WaterSideChat: What is the Value of Engaged Customers?...Jun 26, 2018 · •Engagement limited to public works notifications •Shift from manual meter reading saved time (10 days)

WATERSMART SOFTWARE 1June 26, 2018

Julia Escamilla– Public Services Information Officer, Rincon del Diablo Water

Dana Haasz – Associate Director, Customer Support, WaterSmart Software

Moderator:

Dominique Gómez – Chief Operating Officer, WaterSmart Software

WaterSide Chat: What is the Value

of Engaged Customers?

WATERSMART SOFTWARE 2

Agenda

•Housekeeping

•Meet Our Panelists

• Introductory Presentations• Julia Escamilla

• Dana Haasz

•Moderated Discussion

•Upcoming Webinar• Tuesday, August 7th WaterSide Chat: Winning at Customer Service


House Keeping•WaterSide Chat will be recorded

•Video and presentation materials will be made available to all attendees later in the week

•All attendees are muted so submit your questions through the GoToWebinar ‘Question’ panel

•Follow us on Twitter: @getWaterSmart

• Share your thoughts: #watersidechat

Library of WaterSide Chats at http://www.watersmart.com/media

http://www.watersmart.com/media


Panelists

Julia Escamilla Dana Haasz

Public Services Information Officer

Rincon del Diablo Water

Associate Director, Customer Support

WaterSmart Software


Panelists

Julia EscamillaPublic Services Information Officer


Customer NotificationJune 26, 2018

6

Julia EscamillaPublic Services Information Officer

[email protected]

The Event – Setting the Scene

7

Start Date: Friday, September 29, 2017

Time: 1:30 pm - called in by a customer

Location: San Pasqual Road, Escondido, CA

Situation: A hot tapped nozzle installed 40 years ago had rusted through and caused a

massive water leak in the middle of a heavily

traveled thoroughfare.

End Date: Saturday, September 30, 2017

Time: 11:00 pm

The Event – Identifying Customers

8

Number of accounts affected: 508

Number of people affected: >1,500

The Event – Notifying Customers

9

Notification 1

• Completed within first hour of outage

• 508 voice messages left

• 83% delivery rate

Notification 2

• Completed early Saturday morning (update)

• 441 voice messages • 66% delivery rate

Notification 3• Completed late Saturday evening

• 383 voice messages

• 60% delivery rate

The Event – Immediate Benefits

10

• Administrative staff time significantly reduced

• Accelerated rate of notification

• Notification accomplished at and away from office

• Timely updates on repairs

• No incoming customer calls• Directed customers to website for more frequent updates

• Freed up operations staff – no tag deliveries

• Reduced number of customers going to leak site

The Event – Lessons Learned

11

• Update emergency

contact with customers

• Notify using all three media

• Increase staff awareness of

using WaterSmart offsite• Augment group messenger

notifications for small projects

with door tags

• You can’t please all customers all of the time

12

THANK YOU!

12

Julia Escamilla


760-745-5522 X503

[email protected]


Panelists

Dana HaaszAssociate Director, Customer Support

WaterSmart Software

Meeting Utility Goals Through Customer

Engagement

Presented on behalf of Ed Cooney

Background

• AMI approved by City Council and implemented in the height of the California drought (36% reduction target)

• Engagement limited to public works notifications

• Shift from manual meter reading saved time (10 days) BUT

• Dealing with data became a challenge: much of the alerting was manual and wasn’t well received by staff

• Implemented WaterSmart Customer Self-Service Portal May 2017

Shifting focus

• Focus on the customer and self service as well as reducing burden on staff

• Quickly realized that increasing registration reduces need for manual alerts and leads to fewer and higher quality customer interactions. BUT had no emails

• Registration targets set

• 35% registration by Spring 2018 – Achieved March 2018

• 50% by Summer 2018 – Achieved May 2018

• Moving forward: doubling down on targets and expanding program elements• 75% registration by April 2019

• Bill presentment

• Single Sign On

• Print leak alerts

A plan for success

Sample outreach materials Staff outreach and registration efforts

WaterSmart Welcome Letter (x2), Group

Messenger use

Public Works & Finance Customer Service

Registration

Town Newsletter Articles Public Works Employee Field Service

Registration

Town e-Announcements, banners etc. Entered +/- 250 New Water Account Emails into

WS

Water Bill WS Use Graph & Messages Entered +/- 250 Drought Outreach (WF) Emails

into WS

What worked

• Most effective outreach efforts were direct print mail that

included account numbers• Welcome Letter

• Finance Letter

• Irrigation and Leak Alert Letters

• WaterSmart Bill Use Graph

• Daily Registration Efforts. Email and phone number captured during:

• Customer Service Calls & Field

Visits

• Water Bill Inquiries &

Applications

• Public and Special Events

The Results

• 9% - 12% registration rate within a couple weeks for each mailer

• Gathered 2,989 email addresses and 2,575 phone numbers

• Town spent approximately $6 in outreach per registered user in year 1

Print Letter &

Outreach Campaign

Daily Customer Service Efforts Print Letters &

Outreach Campaign

Punch. Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab. Punch.

Improving customer satisfaction

Saving staff time

Thank you!

Ed Cooney

Program Manager

[email protected]

Dana Haasz


[email protected]


Q & A

Julia Escamilla Dana Haasz




WaterSmart Software


Upcoming webinar

WaterSide Chat: Winning at Customer Service

Panelists:

Andrew Heath – Senior Director, Utilities Practice at J.D. Power

More coming soon!

August 7, 2018

11 a.m. PST

Register at: https://www.watersmart.com/events/waterside-chat-winning-at-customer-service/

https://www.watersmart.com/events/waterside-chat-winning-at-customer-service/


Thank you!

Documents

WaterSideChat: What is the Value of Engaged Customers?...Jun 26, 2018 · •Engagement limited to public works notifications •Shift from manual meter reading saved time (10 days)