Rich Goodwin, manager, E Source Customer Experience Services, 303-345-9156.
Benchmark Your IVR Against Others in the Industry and Get Recommendations for Improvement
Since 2004, E Source has been benchmarking IVRs to gauge how successful they are in serving residential customers. Our study, the E Source Review of North American Electric and Gas Company IVRs, is the industry standard for assessing IVR improvements because it’s customer-driven. We’re basing our assessments on what customers have told us is important to them.
Every two years, we evaluate the tasks and functions that residential customers most strongly think utilities should offer on the IVR, including reaching a customer service representative or making a one-time payment. Our reviewers—typical residential energy customers recruited by E Source—consider usability as well as functionality when making their evaluations. In 2009, we collected data from 95 IVRs and developed a comprehensive ranking so utilities could see how their company’s IVR performed compared with others in the industry. Improving customer satisfaction requires knowing what your customers experience when they call you—that’s why we also provide an exhaustive review of your company’s IVR and compare it with others in the industry.
Members of the E Source Utility Customer Care Service receive:
- An exclusive rankings report with in-depth results and analysis for all tasks and functions tested
- A personalized IVR assessment based on a comprehensive review of your company’s IVR with a full evaluation of the factors affecting your ranking score
- A results teleconference just for you to review your IVR assessment with a focus on what works and what doesn’t
- Recommendations for the actions you can take to be sure your IVR meets your customers’ needs
Get Real-Time Responses to Your Most Pressing Questions About Customer Care
Think of E Source as an extension of your staff! As an E Source member, you’ll get in-depth answers and consulting assistance from our expert staff. You can ask us questions, bounce ideas off of our researchers, or contact us whenever you need an unbiased, third-party perspective.
- Save time. Let us do the research and analysis so that you don’t have to.
- Make better decisions. You’ll be equipped with the latest independent, unbiased, and well-documented research and information.
- Don’t reinvent the wheel. Get access to industry best practices so you don’t make costly mistakes.
We’ll answer your questions related to:
- Customer satisfaction
- Improving your IVR and self-service processes
- Payment processing, payment channels, and tender types
- Compliance
- Call center training and coaching
Gain Access to Your Peer Community and Experts in the Field
We know that your peers are often your best resource. E Source helps you develop that essential peer network through in-person meetings and interactive web conferences.
In-Person Meetings
- Contact Center Roundtable. Share experiences with your peers and learn how to most effectively meet customer service expectations through your call center and IVR and improve your customer service department. This annual, highly interactive, one-day meeting is a vendor-free zone designed to provide you with best-practice customer service strategies and to build your professional network.
- E Source Forum. In this exclusive annual event for E Source members, we provide a special track devoted to customer service best practices aimed at helping utilities improve and enhance their customer relationships. Other topical tracks include Demand-Side Management, Intelligent Grid, Marketing & Communications, and End-Use Technologies.
Topical Web Conferences
Members of the E Source Utility Customer Care Service can attend as many service web conferences as they wish without having to pay extra fees. Plus, we archive the conferences on our web site, so if you miss one, you can always watch and listen to it later.
These web conferences allow you to hear from and speak directly with industry leaders on the latest customer service topics. You can see a list of recent E Source Utility Customer Care Service web conferences.
Learn Industry Insights from Our Timely Research Reports
With the latest independent, unbiased, and well-documented E Source research briefs and reports, you’ll discover how to improve your customers’ IVR and contact center experiences so you’ll be able focus your attention—and limited resources—on high-impact improvements. Take a look at what we’ve recently published.
