More utilities recognizing the value of usability with their websites February 2, 2011

There are two characteristics that will most certainly discourage me from interacting with a company on its website – an antiquated look and/or a complicated layout. When a website has an “old” feel it is apparent the company does not want to invest any resources into its online offerings. So I’m likely to return the favor. Also, I don’t want to spend 10 minutes looking for what I need, let alone all day. If I’m looking for help, I want to get my answer within a few clicks.

It’s hardly a secret that utilities want to encourage their customers to adopt online self-service options. If nothing else, channeling customers away from the contact center already yields a win for utilities, but the million-dollar question is how to guide more customers to performing transactions online.

One tactic that’s resulted in increased adoption for utilities is a website redesign. Signs indicate utilities are recognizing the need to refresh, on a consistent basis, their websites. A recent Chartwell study on utilities’ web-based services revealed that only four of 31 utilities interviewed have websites older than two years and are not considering a redesign. Additionally, six of the utilities that participated in the study reported they were in the process of redesigning their websites, while another four participants said a redesign will take place within the next two years.

One utility told Chartwell additional enhancements are considered even though a new site was launched within the past 12 months.

While there is no guarantee a website redesign will increase traffic and online service adoption, there are plenty of success stories to suggest a correlation.

DTE Energy, winners of the 2010 Chartwell’s Best Practices Award for Customer Service, saw its online transactions increase 23% a year after launching its redesigned site (www.dteenergy.com), which included an easier log-in process. More than 1.2 million online transactions take place each month and the website accounts for the utility’s largest inbound contact channel (46%).

In the latest issue of Chartwell’s Best Practices for Utilities newsletter, EPCOR Utilities (www.epcor.ca) shares its success story of its redesigned site. After realizing just 1% of its transactions originated from the website, EPCOR overhauled its site and implemented the fully automated Web Self-Serve tool to attract customers.

Entergy (www.entergy.com) boasts more than 1 million registered accounts since its redesign from 2008. Customers can perform more than 20 transactions, all of which are automated.

As we plan for Chartwell’s forthcoming Web and Mobile Customer Interaction Summit, we will no doubt be including utilities’ use of website enhancements and usability tactics on the agenda. Though we’ve tweaked the title of the event in recent years, the Summit is in its sixth year and is always the forum to hear first about new developments and leading utility case studies uncovered by Chartwell concerning customer website interaction. We hope you will check out our research and events concerning this vital topic.  

To attract your customers to your website, it needs to be a priority within the utility.