Welsh Water

Welsh Water (Dŵr Cymru) provides clean and waste water services to three million people across Wales and Herefordshire. As the only not-for-profit water company in England and Wales, the organisation can put every penny back into protecting the environment and exceeding customers’ expectations.

Providing a hassle-free experience around service appointments is one way that Welsh Water is putting customers first and driving down unnecessary costs.

From time to time, it’s necessary to send a mobile technician to a customer’s home. Whether the customer is having trouble with their water supply, experiencing a leak, or has simply requested a meter, it’s important to provide a seamless experience on the day of service.

It’s not always possible to provide a narrow ETA in advance of an appointment. This meant that anxious customers would often call the contact centre to find out when their operative would arrive. Schedulers would be tasked with calling customers before and after a job to provide updates and collect feedback.

Welsh Water saw this as an opportunity to improve customer experience and increase efficiency. The company opted for Localz’ customer engagement solution to automate communications before and after appointments.

Localz technology keeps Welsh Water customers informed when their operative is on the way - with the added benefit of reducing customer calls to the support centre.

At the start of the day, technicians can view their upcoming jobs in the technician app, without relying on information from schedulers. For each job, the technician can see the job location, additional details, and the route to travel.

When viewing their next job, the technician can send a one-click “On My Way” notification to the customer. The customer receives the notification as an SMS containing a 15-minute arrival window and a link to the web-based customer portal.

The portal includes a countdown ETA and a live map tracking the technician’s arrival to the property, so customers can be ready and waiting for their appointment. The customer can view these details in their web browser, so there’s no need to download an app.

Customers are also given the option to send a message to the technician. This allows them to share useful information such as entry instructions to speed up access to the property. 

When the operative is arriving, the customer receives another SMS so that they can be ready to implement social distancing measures.

Feedback from customers has strongly indicated that they appreciate these digital appointment updates. Since the introduction of technician tracking, “where’s my technician?” query calls for waste water appointments have decreased by 50 per cent.

Welsh Water can now identify satisfied customers who do not need an additional phone call after the appointment.

Once the job is completed, the customer receives an SMS linking to the web portal, where they can provide feedback and choose whether they would like a follow-up phone call.

Of the customers who provide feedback, 83 per cent use the opportunity to opt-out of “close the loop” calls from Welsh Water. This saves customers time and allows support staff to focus resources where they are needed, resulting in significant operational savings.