New energy for the customer experience

Interview with Dario Waechter

Why CRM is needed to inspire energy customers

A rough wind has been blowing through the energy sector for a long time. To be successful in this highly competitive market, it is not enough to simply be present with customers to send out bills and collect charges. Today, energy customers no longer blindly trust their local provider, but have almost endless options when choosing their energy supplier thanks to various comparison portals. In addition, companies from outside the industry, such as the supermarkets Aldi and Lidl and Deutsche Bahn, are increasingly entering the market with electricity products. With so many options to choose from, energy customers often switch their supply provider in the hope of greater convenience, flexibility and cost savings. In order for energy service providers to offer their customers a unique customer experience and retain them in the long term, they need extensive knowledge of customer behavior. In this interview, Dario Waechter, Head of Data & Analytics at atlantis media, reveals why the analysis of customer data offers great potential for energy suppliers in particular and why a customer relationship management system (CRM) forms the key basis for inspiring energy customers.

Mr. Waechter, customers and interested parties - in general and in the energy sector in particular - are well informed about the energy market thanks to comparison portals, among other things. What do energy service providers need to pay attention to in order to survive in this highly competitive market?
Nowadays, successful energy suppliers define themselves as service providers and energy consultants for their customers. In order to fulfill this role, they need to attract customers with new digital services and retain them through a convincing customer experience. In this context, both energy service providers and supply companies are faced with the challenge of responding to changing customer and information behavior. We all know it only too well from our private lives: before we contact a provider, we research on the internet, compare different service providers and their offers and only buy once we have obtained comprehensive information from various channels. It's no different in B2B. Companies must specifically seek contact with customers and interested parties. Every single contact with a potential buyer influences subsequent decisions. It is crucial that companies succeed in continuously generating positive emotions during the buyer journey. Then they have a good chance of being awarded the contract. A single negative experience can also be enough to damage a business relationship. To prevent this from happening, companies need to proactively keep customers and prospects up to date. The best way to do this is through personalized marketing measures such as newsletters and sales campaigns or customer satisfaction surveys.

How can energy companies manage to send personalized marketing measures to suitable customers?
Customer data is usually stored in the CRM system. It provides the necessary database. In addition to demographic data, energy suppliers also have access to geographical information about the place of residence and behavioral data about the energy consumption of their contractual partners - valuable data that can be used to do a lot. Any metadata stored in the CRM system in turn helps with the planning of marketing campaigns. They provide important answers to relevant questions such as: Which target group is a campaign aimed at? When should it take place? If appropriate contacts are assigned to the campaigns, topic-specific mailings can be sent to suitable addressees in a targeted manner. CRM tools also support tracking. Companies can easily track which and how many recipients have opened a piece of content. At the same time, CRM provides the basis for continuously optimizing mailings.

What if the data is not enough? How can energy companies understand the needs of their customers and prospects even better? And how can a CRM system provide additional support?
There are several ways to do this. Companies can make use of various channels to develop a feeling for customers and interested parties. Many consumers share their experiences with a provider on social media and review platforms. If you look at all the posts and reviews, you get a pretty good picture of the mood. Another option is for companies to determine customer satisfaction as part of standardized surveys. Such surveys can be created in the CRM system, for example. Energy suppliers also receive valuable feedback when they obtain customer opinions by email, in person or by telephone. It is always crucial that all relevant information from all channels flows into the CRM tool and is assigned to the respective contact. This is the only way to react quickly and continuously improve your own products and services.

In connection with CRM systems, there is always talk of a 360-degree view of the customer. Does this mean that the analyses from the CRM system can be used to define buyer personas?
Exactly. Once companies have understood their customers' needs, they can go one step further and literally get a picture of them. Ergo: Derive realistic buyer personas from the knowledge acquired. The practical thing about a CRM tool is that it documents buyer and interest behavior from the first contact across all channels. Once all contacts have been recorded in the CRM system, a meaningful picture of each individual customer is created. This means that the existing database forms a reliable basis for the persona definition. In addition to the demographic attributes, the CRM system provides up-to-date figures from marketing and sales. On the one hand, it makes it possible to combine the mass of very inhomogeneous and difficult-to-understand data. On the other hand, this results in a database that makes it possible to define very realistic personas. This is because they are based on real customer and prospect data. Here, valid data has a clear advantage over the much-vaunted gut feeling.

Let's assume that an energy company's CRM data pool is carefully maintained and it has already successfully derived buyer personas. What does the company now need to do to provide its customers with a unique customer experience?
The core function of a CRM tool is to support customer loyalty and optimize the sales process. In order to build a unique relationship with their customers and retain them in the long term, companies need to address them in a more personalized and emotional way than ever before. At the same time, they must ensure that every single experience is as positive as possible. To achieve this, they should always keep an eye on the customer journey in order to provide customers with relevant information at the right touchpoint. Depending on which phase the prospective customer is in, they will need a different type of support. This could be an informative white paper, a decision-promoting checklist or an on-site sales meeting, for example. In addition to comprehensive information, the CRM system also shows which department is responsible for customer care. It is the essential prerequisite for being able to act in a customer-focused and cross-divisional manner - especially in the highly competitive energy sector.