Exclusive interview: Rachael Merrell, Customer Service Director at Echo Managed Services
What do you do at Echo?
Echo Managed Services is a specialist provider that helps water companies deliver market-leading customer service, offers multi-channel customer contact services, comprehensive debt recovery solutions, revenue protection services and is the developer of the Salesforce-native billing software, Aptumo. The processes and people at Echo play an essential role in creating high customer satisfaction levels for their clients.
What role does Echo play in creating high levels of customer satisfaction in the water sector?
Echo combines best-practice technology and processes with highly skilled and knowledgeable people to provide public and private sector organisations with end-to-end customer contact capabilities.
Choosing Echo gives water utilities control over every aspect of their customer contact strategy. Working alongside the client, Echo uses its deep domain industry knowledge to enhance the quality of customer interactions at every touchpoint, providing an inclusive, tailored and regulatory compliant service for customers while improving customer satisfaction.
Has the water sector seen high levels of customer satisfaction over recent years? Why do you believe this to be so?
Yes, the water sector has been seeing high levels of customer satisfaction.
According to the latest UKCSI report from the Institute of Customer Service, the average customer satisfaction for water companies has been up 1.5 points since July 2021, with satisfaction now being 76.1 points. The research also showed that 75.7% of customers found the service they experienced got everything right the first time.
The C-MeX mechanism, introduced in 2020, encouraged water companies to improve customer engagement. This could explain why water companies outperformed the utility sector’s average score of 74.1.
The cost-of-living crisis is currently on everyone’s minds. Do you believe this will impact the water sector?
The cost-of-living crisis will undoubtedly impact water bill payers as even customers with a reasonable disposable income are at risk of experiencing financial difficulties.
Water bills are rising steadily with a 1.7% increase a year on average. Water providers must ensure the right support is accessible for billpayers struggling with payment increases. WaterUK said that around 1 million households are getting help with their water bills, which is expected to rise to at least 1.4 million by 2025.
The cost-of-living crisis significantly impacts customers, meaning water providers are responsible for responding with the appropriate help. Echo works with various partners, including debt advice charities and community organisations, to support customers who have concerns about being able to pay their water bills.
How will Echo be able to help maintain high levels of customer satisfaction during times of hardship?
As a customer service provider, Echo can ensure that water utilities effectively communicate the support and guidance available to customers. Billing communications are the perfect time for customer service teams to reiterate these messages. Echo ensures that all communications, including letters, emails and phone calls, use clear, non-technical language to avoid confusion and additional stress for billpayers. It also explores various communication methods, including messaging on bill envelopes to remove the barrier between customers and available support.
Echo’s recruitment policies also consider behaviours and skills to meet customers’ needs. Specialist customer care teams are set up to deal with the most complex cases, with skilled agents trained to engage with customers struggling or vulnerable to payment difficulties. The team can take customers through the payment journey according to their specific needs or limitations. Some accounts might have an additional care flag which means the account needs to be checked regularly to prompt engagement with the customer. Deploying these techniques can ease the burden placed on customers through the cost-of-living crisis to ensure that customer satisfaction remains high.
Support is also extended to our own staff to ensure that they can manage at times of crisis or difficulty.
What advice do you have for water companies to help them maintain their high satisfaction levels?
Proactive engagement strategies are essential, including establishing a business-wide vulnerability policy, implementing long-term training, effective communications, and affiliating themselves with other support organisations to accommodate vulnerable customers. This will make the billing process easier for both parties and build trust, which translates to greater customer satisfaction.
What should companies be focusing on when it comes to staff training?
All customer service team members should be confident they can support customers through this financially difficult period. Teams should be trained to spot signs of affordability issues and identify subtle clues that could indicate additional needs. These are sensitive and very personal issues; therefore, specialised and targeted training is necessary.
What do you see happening to customer satisfaction levels in the next couple of years if the cost of living pressure continues to rise?
If water providers support customers through the cost-of-living crisis, customer satisfaction levels can remain high and perhaps even increase. Showing that the provider cares and supports its customers throughout the period will benefit overall customer satisfaction. If water providers want to keep customer satisfaction high through the cost-of-living crisis, offering a tailored customer approach will be the key to success.
