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There's a potential shift in the competitive landscape coming to the utilities market with it comes more options for the customer. Such a shift presents new challenges for utilities and creates the need for them to build customer loyalty and attract new prospects through effective communication strategies. Businesses are starting to realize that the way they relate and speak to customers can be at the core of their success and can greatly influence their purchase behavior. With deregulated areas expanding, rising unemployment and slow economic growth, it's imperative that utilities devise ways of improving communication, while at the same time reducing their marketing spend and improving response results.

What is it that customers want?

The best way to improve customer relationships is to gain a thorough understanding how they are engaging with your company. Consumers want to feel that their provider "knows" them and is working towards delivering high-quality information that best fits their lifestyle needs - while saving them money. It goes beyond just "supplying" an utility -- consumers are looking to their providers for tips and suggestions on how they can save money by modifying their habits such as paying their bills on time, reducing energy consumption and adopting alternative energies. One can ascertain that what consumers don't want is irrelevant marketing. This impersonal tactic can be detrimental to the customer/provider relationship and can lead to customers seeking out competitive options, if available.

Effective communications also plays a crucial role when informing customers of price increases and penalties. Not addressing consumers with the appropriate message can lead to a misunderstanding and can ultimately result in the loss of that customer.

Now that I have a good idea of what my customers want, how do I implement a targeted communications strategy?

Two words: Precision Marketing. This method provides a foundation for timely and targeted communications to get the right information, to the right person, at the right time via the right channel. Using data analytics, utilities can leverage actual consumer data and build accurate profiles on each customer which can then be used to deliver customized messages. The goal here is to reduce the amount of irrelevant information sent to the customer and to effectively target the active customers with the highest propensity to respond, while finding ways to engage those who are inactive.

What's the best resource for customer data?

Let's face it, most people and marketers alike don't view the utilities statement as a powerful marketing tool. But how many consumers disregard their bills and statements? What makes this such a powerful vehicle is the simple fact that customers seldom ignore their statements. The utilities statement provides an excellent opportunity for companies to collect customer information and use that same vehicle to feed tailored messages back to them.

What are the benefits of Precision Marketing?

By adopting a predictive method of targeted communications such a Precision Marketing, utilities can build loyal relationships with their existing customers by means personal messaging. Utilities will save money and save customers time by improving bill clarity and reducing call center traffic. Statements will cease to be just another means of "billing" customers - they will become an educational tool that promotes initiatives and helps customers reduce costs. The fundamental goal here is to improve the overall customer experience, all while strengthening the utility's brand and driving ROI.