The challenge
Ameren, the second-largest electric utility in Illinois, needed to improve its unplanned outage experience to increase customer satisfaction. After severe winter storms and widespread outages, the utility received negative feedback about inconsistent notifications and shifting restoration times.
The high volume of customer calls, many repetitive and transferred from the IVR system to agents, showed that customers weren’t getting the information they needed from self-service channels. Outage processes were applied inconsistently, communications across customer channels were misaligned, and employee actions weren’t tied to the customer experience.
The solution
Ameren partnered with E Source to create a customer-centered outage strategy, starting with a customer journey-mapping workshop to define the ideal outage experience. Following the workshop, Ameren made several improvements, including updates to IVR messaging and stopping automated restoration notifications that confused customers.
E Source’s strategy focused on:
- Aligning outage alerts
- Enhancing the outage map
- Refining outage field processes
- Improving customer reporting
- Managing change across departments
- Raising customer awareness of outage notifications
The results
With E Source’s support, Ameren reduced calls transferred from the IVR to customer service by 30% and saw a decrease in social media complaints about restoration times.
The utility also introduced the Potential Power Outage alert—a notice informing customers that Ameren is aware of outages in their area.
Nearly 94% of customers found the alert valuable, and 68% of those who received it reported increased satisfaction with the utility.