E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Web Sites

How does your web site stack up against other electric and gas company sites?
Click here to find out (81 KB PDF).

The 2009 web site rankings report is now available!

Since 2002, E Source has been benchmarking utility web sites to gauge how successful they are in serving residential customers. Our study has quickly become the industry standard for assessing web site improvements as they relate to customers’ contact preferences.

We’ve collected data from 100 web sites to bring you the 2009 rankings. With the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Web Sites,” you can:

Better understand your customers’ needs and experiences
See how your company’s web site performs compared with others in the industry
Learn web site best practices for your industry
Focus your attention—and limited resources—on high-impact improvements to your site

This year we looked at 31 features and functions, ranging from such basic features as the Home Page and Contact Us options to more-advanced online functions such as bill viewing, checking an account balance, or making an online payment. The individual utility web site reviews were conducted by a representative sample of residential energy customers recruited by E Source.

Once you know your ranking, you’re ready to learn how E Source can help your web site deliver outstanding customer service. Using the knowledge and best practices gained from years of thoroughly investigating utility web sites, we’re ready to help!

Click here for the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Web Sites” prospectus.

    E Source Web Site Benchmark History
    What You Get with the E Source Web Site Assessment
    Methodology
    FAQs
    Contact Information

We conducted the first review of North American utility web sites in 2002 (24 KB PDF). In that inaugural study, we only evaluated public web site content.

In 2005 (64 KB PDF), the review was expanded to include secure features, and about 30 percent of utilities in North America provided E Source with secure online access to their sites so that we could conduct our research.

By 2007 (148 KB PDF), half of the features we evaluated were secure online self-service options, and 50 percent of U.S. and Canadian utilities provided the E Source team with secure access to their sites during the research period.

This year, the majority of the features we assessed were online services that required login access.

By participating in the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Web Sites,” you’ll receive:

Exclusive 2009 Rankings Report. Now available! Review ratings for all utilities with in-depth results and analysis for all 31 features and functions tested.
Personalized Web Site Assessment. Our experts will perform a detailed review of your company’s web site and provide an evaluation of the factors affecting your ranking.
Results Teleconference. Find out what we learned during your web site assessment with a focus on what works and what doesn’t.
Recommendations. Learn what specific actions you can take to improve your web site.

The E Source review is based on actual residential customer web site 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 site is, multiple residential reviewers visited each site. However, each one of the 31 functions or features was evaluated by a single designated reviewer. 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 all types of company web sites, not just from utility web sites. And something new for 2009—we did testing on mobile devices including the BlackBerry and iPhone.

Our reviewers were asked to assess the overall experience they had at each web site, including their use of secure-access self-service options. (E Source worked directly with each utility to obtain secure access to the utility web site to enable this in-depth evaluation. Accounts were only used with the permission of the account holder; no transactions were completed, and all information provided was managed with strict confidentiality.) It usually took our researchers 30 minutes to complete their evaluation of a given feature or function and they typically spent a couple of days visiting each utility web site.

For the specific feature benchmarks, each feature is reviewed by a single individual. (The exception is when multiple reviewers are asked to examine the same feature at the same site for the purposes of quality assurance.)

The E Source benchmark study provides a great deal more information than an audit of features and functions at the utility web site. 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 at a web site.

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 asked customers what they want to find and use at their utility web site. We also considered advice from thought leaders in the utility industry and within E Source.

Q: When will the web site benchmark rankings be available?

A: The rankings will be announced August 2009 and the final report will be available in late September.

If you have questions or would like more information about the “E Source 2009 Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Web Sites,” please e-mail study director Andrew Heath or call him at 303-345-9119.

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