Greater efficiency in customer service

The clientele of modern electricity and gas providers is mainly dynamic and already accustomed to digital offers and cross-channel communication channels. This means that what customers demand a from progressive energy service provider is that all of their procedures and application processes are able to be handled and viewed digitally. Customer requests should be processed quickly with a focus on service, regardless of the communication channel used, as customer loyalty also (and especially) depends on the quality of customer service.

Due to the rapidly growing number of customers and a corresponding increase in the number of customer requests, the electricity and gas provider eprimo was faced with this exact difficulty: using existing resources to offer excellent customer service, which is mapped out by external service providers at eprimo.

Using heterogeneous tools and offering multi-channel services led the customer service department of energy supplier eprimo to be confronted with the challenge of classifying and prioritising customer requests and bundling multiple requests from a single customer via different channels. At the same time, managing external service providers was difficult in some places due to the lack of measurability and traceability of the processes.

The objectives for the customer service department were clear: increase customer satisfaction and process customer requests more efficiently.

In order to meet customer demands, customer requests from all channels should be received in one central tool so that every service employee has immediate access to and an overview of the current status of the request. As the processes were being optimised, the focus was on processing customer requests more efficiently, together with the goal of creating a 360-degree view of the customers.

eprimo decided to introduce the Salesforce Service Cloud to cope with the increasing number of customer requests on a technical level. The adesso Salesforce team was able to make an impression in an initial pilot phase in which a new channel was tested. Moreover, an omnichannel customer service was gradually established for requests sent via e-mail, hotline, text message, letter or fax. In addition, the automated prioritisation and classification of customers and requests was also implemented. Standardised processes for handling individual cases were introduced in an effort to reduce ambivalence and potential delays. Another implementation was based on artificial intelligence; for example, frequent standard customer requests that come in via contact form, e-mail or fax are analysed by an AI and answered automatically. This makes the involvement of service employees obsolete. In addition, specific requests can also be processed automatically via IVR (an interactive voice response system).

A chatbot was introduced as an additional service channel. This chatbot includes a function for subsequently transferring customers to personal chat support. Furthermore, better steering mechanisms for several call centre service providers were implemented in order to better understand the process flows and readjust them as necessary.

In 2021, the service quality and customer satisfaction at eprimo were rated as ‘very good’ by TÜV SÜD. The TÜV SÜD seal shows how important customer service is at eprimo. Google also saw an increase in positive reviews due to the improved service. Customer loyalty was strengthened by the increased level of customer satisfaction as well. eprimo’s external service providers can definitely be managed better and their employees can now process customer enquiries more efficiently and with a higher level of quality. Standard requests receive automated responses, which saves additional resources. What is more, the 360-degree customer view also makes it possible to automatically send out personalised offers and, in doing so, be able to respond more individually to each customer without additional effort. In turn, this improves overall customer loyalty and underpins this justifiably award-winning service quality.