Yorkshire & Lincolnshire
Case studies
Design and creativity |The site was unique and creates several design and creative elements
- Animation and flash technology created movement and interest.
- A suite of illustrations simplified use and made the site visually appealing.
- Clear pointers and instructions aided the journey through the site.
- The use of a recognised book format gave a clear progression path through the site and provided a clear visual aid from which customers can easily navigate.
- The site was strongly branded as Yorkshire Water to ensure ownership was retained for this unique site.
- Visual images of a kitchen, garden and bathroom provided a visual guide to water conservation.
- Rollover icons gave fast access to the information of most interest the customer.
- The inclusion of an image of a bill helped customers to understand how they read a bill.
Evaluation and feedback | HomeKit is a great source of information which is fun and interactive to use and tailored to the customer. Customers were asked on the microsite to provide feedback - the comments received included:-
'The new homekit site is an excellent and interesting document. Well done to you' - Graham Pain, Halifax
'...just wanted to say how brilliant your homekit feature on the website is. I have just spent over an hour playing on it and it is really innovative, informative and useful' - James Kilburn, Leeds
'.......I found it very easy to use, very informative and helpful. I think it is probably one of the best laid out and designed tools that I have used on the internet', Mr Benstead, Sheffield
Call statistics from our contact centre show a 9% reduction in 'homemoving' calls when comparing April 2007 and April 2008.
Since its launch in December, the site has been visited by almost 20,000 visitors and the month by month trends show a definite increase during March when the site was promoted in our annual billing guide, Clear.
Customers can use the site as a first port of call to find information they would historically have needed to contact us about, meaning it's available proactively rather than reactively. It’s instantly accessible and can easily be kept up-to-date.
Overall the site delivers real business benefit and cost saving and creates a service for customers which is beyond that provided by other utilities.
The aim of the website | Every year 280,000 people let Yorkshire Water know that they’ve moved house. This represents the biggest reason for customers to have contact with us and is a unique opportunity to create a positive perception of the company. Customers otherwise have little reason to contact us unless they have a problem, offering limited opportunities to build a relationship.
Statistics showed that customers contacted us an average of 4 times around the time of a home move. This is because, beyond letting us know their new address, customers have many questions about their new property such as where their stop tap is located and how hard their water is for fitting a dishwasher. This reactive customer experience has an impact on the contact centre and knock-on effect on costs.
We therefore delivered an industry first - a microsite called HomeKit (yorkshirewater.com/homekit), for customers to learn all about the water and waste water services we provide and address these issues. Homekit had the following aims :-
- To generate a positive customer experience for customers at the time of a home move
- To turn a reactive experience into a proactive experience by providing upfront information
- To save money by reducing the number of calls to the contact centre
- To position Yorkshire Water as providing a service which is better than any other utility
How your work met the needs of your target audience |
- On arrival the interactive site required customers to input their postcode, property type, age and whether a meter is installed. This ensured all the information provided thereafter is relevant and tailored to the customer.
- The information provided on the site addressed the questions most frequently raised by customers at the time of the homemove. These included;-
- How often is my meter read?
- Where is my meter?
- How am I charged now I have a meter?
- Why is my sewerage charge 95% of my water charge?
- How I can conserve water ?
- What is my water hardness?
- What is the surface water drainage charge?
- Would a meter save me money?
- Where is my stop tap?
- A sample of customers moving into their new home were sent a welcome letter directing them to the homekit site. Against a control group the piloted customers were less likely to phone our contact centre with homemoving queries. This pilot is now being expanded and it is anticipated that all customers who move will soon be sent a welcome letter to promote the site.
- In addition to the information regularly requested by customers at the time of a move, the site also covered other areas to help the customer combat problems they may have in the future. These included;-
- Understanding how to read a water bill
- What to do if you think you have low pressure
- Advice on water conservation
- Advice on protecting against frost
- Responsibility for pipework
- A trouble shooting section provided information on what to do with common problems such as discoloured or cloudy water and leaks
- A handy summary was included at the end of the site to provide customers with an overview which they could print out and keep.
- The site also included elements of our service which are not always expected by customers such as recreational activities at our reservoirs and added value services such as our password protection scheme to guard against bogus callers.