Achieving electrical contracting customer satisfaction is anything but easy. It used to be that finding new customers was the most challenging part of running a contracting business, but with all the marketing avenues available these days, reaching people isn’t that difficult.
It’s not hard to see why keeping customers happy helps you grow your electrical business revenue. After all, the more satisfied a customer is, the more likely it is that they’ll hire you again and recommend you to their friends. Repeat business and free advertising in one go!
Convincing them to become customers and then keeping them happy throughout the process is the essence of providing a positive customer experience. Tech giants like Amazon and Facebook have reshaped expectations so much that simply doing a good job just isn’t enough anymore” and the same applies to electrical businesses, as well as any other field service company.
This is why we’ll be looking first at how customer satisfaction has changed and what can be done about it even as the year draws to a close. However, first, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page regarding why it’s worth the effort:
Why should an electrical contractor care about customer experience? – Our take
We touched on how great customer experiences incentivize people to come back and recommend your electrical business in the previous section, but beyond the fact that good customer relationships have a direct impact on your future, the fact of the matter is that many managers and owners are looking for immediate results.
Too often, pricing electricians’ services is a fight to the bottom, with contracting businesses pricing for bare survival in order to match the competition, without being aware of their overheads or what corners said competition might be cutting. Pricing for profit, on the other hand, flips the script and puts your business at the forefront, but charging a fair amount can seem daunting, especially with a 3-star average on Google.
This is why customer satisfaction matters all the more: it allows you to set premium prices, which you can back up with proof.
So what is customer satisfaction for an electrical business?
Let’s say we’ve wired a new security system for a customer and it was a challenging job because of their house’s architecture, but we sent in our best technicians and they managed to get it done. A tough job, and a good technical result, what more could anyone ask for? Well, it turns out customers are asking for a lot more.
Even in this situation, we could get a lukewarm, 3-star review, especially if it was difficult for the customer to contact us and get the confirmations or reminders they expected. Even worse, it’s perfectly possible to get a 1-star review if it took 4 weeks for them to hear back about a quote for the job, only for the invoice to be incorrect, with no easy way to pay or correct it!
This might sound like the most superficial thing, but expectations and it’s true that many customers feel entitled to good service. These days, they’re also empowered to use their voice when the service wasn’t what they expected, and they could slam with a negative digital review.
So, customer satisfaction is always about the convenience of service, personalized communications, and making the customer feel in control.
1. Convenience: Friction-free customer journeys
If you look at any of the most successful companies in recent times, you’ll notice a trend, especially with the likes of Uber, Airbnb, Booking.com, etc. The reason for their success was never the product nor the quality of their work, but the convenience of their service.
Now, as an electrical contractor, it is true that no one would blame us for thinking “I’m not Uber!”, but at the same time, our clients most certainly use these services and their expectations are molded by these companies, not by the other contractor in town.
Fewer and fewer people like to call in order to book a service, they all prefer an automatic booking portal like the one they use to get a good seat at their favorite restaurant. They don’t want to have to remember when their appointment is due, they want to be reminded with automatic notifications. And they definitely don’t want to wait around for quotes or invoices because everywhere else they go, those things are done instantly.
It can be difficult to shift our perspective as an electrical business owner and accept those are the standards you’re being held up to these days, but, on the other hand, this can also be a competitive advantage! By looking at the customer experience as a sum of individual journeys – as in the booking journeys, call-out journeys, etc., it’s inevitable that we will be in a better position to structure our work and identify the weak links. You can find a detailed customer journey mapping guide here for even more information.
Offering convenience makes us the default option for our customers and incentivizes them to return again and again, not because we’re the cheapest option, but because we’re simply the best.
2. Personalized communications
Oftentimes, bad communication is the root of negative experiences. A customer that’s in the know and feels confident that the work they need is getting done isn’t likely to leave a 1-star review. Even if the process gets a little bumpy along the way (e.g. an ordered part didn’t arrive on time and has to be re-scheduled, as long as the communication is done well, most people won’t have any trouble accepting the situation and moving on.
Consistency in your communication is also essential. Good customer journeys are about increasing the customer’s trust in the electrical business and, like in any relationship, consistently positive behavior is the way to do it. If eyes were on the ball with every confirmation, real-time technician tracking, and feedback request the first time around, the customer will trust that when booking again, the same experience will be delivered.
Automating communication is key in keeping up with these demands and the need for information. Sending emails is no one’s favorite task and your admin certainly has better things to do than write confirmation after confirmation. Especially when there are many CRM tools out there to help create a database, implement a few email templates, and keep customers happy with no effort (and a lot of admin money saved!).
3. Make the customer feel in control with customer self-service
One of the issues with automating repetitive admin tasks in an electrical business is that it can all start to feel a little less personal. Customers like to feel special and remembered because chances are our electrical business is one of very few they’ve used – if not the only one – so it’s easy to make a connection. On the other hand, most customers are similar so it’s hard to keep track.
By following the previous point’s advice and investing in good CRM software that is able to harness the power of collecting field data, then you can put it to good use. With it, personalizing communications and getting well on the way towards impressing customers with the right attention to detail and efficiency will be on time and to specification.
This being said, a new concept is going to be essential to customer satisfaction and that’s self-service, meaning the customer does most of the work and they’re actually quite happy about it. The reason behind this goes back to the experience they’ve grown to expect from companies they interact with day-to-day lives.
For example, an automatic booking journey is based on self-service at the end of the day, with the customer being willing to do more work in exchange for feeling in control and avoiding situations that make them feel awkward or anxious (e.g. talking on the phone). Doing online payments, and checking where the technician is once they’re on the road, are all examples of self-service that not only make the customer happy but also saves your business from a whole lot of work.
