Customer Services

Sigma deliver a range of customer service contact solutions

Customer experience is key

The changes in the methods through which customers now communicate with sellers and service providers has been dramatic over the course of the last five years. With traditional telephony channels giving ground to digital communications, customers also expect a joined-up approach to their conversations, regardless of channel, as opposed to being passed from ‘pillar to post’ when they need support.

Whilst the technology is certainly changing, great customer service is still delivered by people, whether at the customer front-end or in managing the complex technologies now involved in the communication process. Sigma has a proven track record in both maximising the use of these technologies and delivering front-end customer service staff which are a true reflection of our clients’ brands.

Customer retention and win-back campaigns

Retaining customers is extremely challenging within the energy utility sector given both the increasing competition and transient nature of many customers. Business growth is predicated not only on establishing a strong sales pipeline, but also on ensuring that existing customers are not haemorrhaged through poor customer service delivery or lack of communication.

Sigma conducts client retention campaigns for its energy clients where customer contracts may be coming to an end or where communication with customers may be limited due to for example, a lack of resources.

Benefits:

Cost-effective – Our customer retention campaigns are far more economical than acquiring customers from comparison websites
Improved customer loyalty – Improving communication with customers reduces churn
Improved data accuracy – every communication with the customer is an opportunity to update records, take meter readings and review Direct Debit arrangements

Day 1 complaint handling

The effective early handling of complaints not only helps improve customer retention levels, but reduces the burden on specialised complaint handling teams who should be more focused on escalated and complex issues as opposed to complaints which should be satisfied at source. Sigma’s complaint management experience and expertise gives us the perfect platform from which to provide our customer advisors with the skills necessary to handle a range of complaints at source without the need to pass to a specialist team.

Benefits:

Reduce escalated complaints – Resolution at point of origin is the quickest and most effective way of managing the majority of complaints
Reduce customer churn – Customers whose complaints have been successfully resolved are more likely to remain with their existing service provider and become advocates of the business

Billing enquiries & queries, Customer refunds, Cyclical activity including joiners, leavers and movers

This forms a staple part of the customer service work Sigma delivers to its clients currently. For energy utility businesses, billing queries may be slightly more complex but the opportunity to fully explain bills to customers can reduce complaints and customer churn.

Benefits:

Quality – Well-trained, experienced Customer Service Advisors are able to handle a wide variety of customer queries. This reduces the requirement to transfer calls and improves the customer journey.
Seamless contact channel integration – Sigma is able to pivot between contact channels without loss of conversation history, improving the customer experience.

Smart Meter fitting appointment making

Energy utility companies will need to work hard to finish installing 53m smart gas and electricity meters in homes by the end of the roll-out period. In addition to the installation process, booking enough appointments from within the existing customer base is a challenge and Sigma has been working with its energy utility clients to help them meet their targets. Appointment booking is carried out both as standalone campaigns to identified customer segments and during the course of wider customer service or early arrears conversations held with customers.

Benefits:

Maximise appointment setting opportunities – Every conversation with a customer is an opportunity to sell the benefits of Smart meter usage.
Sales Expertise – Sigma’s sales expertise coupled with their knowledge of the energy utility sector means it is ideally positioned to support the roll out of Smart Meters.