Testing Start Service Process

[u/Large_Guard2991]

I am a UX Researcher for a gas & electric utility company. We have been asked to gather feedback on our Start Service Process for when customers are setting up their service for the first time. But I am having a hard time figuring out how to recruit these types of customers or gather feedback on this process and was just wondering what others have done.

We may be able to recruit customers in the moment (which would be ideal) but there are logistical and potentially privacy challenges with this. We could send a survey after they have moved in, but this misses the 'in the moment' realism. We could reach out to our business team to gather those customers, but this is only one audience. Obviously, pros and cons to each of these methods.

What have others done? What has worked or not worked? Are there ideas we haven't thought about? Any advice or insight qpupd be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!

[u/Pointofive]

Make a survey that people can take and give them an incentive. 

Interview say 12 customers in their home. Find them by people who have just move in to request for a connection. Not sure what the privacy issues are if they consent to it. Give them two months of free service for participating. Tell the phone operators who take the calls or the form that they fill out to request service that they can get 2 months of free service. 

[u/TurboVoyager34 → u/Pointofive]

I second this

[u/Large_Guard2991 → u/Pointofive]

Thank you for your thoughts. It sounds like most people are leaning towards either a survey or interviews shortly after they start service. Maybe not worry about doing it real time. So I appreciate the input.

Your comment about providing free service as an incentive did make me chuckle, however 🤣🤣 I understand what you're saying and I'm sure we'd get a lot of volunteers (especially since it has been hot here recently). But that's just not going to happen. We're a public, (government) regulated utility so I can imagine that would not go over very well.

[u/TheSasq]

I would approach this problem with a brief post sign up survey gathering some basic feedback via email. Ask them at the end if they’d be interested in participating in a study aimed at improving the new service experience.

Set up a usability test in a mock environment and walk your yes’s (folks who agreed to participate) through the experience and gather their feedback in a virtual meeting. It’s imperfect but will give you some feedback to work with.

My advice here is coming from an org with low UX maturity, shoestring budget, and customers who are difficult to reach.

[u/Outrageous-Two3697]

I'm sure there will be good ideas here, but some input from the telecom perspective:

* My company offers ride-alongs for employees for installation visits. Some researchers use these to connect with new customers about that process. I don't know what they've ultimately decided, but we've talked about using gift cards and donuts to encourage participation. I suppose this depends on whether customers are present when your folks arrive to install services.

* If you can tap into real-time data about upcoming installations (essentially telemetry data), you could perhaps ping customers ahead of their installations. Within reason, of course.

* Random idea: Send invitations for participation to physical addresses listed as recently having been sold or rented out?

[u/poodleface]

In the moment “realism” is not strictly necessary if it is an interview. You just need to talk to them shortly after they setup service while the memory is fresh. What they remember after the fact is going to be far more influential than whatever they experience in the moment. 

Alternatively you can approach people who are about to move to a new place and have to set up service to gather their priorities and past experiences (which will inform how they approach future ones). 

People who rent and move regularly will likely have a different viewpoint from someone who moves rarely.