Case Study: Simply Energy

Case Study Outline

The SMART Group was commissioned in 2006 to provide a sales and marketing solution for Simply Energy. The proposal saw a combination of both direct sales and contact-centre acquisition of electricity and gas customers throughout Victoria. Over time, the model was significantly expanded – tailored to the client’s needs of not only increasing their customer base, but winning back customers and preventing churn through a number of different methods.

Problem

Simply Energy was a relatively new electricity brand in the marketplace, after transitioning from Energy Australia to become its own brand and retailer. Although the business inherited a large volume of customers, due to the nature of churn within the utilities industry, it is vital that a business proactively acquires competitor’s customers in order to prevent their own customer base from diminishing.

The SMART Group identified additional problems that existed in relation to the number of customers that had previously left the business, and also customers who were churning away from the retailer and who needed to be proactively contacted in order to reduce churn.

Solution

The SMART Group developed a sophisticated outbound acquisition channel targeting both metropolitan and rural customers across Victoria. Using our comprehensive telephone database, lists were segmented using areas and market segments, and dialled on a predictive basis using the Genesys outbound dialling platform.

At some points, eighty agents were dialling throughout Victoria, achieving in excess of 450 sales per night, greatly increasing Simply Energy’s customer base.

Further to this, an Inbound Sales and Service solution was developed in 2008, with 25 staff being provisioned to handle a multitude of different enquiries. Work types such as sales, move in and move outs, relocations, energisations and cancellations were blended with administrative tasks such as emails and work requests into a true dynamic contact centre. The front facing IVR minimised call volumes received into the centre, while support systems ensure that sub-contractors receive timely notifications of customer requests.

Success

• Increase in acquisition rates across Victoria and South Australia.

• Minimised exception and cancellation rates

• Greater control of end-to-end sales process, with IT systems fully integrated to deliver sales information directly to CRM.

• The provision of dynamic contact centre solution that minimised operational expenditure in serving a large range of work types.

• Implementation of a ‘Winback’ campaign, to convert customers who had churned away from Simply Energy for over 3 months.

• Service Level Agreements in relation to customer energisations and account actions now being met.

• Long term relationship that has seen Simply Energy and The
  SMART Group stay in partnership for close to 5 years.