Creating a blueprint for customer experience excellence
The Challenge
SSE stood at a crossroads. With retail separation looming and aggressive new competitors slashing prices, the energy giant faced an existential threat to its market position. It set a bold ambition: to create a blueprint for customer experience excellence that wouldn't just lead the energy sector, but set the standard across all industries. This wasn't about incremental improvement, it wanted to reimagining what customer experience could be.
The Outside-in Perspective
Immersed within the customer experience, observing and working alongside frontline colleagues, we were able to hear first-hand the experience customers had. Alongside this, we interviewed existing and former customers to explore the root causes driving that experience.
The Insight
Customers were clear, whilst the price was important, it wasn’t the only factor in their decision-making. There had to be a balance between good price and good service. Many were unwilling to accept a lesser service even if it saved them money.
We identified three factors which were common across industries offering best-in-class customer service:
Focussing equally on customer and commercial – understanding that a good customer experience can also make the business more efficient and cost-effective to run
Responding reactively as well as designing proactively – not just resolving complaints, but planning ahead to create great experiences
Focussing on the functional and emotional – having a strong process in place, whilst understanding the human experience
The Solution
Good customer experience management starts with the big picture of what genuinely matters to the customer and to the business. For SSE we identified:
The customer decisions that matter most to SSE’s commercial success and the factors that most influenced these.
The customer experiences that matter most in earning these decisions, and prioritised these.
The opportunities to provide delight, reduce dismay or differentiate.
The most useful customer and commercial metrics that would enable continuous improvement.