Escalent Names 2020 Business Customer Champions, Finds Digital Touchpoints Strengthen Utility-Business Relationships

Utilities that develop digital touchpoints are being rewarded with stronger relationships with their business clients. A historic number of businesses report contacting their utility via digital channels for service (79%) or recall utility communications via digital channels (60%) this year. These digital interactions have led to stronger customer engagement, evident by a 24-point YOY increase in the industry’s business Engaged Customer Relationship (ECR) index. These and other findings are from the 2020 Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Business study by Escalent, a top human behavior and analytics firm.

Escalent’s ECR score is a composite index of Service Satisfaction, Brand Trust and Product Experience. Satisfaction with digital outreach, communication and service support boosted each of these component measures, leading to an overall industry business ECR score of 786 (on a 1,000-point-maximum scale) for the year. Among customers who reported having a digital interaction with their utility, ECR and all three component scores were even higher, showing the power of digital interactions to further build these relationships.

Scoring based upon a 1,000-point-maximum scale; interactions for service or communications

“Business customers became much more engaged with their utilities during this trying year. Utilities increased digital experiences and spending on communications to support these customers,” said Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Escalent. “This year, omniservice became a reality for the utility industry as businesses used an average of three service channels, all including some type of digital access. With high preference for digital service, businesses are more likely to use these channels in the future.”

Escalent congratulates the 23 utilities designated 2020 Business Customer Champions.  These utilities earned the industry’s highest ECR scores by providing world-class customer experiences during a time of greatest customer need.

The following charts reflect the ECR scores for the 77 utilities covered in the study.

About Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Business

Escalent conducted surveys among 14,980 business electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 77 largest US utility companies (based on business customer counts). Utilities are given equal weight to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey results. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.

Click below to learn more about the full report.