Given the current concerns over climate change and water scarcity, as well as the rising cost of energy prices, water and energy companies are under immense pressure to help their customers to reduce their consumption and maintain it at sustainable levels.
Since our inception in 2015, Advizzo has become established as a global SaaS leader in driving sustainable customer engagement and savings for the water and energy sectors. A critical tool in our customer engagement solution is the Advizzo Home Audit.
With some of the highest completion rates for customer audits and surveys across our industry, the customer insights gained from the information our bespoke audits provide are proven to help customers change their habits and reduce their consumption.
What is the Advizzo Home Audit?
The Home Audit is a set of carefully devised questions designed to provide the maximum amount of detail about a customer, their household and their habits. We combine this information with relevant billing and meter data, as well as external data, to create a detailed profile of each customer. This information then informs our behavioral science based model for customer engagement.
Customers can complete the audit via an online customer engagement portal. Alternatively, call and field agents can run through the questions during a conversation with a customer. The Home Audit can be offered as a free service. It’s quick and easy to complete, scalable and inexpensive (unlike some home visits which can be resource intensive and costly).
We design and devise each questionnaire in conjunction with the water or energy company we are engaged with. The questions are tailored to maximize completion rates. We have helped utilities achieve completion rates of up to 90% for surveys no more than six questions long and around 50% completion for surveys requiring between 10 -15 questions.
We can also train call and field agents to encourage completion of the audit whilst they’re engaged with a customer. We’ve observed that this helps deliver a positive outcome from a call. We can also promote the audit with online pop-ups that entice customers to start answering the questions.
The power of insights
The more we know about a customer, their household and their habits, the more accurate we can be with the advice we provide as part of our wider customer engagement solutions. We use the information provided in the audit to deliver more personalized and timely communications to customers including consumption insights to inform them how much they’re using and tips on how to reduce their consumption that are relevant to their household.
One of the most compelling and empowering communications that we send customers is our neighbor comparison – where we compare a customer’s household consumption with that of similar households in the area. Studies around the world have proven that the motivation to be more virtuous than one’s neighbor may be an even greater incentive than the prospect of lower bills. And it certainly seems to work! You can read more about this theory and how it helps with utility customer engagement in our blog – how a nudge can help your customers save energy and water.
Key benefits of the Advizzo Home Audit
- Inexpensive and scalable – Once designed and set up, roll it out across your entire customer base for maximum insights and impact.
- A powerful tool for Field and Call agents – The audit can be integrated into your existing platforms giving your agents a powerful tool they can use to engage with their customers. They can also use the enhanced customer profile information to provide faster and more specific recommendations.
- Empowers and engages customers – The information we request is unintrusive and yet incredibly helpful in providing customers with personalized tips and advice that will help them optimise their consumption and their bills.
- Improves customer trust and satisfaction – Customers enjoy the fact that their provider is taking the time to understand their household and habits and using the information to ‘give back’ with helpful hints, tips and advice.
- Increase revenue streams – With more knowledge about a customer, water and energy companies can avoid wasted efforts and increase cross-sell/up-sell opportunities for more sustainable growth.
How do you gain insights into your customers’ household and consumption habits? How do you use that information to engage with your customers and encourage them to reduce their consumption? If you’re looking for a cost effective, and yet highly effective tool, then get in touch today or book a free demo. We’d love to hear from you.