Water Customer Engagement Archives

Webinar: How Water Utilities are Building Stronger Customer Relationships

Water is an essential part of everyone’s lives. However, many customers don’t think about their water utility until they receive a bill or experience a service disruption. It’s up to your utility to connect with customers beyond these potentially negative touchpoints to build lasting and positive relationships.

Questline Digital’s recent webinar “Water Utilities: Building Stronger Customer Relationships” provided valuable insights from our panel of industry experts. Ty’Esha Torres, Lead Utility Services Specialist, and Jason Stinnett, Lead Account Advisor, from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), shared tactics and strategies proven to be successful in building engagement with water utility customers.

LADWP is the nation’s largest municipal utility, serving about 4 million residents and businesses in Los Angeles. The utility’s goals include providing safe and reliable service to customers and sharing their expertise with them about water quality, safety, conservation, reliability, billing and more.

To kick off the panel discussion, Torres and Stinnett shared their insights about what water customers really want from their utility.

What Water Customers Want: More Than Just Water

Beyond safe and reliable water, customers are looking to their utilities for effective communications and education. The average residential or commercial customer may not know a lot about their utility’s services or available programs, so it’s important to do the legwork in educating customers and ensuring they are aware of their options.

“There’s no way that we can achieve our goals as a utility in serving our customers and meeting all the various guidelines that we’re subject to without partnering very closely with our customers,” says Stinnett. “So, that ongoing education component is critical.”

One effective way that LADWP provides education to its customers is by hosting events. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Sustainability Awards is an annual event to honor the utility’s largest customers and their sustainability successes. This directly contributes to customer awareness of programs and encourages other businesses to consider their sustainable practices.

Event where a water utility builds stronger customer relationships

It’s also important to listen to customers and understand their motivations when it comes to water usage and conservation. Most customers are primarily concerned with reducing costs, so equipping them with tips and resources can lead to greater customer satisfaction.

Torres shared that business customers also want to know what others in their industry are doing with their water. LADWP offers its Small Business Support website and Empowering Small Business newsletters where customers can find industry-specific tips and resources. Torres emphasized the importance of providing programs and services that align with the specific needs of each industry, allowing customers to easily digest information and learn at their own pace.

Example of a website for building strong relationships with water utility customers

Stinnett also discussed the importance of equipping customers with the right tools. This includes directing them to educational resources and making sure that information is accessible. For example, LADWP recently redesigned its website to make it easier for both residential and business customers to find what they need. At the end of the day, it’s about building relationships with customers so they know that they can turn to your utility for guidance and support.

“It’s relationships,” says Stinnett. “Having that personal touch…respecting those relationships, building those relationships and investing in them. Those are the things that really can yield success.”

Encourage Feedback from Water Utility Customers

Feedback is a crucial component for the success of all utilities. Feedback allows utilities to better understand customers’ interests, needs and preferences, and prioritize actions to accommodate customers. “I use feedback to chart out my plans for the coming year,” says Stinnett. “Get that feedback. It can really be critical to your success.”

Torres also emphasized the importance of collecting feedback through various channels. “Stay ear-to-the-ground on what’s going on in your community, but also give your customers a myriad of ways to reach you,” says Torres.

Effective methods for gathering feedback include:

Surveys
Contact forms
Email and call center communications
Community events and meetings
Collaboration with other city agencies
Internal colleague feedback loops

Educate Water Customers with Consistent Touchpoints

Stinnett shared that LADWP offers various programs for water customers, which are marketed both internally and externally through newsletters. The utility’s internal newsletter, The Wire, serves as a training tool to keep employees up-to-date on important information.

LADWP’s external newsletter, Connections, is sent to customers each month through Questline Digital’s Engage platform. The monthly newsletters include content that is for both electric and water customers, offering tips or advice on water conservation best practices, or sharing information about available programs and services. Along with its newsletters, LADWP deploys email communications and posts on social media to further engagement.

Building Stronger Water Customer Relationships: A Dual Effort

To bridge the gap between utilities and their water customers, it’s important to remember that your relationship is also a partnership. In order to boost customer satisfaction and engagement, your utility needs to offer programs and services that customers want and need. To provide these necessary resources, your utility has to listen to customers and take feedback to heart.

Customer relationships don’t happen in a silo. It requires consistent effort to be in the community and working with customers in ways that positively impact both customers and the utility.

“Build those relationships. Find the right strategies and tactics. Find the right tools. Find out your customers’ preferences,” says Stinnet. “Find ways to really work with them, to help solve their issues and address their challenges. That’s the best thing we can do. I don’t see our customers just as customers, they’re our partners. Because without them, we wouldn’t be here.”

Torres advises utilities to be open-minded about how to do business. A customer’s experience is tied to how well your utility can capture what they need and what they’re looking for. Because of this, it’s important to think outside the box and continue growing and expanding.

“Keep an open mind, keep your toolbox growing,” says Torres. “You have to continue learning, continue teaching, continue growing. And I think, as partners, we can grow together.”

Learn how Questline Digital can help your water utility build stronger customer relationships with proven engagement solutions.

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Helping Customers Understand the Benefits of Conserving Water

Water is the most important natural resource, yet many customers are unaware of the benefits of conserving it. Over the past two decades, more than 50% of the United States regularly experienced drought conditions due to the water supply running low.

As water conservation concerns grow, now is the time for water utilities to connect with customers and explain the reasons to conserve water.

“With monthly rates continuing to rise and the water supply running dangerously low in many parts of the country, there has never been a more critical time for water utilities to proactively communicate with their customers,” said Andrew Heath, Senior Director of Utilities Intelligence at J.D. Power in a recent press release.

Share the Facts About Water Conservation

Many customers don’t pay attention to their water consumption or realize the strong impact that water conservation efforts could have on both their daily lives and their communities. It’s up to utilities to share that essential information.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans use around 82 gallons of water every day in their homes.

To pique customers’ interest, utilities should share facts about water conservation. For example, many customers may not know that turning off the tap while brushing their teeth can save 8 gallons of water per day. Or, if saving water isn’t enough, focus on saving money. Sharing how much a customer could save off their bills by conserving water or making efficient upgrades can do wonders to capturing their attention.

When customers understand the reasons to conserve water, and how it directly impacts their communities, the environment and their health, they are more likely to make a conscious effort to participate.

As a trusted source of information, there are many ways a utility can communicate facts about water conservation. For example, your utility can share an infographic explaining how water conservation goes hand-in-hand with reducing monthly bills and preserving a limited community resource, or an educational fact sheet about how saving water helps maintain water quality.

Consider communicating facts about water conservation through:

Newsletters
Short-form videos
Infographics
Educational fact sheets
Webinars
Community events
Social media

Compelling Reasons to Conserve Water

In addition to presenting facts about water conservation, it’s also important to communicate the benefits of conserving water so customers understand how it directly impacts them. Some of customers’ biggest motivators include:

Financial savings: It’s no secret that customers are motivated by money; they want to save on costs and reduce their monthly water bills. By highlighting the potential cost savings, they are more likely to engage with your utility’s conservation messaging and participate in water-saving efforts.
Community impact: Some customers may be driven by the desire to benefit their own community. This is especially true if their utility is a municipal or cooperative, as community engagement is already a proven priority. To reach these customers, share the impact they can make on their community by conserving water.
Sustainability focus: Many customers value sustainability and want to implement sustainable practices into their daily lives. Showing customers how their actions, like reducing water waste and usage, directly contribute to a healthier environment, can make them feel more empowered to reduce their water footprint.

Actionable Strategies for Conserving Water

Once your utility has helped customers understand the reasons to conserve water, it’s important to give them actionable strategies for how to do so. Again, education is key. Don’t assume that customers already know how to save water. It’s important to provide them with achievable water-saving tactics, including:

Being mindful of household leaks: Do your customers know that household leaks are one of the main causes for water waste? In fact, the average family wastes around 180 gallons per week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually. Connecting this fact to how much money customers are spending encourages them to pay more attention to leaks. Additionally, use this knowledge gap to provide customers with tips and tricks to detect and address leaks.
Installing water-efficient fixtures and appliances: Installing water-efficient products can help customers use at least 20% less water. As their trusted resource, customers look to you to guide them about the best products to purchase and upgrades to make within their homes. If your utility has a marketplace, promote your water efficiency items to customers and direct them to other rebates or incentives.
Reducing outdoor irrigation system usage: Nearly 30% of household water use is devoted to the outdoors, and 50% of the water used outdoors is lost due to wind, evaporation, and runoff caused by inefficient irrigation methods and systems, according to the EPA. Use this as an opportunity to educate customers on the benefits of using timers, sensors and checking for outdoor leaks often. Depending on your utility’s location, this could be a great opportunity to share additional resources pertaining to your specific climate or environment.

By educating customers about the importance and benefits of water conservation, as well as providing practical tips for water-saving practices, your utility can empower customers to take control of their water usage.

How to Promote the Benefits of Conserving Water

Although we live in a digital age, it’s important to connect with customers across all channels and mediums. The San Jose Water Company does just this by hosting in-person community events, school programs and civic presentations to educate its community about water conservation.

Example of a community event to show customers reasons to conserve water — *Image source: San Jose Water Company*

Its in-person events are an effective way to get the community to understand the power of preserving water resources and offer customers an opportunity to ask questions or share their challenges. Additionally, the school programs help kids start thinking about their role in helping to save water and encourage them to bring water conservation ideas and tips home to their families.

The utility even hosts “Water Appreciation Nights” at local football and baseball games, furthering the reach of their conservation messaging.

Additionally, the utility offers CATCH, a free program where customers can sign up for a water efficiency expert to visit their homes. This expert will help identify leaks and will recommend individualized water and money-saving improvements. By making water conservation accessible for its customers in many unique ways, the San Jose Water Company is able to connect with its customers and share the facts and benefits of saving water.

The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) also actively promotes water conservation to its customers and offers a comprehensive range of resources aimed at educating them about the reasons to conserve water and methods to do so effectively.

LADWP offers a wide array of educational resources for customers, including free workshops through its outdoor landscaping academy, Los Angeles Outdoor Landscape Academy (LAOLA). LAOLA aims to educate customers on sustainable landscaping strategies such as turf removal, water-efficient irrigation and groundwater infiltration.

Example of utility workshop to share the benefits of water conservation with customers — *Image source: Los Angeles Department of Water & Power*

Additionally, the utility offers rebates and incentive programs that encourage efficient water use and sustainable landscaping for residential and business customers, including rebates for appliances and irrigation equipment. Customers can also take advantage of free water conservation equipment, like faucet aerators, showerheads and toilet leak detection dye tablets.

These water conservation efforts can go a long way. In fact, L.A.’s current per capita water is among one of the lowest in any major U.S. city.

Show Your Utility Customers the Benefits of Conserving Water

Water conservation is a collective effort, requiring effort from utilities and their customers. Utilities must be willing to work diligently to educate customers about the benefits of conserving water. In doing so, utilities will encourage and empower its customers to be active participants in preserving this important community resource. Together, utilities and customers can share the load in reducing water usage.

Communicate the facts about water conservation to your utility’s customers with an engagement solution from Questline Digital.

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Let the Conversation Flow: How to Address Water Utility Customer Needs

Behind the simple act of turning on a tap lies a complex system of infrastructure and services provided by water utilities — systems that customers may not always understand. From concerns about water quality to inquiries about service interruptions, customers seek clarity and reliability from their utility providers.

To ensure clear communications and effectively build long-lasting customer relationships, understanding their concerns and answering their questions is key. However, engaging with customers is no longer just about responding to their inquiries. Instead, it’s a matter of being proactive — anticipating water utility customer needs and providing timely, relevant information.

Transparency is paramount, with customers expecting clear communication about water quality reports, maintenance schedules, disruptions to service and more. By leveraging innovative communication channels, water utilities can forge stronger connections with customers and enhance their overall experience.

“With monthly rates continuing to rise and the water supply running dangerously low in many parts of the country, there has never been a more critical time for water utilities to proactively communicate with their customers about what they are doing to protect our drinking water today and into the future,” Andrew Heath, Senior Director of Utilities Intelligence at J.D. Power, explained in a press release.

The J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study found a direct correlation between communications and customer satisfaction. The study showed that a 7-point increase in customer communications and a 6-point increase in customer service drove increased levels of customer satisfaction across the board.

“The communications factor continues to show improvement across each wave of the study, suggesting that utilities are proactively reaching out to customers throughout the year to provide updates on pricing, safety and supply issues,” according to the report.

Get to Know Your Water Utility’s Customer Needs

Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to learn and improve. Water utilities must recognize the diversity of concerns that customers may have. From questions about water quality and conservation tips to inquiries about billing discrepancies or service interruptions, being attentive to these concerns is crucial.

To begin addressing these concerns, your utility should first focus on identifying common customer inquiries, including knowing customers’ usual consumption patterns, common complaints, preferences, and their general attitude toward water conservation. By understanding your customers better, you can start to anticipate their needs and proactively address their questions.

After all, your utility may provide a needed service, but the way you approach communicating to water customers speaks dividends. Salesforce research shows that 88% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its product or services.

Effective Strategies for Customer Communications

Effective communication is crucial in addressing your water utility customers’ needs. This starts with establishing clear communication channels where customers can reach out with questions or concerns. This doesn’t just mean responding to their queries in a timely manner, but also being able to clarify complex water-related topics. For example, if there’s a change in water rates or a new policy on water usage, it’s your utility’s responsibility to communicate these changes to your customers.

Traditional communication methods like call centers are extremely valuable. Training customer service representatives to handle inquiries efficiently and providing educational resources can empower them to address common questions. However, it’s also essential to create digital experiences for water customers through email, newsletters, mobile apps, social media and your utility website.

According to the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Utility Digital Experience Study, customer satisfaction with utility websites and apps lag behind other industries, achieving only a 594 rating on a 1,000-point scale. This is compared to other industry scores, including:

718 for wealth management
702 for property and casualty insurance
685 for retirement plans

“Digital is the first stop for utility customers when they experience a problem or need more information related to billing or special programs, but more often than not, their digital inquiries are leading to dead ends and phone calls to customer service,” Jon Sundberg, Director of Digital Solutions at J.D. Power, explained in a press release. “The static, reactive approach to digital being taken by utilities is falling far short of current customer expectations.”

Given the preference for digital communication among customers, it may be time to put effort and resources into developing or updating your utility’s mobile app or ensuring your utility’s website offers a seamless user experience.

Chart listing the best digital channels to engage with water utility customer needs — *Image Source: Salesforce*

Additionally, personalization goes hand-in-hand with digital experiences and communications. Research shows that 59% of customers already believe businesses should personalize their experiences based on the data they collect about them. Further, the J.D. Power Utility Digital Experience study showed that only 54% of utility customers say they have received personalized information regarding their energy or water consumption, despite 49% of customers indicating that they would find this helpful.

Knowing these preferences, utility personalized video offers an easy and appealing way for water providers to engage with customers. Personalized videos leverage customer data, such as usage, program participation and content interests, to create unique, relevant videos for each individual. It’s no surprise that data shows that using personalized calls-to-actions (CTAs) result in 202% more conversions than those without.

4 Key Factors to Meeting Water Utility Customer Needs

In addition to developing strong digital communications, there are other key factors to remember when addressing your water utility’s customer needs.

1. Enact Transparency

Customers appreciate when they are kept in the loop about issues that impact their water service. Whether it’s an unexpected disruption in water supply, a planned maintenance activity or a change in billing procedures, ensure that you communicate these developments to your customers as early as possible.

Notifying customers in advance demonstrates respect for their time and helps manage expectations. Similarly, continue to update customers throughout the process to keep them in the loop. Transparent communications build trust, and trust leads to customer loyalty.

Additionally, implement systems to notify customers in advance of planned maintenance, service interruptions or emergencies. These notifications can be sent through automated phone calls, text messages and/or email alerts, and will continue to act as transparent forms of communication.

2. Implement Feedback Loops

Providing avenues for customers to voice their concerns is one of the most impactful things your utility can do to make sure customers feel heard and valued. Consider conducting surveys, providing feedback forms or holding interviews to gather insights about your customers and their experiences. These methods can provide valuable insights into water utility customer needs and help tailor future communication strategies.

For example, the City of Naperville, Illinois, hosts a water utility customer satisfaction survey on their site that customers can fill out. The survey covers the date of service, what service occurred and satisfaction questions about the experience. Customers can provide their name, address and phone number to be further connected to the utility if there are additional concerns that could not be explained in the survey. The utility uses this customer feedback to guide its service delivery.

Example of customer satisfaction survey for water utility to assess customer needs — *Image Source: City of Naperville*

3. Educate and Engage the Community

Provide educational materials and resources to help customers understand their water service, conservation practices, billing processes, and any other relevant information. Don’t discount both physical and digital methods of outreach: Send direct mail postcards, host community events, post on social media and keep your website updated.
Additionally, engage with the community through public meetings, events or outreach programs to address concerns, gather feedback and build customer relationships. Keep customers informed about any changes or developments related to their water service.

For example, North Texas Municipal Water District hosts quarterly tours of its water treatment plants. In the first quarter of 2023, the tour was dedicated to elected officials and staff of their member cities and customers. They received an overview of the district, as well as information on history, service areas, water conservation, outreach initiatives and ongoing major projects, then toured the plant complex to see operations in action.

Example of water utility building community engagement with outreach event and tour of facility — *Image Source: North Texas Municipal Water District*

4. Consider Your Diverse Customer Base

Recognize and accommodate your utility’s diverse customers, understanding that inclusivity is paramount in effective communication. This may mean offering customer support in multiple languages, ensuring that language barriers do not hinder access to essential services.

Accessibility considerations extend beyond language. Utilities should make their communication channels and materials accessible to customers with disabilities, providing options such as Braille, large print or audio formats.

By embracing inclusivity and accessibility, utilities can effectively engage with all customers, fostering a sense of trust and belonging within the community. This commitment to diversity not only enhances customer satisfaction but also strengthens the utility’s reputation as a provider that prioritizes the needs of all its customers.

Meeting Water Utility Needs with Customer-Centric Communications

Effectively addressing your water utility’s customers’ needs requires a multifaceted approach that prioritizes proactive communication, transparency and customer engagement. By understanding your customers’ concerns and implementing effective communication strategies, your water utility can build trust, grow satisfaction and ultimately provide the high-quality service that customers expect.

When you focus on understanding where customers are coming from, and creating experiences that help make their lives easier, your water utility is proving its dedication to its customers and providing real value.

Learn how Questline Digital’s turnkey solutions can help your water utility improve communications to better meet customers’ needs.

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