Power outages today are not like power outages of the past, so it makes sense that the best practices in outage communication have also changed. When I was a child, there was no such thing as power outage updates. You would know what was happening with the outage when you saw the lights flicker back on. In today's communication-obsessed world, however, if customers don't get updates about outages within a half hour they get frustrated. They need timely, accurate information in order to make important decisions during an outage.

Your utility customer service team is busy during the outage. How can you improve outage communication without adding a lot of time and hassle? Automated utility communication software helps you significantly improve customer awareness and satisfaction. Here's how.

Use multiple channels of communication

Sending out your outage messages over multiple channels of communication increases the chance that everyone will get the message. With a multi-channel utility communication solution, messages are sent out through email, voicemail, text message and social media.

Provide constant automated updates

During the outage, create new outage messages when you receive updates from your technicians. Then click the send button and thousands of your utility customers will receive the updates in minutes. Frequent updates keep customers in the loop, reduce frustration and increase satisfaction. Automated updates reduce the time that your staff has to spend on the phone with customers.

Set up a utility outage landing page

Every utility company should provide a landing page where customers can go to find outage information. This landing page should include frequently asked questions, numbers that customers can call (and emails) for outage updates, a list of common causes of power outages, estimated restoration time and so on.

After an outage, learn how you did

Send out an automated customer survey after a power outage in order to gain real customer feedback. See what you did right and what you can improve on. This feedback helps you optimize your communication when the next power outage strikes. Your automated solution collects and organizes all the data. All you have to do is analyze this data and see what your customers want.

Try these best practices in outage communication for free

Sign up for a free 14-day trial of our software. Our friendly customer care team is here to give you a free demo and show you the capabilities of the software and how they can be used to accomplish the best practices in outage communication.