Utilities Post All-Time High Customer Satisfaction But Lack Customer Trust

Customers Don’t Trust Utilities to Deliver Safety, Security,
Offerings or Innovation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#brand–Customers are satisfied with electric and natural gas utility service
but don’t trust their advice or digital competency. Consumers also doubt
the industry’s ability to keep transmission systems or personal
information secure. These findings are from 2016
Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential, a Cogent
Reports™ study from Market Strategies International. Completing its
third year, the study benchmarks and trends 130 utilities using an
Engaged Customer Relationship (ECR) tracking index, which is composed of
Brand Trust, Product Experience and Operational Satisfaction measures.
The ECR index increased five points this year with 46 utility brands
being named Customer Champions.

“Consumers now want great brand and product experiences above quality
service. Our research shows that operational satisfaction is declining
in importance while product experience is increasing,” said Chris
Oberle, senior vice president, Market Strategies International.
“Customers say utilities are digital dinosaurs which creates a real
problem for an industry whose future relies on innovation and offerings.
The overall market perception is utilities keep service flowing but
aren’t good product providers and can’t be trusted to keep customers
safe and secure.”

The impacts of these negative consumer perceptions are already being
felt by the industry. While utility Operational Satisfaction scores a
high 764 (on a 1,000-point scale), Brand Trust scores a low 693. This
lack of trust has resulted in low customer engagement with utility
offerings, like energy efficiency, online tools, distributed energy,
solar and new rate structures.

“Utilities would benefit greatly from developing customer management
plans focused on specific customer types. Our study tracks 12 customer
segments, including ‘Digital Types’ and ‘Consumption Managers,’ to help
improve customer interactions and relationships,” added Oberle.

There is a 181-point difference between the highest and lowest scoring
utilities on ECR. The study finds that 46 utilities have established the
industry’s strongest ECR scores and are designated 2016 Customer
Champions. These utilities are mastering customer engagement and, as a
result, have much greater franchise values. Individual utility scoring
performances can be obtained at 2016
Cogent Reports Utility Customer Relationship Scoring – Full List.

*Customer Champions were selected based on achieving a top quartile
industry, top two benchmark segment score or being within 20 points of
the top regional score on the Cogent Engaged Customer Relationships
index (ECR).

About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential

Cogent Reports conducted surveys among 58,433 residential electric,
natural gas and combination utility customers of the 130 largest US
utility companies (based on residential customer counts). The sample
design uses US census data and strict quotas to ensure a demographically
balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age,
gender, income, race and ethnicity. Utilities within the same region and
of the same type (e.g., electric-only providers) are given equal weight
to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey results.
Market Strategies will supply the exact wording of any survey question
upon request.

About Market Strategies International

Market
Strategies International is a leading provider of research and
consulting services to utility management. We blend primary research
with data from our syndicated, benchmarking and self-funded studies as
well as Big Data to help our clients grow their businesses and brands.
Market Strategies’ research specialties include brand, communications,
CX, product development and segmentation. Our syndicated products, known
as Cogent Reports, are the energy sector’s industry-leading source and
diagnostic tool designed to transform how clients can maximize revenue
potential, and identify issues and topics that will shape their business
models and the future direction of the industry.

Founded in 1989, Market Strategies is one of the largest market research
firms in the world, with offices in the US, Canada and China and
additional industry expertise in consumer & retail, financial services,
healthcare, technology and telecommunications. Read Market Strategies’
blog at FreshMR,
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Contacts

Market Strategies International
Lisa Viselli, 734.779.6851
lisa.viselli@marketstrategies.com
or
Sarah
Keller, 617.715.7612
sarah.keller@marketstrategies.com