Is High Bill Season Over?

August 25, 2023 | Blog

With school starting back it feels like summer is over. And with summer over you may be thinking it’s too late to help customers facing high bills. However, I would argue that now is the perfect time to up your digital marketing to engage customers with ways you can help them.

Hot weather continues across much of the country and customers will be receiving high bills through September. In addition, your utility may already or have plan to increase rates. When a customer receives a high bill, they will start looking for information about how to save energy and avoid the high cost in the future. Or, they will gripe and groan about your utility which usually results in lower customer satisfaction and increased calls to your utility.

Having a proactive digital strategy in place means your utility will be ready to help customers and thus ensure higher customer satisfaction with fewer calls to the contact center.

What does a digital strategy for high bills include? An effective digital strategy includes online self-service as well as proactive email and text campaigns all with the added benefit of automation that increases staff productivity and effectiveness.

For example, your strategy might include:

• Online educational information about energy saving tips and rebates
• Online calculators personalized with their billing and home information
• Personalized email and text campaigns to increase awareness of rebates, budget billing, or time of use rates
• Personalized high bill mid-cycle alerts, ideally using engaging video, showing ways to save

Watch this recent webinar to learn more and hear how utilities like yours are using digital strategies to proactively address high bills and increasing rates.