Oracle Customer Success—Mercury Energy

Mercury Energy is one of New Zealand’s largest energy retailers, and it operates in one of the world’s most challenging energy markets. Over the past few years, residential energy demand in New Zealand has fallen. At the same time, aggressive competition has driven energy prices down while pushing customer churn over 20%. The cost to attract and retain customers has gone up, and retailers’ margins are under significant pressure. At the same time, customer expectations have never been higher. Data-driven technology companies like Amazon and Uber have raised the bar on customer service. Today, consumers increasingly expect utilities like Mercury to deliver frictionless, digital, deeply personalized experiences, 24/7. Utilities like Mercury have found themselves caught in a race to the bottom. So, Mercury decided to change the status quo.

• Key Takeaways
  • High churn rates and a challenging marketplace pushed Mercury to make customer engagement a key business objective
  • Mercury turned to Opower to reinvent the customer experience by providing customers with a premier digital experience and lowering costs in the process
  • The program boosted brand value by 5%, decreased churn among highly engaged customers by 10%, and cut call center volume by 19%
  • Opower’s Customer Care solution builds on its success at Mercury, helping utilities reduce customer service costs and increase
• Focusing on Customer Service
  To thrive, Mercury understood that it needed to deliver customer experiences that were a cut above the competition. It sought a provider to help it stand out in a crowded market, strengthen its brand, boost customer participation in digital tools, and reduce customer service costs. Mercury turned to Opower — the customer engagement platform of choice for the utility industry.
• Introducing the Good Energy Monitor
  Working with Opower, Mercury Energy designed a program tailor-fit for its needs, called the

  Good Energy Monitor. Mercury used Opower’s Customer Care solution to deploy proactive, personalized communications and self-service tools to all 300,000 of its customers. The goal: to give customers a better digital experience and help Mercury lower cost in the process. The program included:

   

  • High bill alerts that let customers know when they’re trending toward high bills, proactively answer their questions, and give them the help they need to keep their energy use under control.
  • Weekly usage alerts that empower customers with AMI data information about their energy habits, including a day-by-day breakdown of usage and relevant energy saving insights.
  • A self-service web portal, seamlessly integrated in Mercury’s website, that shows customers how their usage compares to similar households, and provides a rate comparison tool and ability to create an energy savings plan.
  • Home Energy Reports that equip Mercury’s high-usage, long-tenured customers with the deeply personalized energy insights they need to understand their energy consumption and save money on their bills.

   

  To get the word out, Mercury launched a comprehensive marketing campaign that positioned the Good Energy Monitor as the most sophisticated, feature-rich tool of its kind in New Zealand.

   
• The Good Energy Monitor at a Glance
  • Deployed to all 300,000 of Mercury Energy’s residential customers 
  • 51% increase in Mercury Energy website traffic year-over-year 
  • 5% increase in brand value 
  • 3% increase in overall customer satisfaction 
  • 19% decrease in call center volume 
  • 10% lower churn among highly engaged customers 
  • On track to save $2 million (NZD) annually on energy bills
• Unlocking Lower Costs and Higher Customer Satisfaction
  Mercury’s investment paid off: customers loved the Good Energy Monitor. Since it launched,

  Mercury’s brand value has increased 5%, and overall customer satisfaction has increased 3%. More importantly, customer loyalty is up. Mercury sees 10% lower churn among customers who are most engaged in the program. The Good Energy Monitor has also unlocked cost savings. By giving customers a clear window into their energy use before the billing period ends, Mercury has achieved a 19% drop in high bill-related calls into the call center. Moreover, web traffic has increased 51% year-over-year, with spikes driven by email reports, alerts, and digital advertising.

   

  This story was originally published on www.opower.com.