E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company IVRs
How does your utility IVR stack up against other electric and gas company IVRs?
Click here to find out (68 KB PDF).
The 2009 IVR rankings report is now available!
Since 2004, E Source has been benchmarking interactive voice response (IVR) systems to gauge how successful they are in serving residential customers. Our study has become the industry standard for assessing IVR improvements as they relate to customers’ contact preferences.
We’ve collected data from 95 IVRs to bring you the 2009 rankings. With the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company IVR Systems,” you can:
- Focus your attention—and limited resources—on high-impact improvements to your system
- Better understand your customers’ needs and experiences
- See how your IVR performs compared with others in the industry
- Learn IVR best practices for your industry
For 2009, we looked at IVR features ranging from basics such as payment locations or reaching a customer service representative (CSR) to more advanced self-service options such as checking an account balance or making a one-time payment. The 13 tasks and functions were identified by a 2008 E Source market research study as the options residential customers most strongly think that utilities should offer on the IVR. Our reviewers—typical residential energy customers recruited by E Source—considered usability as well as functionality when making their evaluations.
Once you know your ranking, you’re ready to learn how E Source can help your IVR deliver outstanding customer service. Using the knowledge and best practices gained from years of thoroughly investigating IVRs, we’re ready to help!
Click here for the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company IVR Systems” prospectus.
Learn More About This Study
E Source IVR Benchmark HistoryWhat You Get with the E Source IVR Assessment
Methodology
FAQs
Contact Information
E Source IVR Benchmark History
In 2007 (148 KB PDF), we evaluated 11 tasks and functions, including customer service self-service options that required account access. About 27 percent of U.S. and Canadian utilities provided the E Source team with secure access to their IVRs during the research period.
This year, our methodology was similar to that used in the 2007 study, but we reviewed a number of new features to ensure that we assessed as much of the utility’s IVR system as possible.
What You Get with the E Source IVR Assessment
By participating in the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company IVR Systems,” you’ll receive:
- Exclusive 2009 Rankings Report. Now available! Review ratings for all utilities with in-depth results and analysis for all 13 tasks and functions tested.
- Personalized IVR Assessment. Our IVR experts will perform an exhaustive review of your company’s IVR and evaluate your ranking score.
- Results Teleconference. Find out what we learned during your IVR assessment with a focus on what works and what doesn’t.
- Recommendations. Learn what specific actions you can take to be sure your IVR meets your customers’ needs.
Methodology
The E Source review is based on actual residential customer IVR use and feedback. It includes the largest gas and electric companies in U.S. and Canada. To ensure that we got a good overall sense of how customer-friendly your IVR is, multiple residential reviewers called into each IVR system and every task and function was double-checked. The benchmark gives equal weighting to functionality and usability, and the usability of a given function or feature is compared against best practices gleaned from IVRs for all types of businesses, not just from utility IVRs.
Our reviewers were asked to assess the overall experience they had while using the IVR, including the use of secure-access self-service options. (E Source worked directly with each utility to obtain secure access to the utility IVR to enable this in-depth evaluation. Accounts were used with the permission of the account holder; no transactions were completed, and all information provided was managed with strict confidentiality.) Researchers are not given time limits for their reviews. By allowing each reviewer to work through the system at his or her own pace, we feel we capture a more accurate IVR experience from each of them.
The E Source benchmark study provides a great deal more information than an audit of features and functions of the utility IVR. However, the results aren’t as comprehensive as the feedback from usability testing, in which companies observe multiple customers as they try to complete the same task through an IVR.
FAQs
Q: How did E Source select the features and functions that were included in the review?
A: The choice of features and functions was based on our market research in which we’ve asked customers what they want to find and use in their utility IVR. We also considered advice from thought leaders in the utility industry and within E Source.
Q: When will the IVR benchmark rankings be available?
A: August 2009.
Contact Information
If you have questions or would like more information about the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company IVR Systems,” please e-mail study director Rich Goodwin or call him at 303-345-9156.