Customer engagement software is critical to successfully delivering a world-class customer experience, addressing customer concerns, optimizing customer service costs and improving customer satisfaction metrics.
The best customer engagement software for utilities depends largely upon your organization's needs and budget. To help you on your journey to finding the best software for your business, consider these important factors:
1. Feature Set
Make sure the software you choose includes features that will help you meet your customer engagement goals. Popular features to look for include customer segmentation, workflow automation, outage alerts, payment portal and automated information sharing and problem solving for minor issues.
2. Integrations
Look for software that can integrate with your existing systems and resources so you can access customer data easily. Seamless integration will also ensure that customer data remains secure and up-to-date, while eliminating redundant and manual data entry processes.
3. Price
Price is always an important factor in any software purchase. Determine your budget upfront and make sure that the software you choose fits within your budget.
The cost of customer engagement softwares will vary based on the features, integration and support you need. While the cost of the software can seem high initially, investing in customer engagement software will yield larger returns in the long run and help you reduce the cost of customer service as your business grows and evolves.
4. Reviews
Reviews from existing customers can provide insight into how easy (or difficult) the software is to use, as well as any potential areas of improvement. Before you make a final decision, be sure to look or ask for customer case studies and testimonials to confirm the software is a best fit for your utility.
5. Security
As technology changes, so do the threats to your business. When looking at a customer service portal, be sure to choose software that follows industry best practices for security and data privacy. Keeping customer data secure is not only a critical aspect of the customer experience, it’s also a legal requirement in many countries and states.
6. Access
The best customer engagement software will be usable from any of your customers' devices such as desktop or mobile. That way your customers can interact with your utility on their terms, making it easier for them to find information, access bills and make payments in full and on time.
7. Usability
When looking for a customer engagement portal, you want one that is intuitive and easy to use so that customers can quickly navigate to the information they need. This includes viewing outage notification, making payments and reviewing consumption history so that they can adjust their usage accordingly.
8. Analytics
Analytic capabilities help you gain a better understanding of customer behavior and preferences. Analytics also help you uncover customer trends, detect problems quickly and provide targeted marketing solutions.
When looking for a customer engagement software, be sure to take a look at the built in data and reporting features to ensure that you can easily access the information you need to recognize trends and make better decisions to grow your business.
9. Demos
Once you've narrowed down your options, it's also a good idea to request a demo of the software to make sure it meets your expectations and facilitates the customer engagement processes you need.
Ultimately, selecting the best customer engagement software for your utility will depend on the size and scope of your organization's needs.
Interested in learning about how the SilverBlaze Customer Portal for Utilities can help you improve customer engagement? Book a free demo with our team of utility customer engagement experts today.
