Understanding your customers is an important aspect of showing empathy and offering outreach and customer service that meets their needs. To help you engage with your small and midsize business (SMB) customers and better serve them, we conducted a short survey and follow-up interviews to gather critical customer insights about the programs and services utilities should offer to better meet customers’ needs.

Topics we cover include:

  • Perceptions of energy affordability
  • Perceptions of utility
  • Channel preferences for interacting with the utility
  • Energy program needs
  • Usage and perceptions of electric company website

What you get

Members of the E Source Account Management, Business Marketing, Customer Experience Strategy, or E-Channel Services get access to best-practice reports and webinars. This includes in-depth information on business customer needs, perceptions of and interactions with their electric company, and what programs are most beneficial to them. We also include information on when and why customers visit the utility website, perceptions of the website, and navigation and communication preferences.

Methodology

We asked SMB customers of electric and natural gas utilities across the US and Canada for their thoughts on energy affordability, utility programs and services, and interacting with the utility through various channels, including the utility website. We fielded the short survey online from August to September 2022 with 876 SMB electric and dual-fuel utility customers who were fully or partially responsible for paying a utility bill. We recruited participants using a purchased sample of SMBs from a global online market research firm.

In general, a sample size of 876 completed surveys yields a margin of error of about ±3% at the 95% confidence level. When looking at a subgroup of responses, the margin of error increases.

We also conducted 12 follow-up in-depth video interviews in September and October 2022 with SMB customers to dive deeper into perceptions of their electric company and what they need from the utility in terms of programs, service, and customer experience.

Study results

How to improve the customer experience for SMBs Channel preferences for SMB customers How SMB customers feel about affordability and how to help them manage energy costs Energy affordability: SMB customers’ perceptions and utility messaging strategies to address concerns

If you’re a subscriber, these links will take you to the study deliverables. If you’re not currently a subscriber, contact us for information on how to become an E Source member.