Billing Journey
Our data shows that our measured customers are more likely to contact us than our unmeasured customers. With our strategy to provide more meters to our customers, it’s important that we understand why and what is driving this contact.
The objective of Answered in Advance is to improve the customer experience by proactively communicating with measured billing customers, giving them the clarity they need before questions arise. Measured bills can change for a range of valid reasons, but when those reasons are not clearly understood at the right moment, uncertainty turns into reassurance‑seeking contact.
This sprint will bring together stakeholders both within and outside of the water industry to explore the points in the measured billing journey where customers are most likely to feel unsure, surprised, or confused, and where earlier or clearer communication could prevent the need to get in touch.
We will explore what customers expect to see, what they currently receive, and where explanations fall short, particularly around changes in usage, charges, or bill layout.
By bringing together insight, data, and customer perspectives, the sprint aims to design practical, proactive communication approaches that anticipate common questions and explain them clearly, simply, and at the right time. Success will be defined by customers feeling informed and confident when they receive their bill, knowing what has changed and why, without needing to seek further explanation.
Ultimately, Answered in Advance is about shifting from reactive explanation to proactive clarity, answering customers’ questions and setting clear expectations before they need to ask.
Participants will collaborate through a mix of creative workshop activities, structured exploration sessions and real-world case presentations and discussions to;
- Identify priority areas of focus within measured billing journey
- Co-create ideas on how we can reduce contact & effort, improve customer confidence and improve the overall customer experience
- Discuss and vote on the strongest idea to take forward and develop into a solution 
- Build a prototype that will be tested at the festival on some of our customers
An innovative solution to improve the measured billing customer journey by providing proactive communication touchpoints.
This sprint would appeal to those teams within utility companies, or those who work within Billing or Customer experience.
Also, anyone who is interested in customer journeys or process optimisation.