What we learned from our first energy hack day
We brought together 45 industry experts to tackle a common problem
Citizens Advice hosted our first ever energy hack day in September. Sometimes known as a hackathon, it’s a day when specialists get together to work towards solving a common problem.
Why was it needed?
We had evidence that some letters energy suppliers send to customers about debt and complaints weren’t working. People didn’t understand them, felt intimidated by them, or didn’t know what steps to take. Suppliers weren’t getting the money they were owed and couldn’t resolve people’s complaints. We knew the letters could be better, for everyone.
Organising the day
We worked with colleagues from Energy UK, Ofgem, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Energy Ombudsman, the Money Advice Trust, HMRC and the Government Digital Service (GDS) to prepare.
We enlisted and briefed team facilitators from these organisations to lead teams through activities and keep people on track.
We invited all suppliers with domestic customers to attend, asking them to put forward someone involved with deciding on the wording of their letters and someone involved with compliance and regulation. It was really important to us that the event was inclusive and everyone felt welcome. So as people registered, we asked them about any dietary or access requirements and made sure our venue was fully accessible.
On the day
We had 45 people from 25 energy suppliers, reaching maximum capacity.
The day opened with an introduction from Gillian Cooper, Head of Energy Policy at Citizens Advice, and a series of lightning talks from Michael Youds from the Energy Ombudsman, Matt Wilson from the Money Advice Trust, and Nic Ball from Citizens Advice. They talked about why it’s so important for energy suppliers to understand their customers’ situations and needs. They shared examples of their research which helped us understand how people view existing debt and complaint letters.
Next we heard how a better understanding of people can help us to design things that work for them, with Beth Moon from Ofgem, Amy Wells and Rebecca Milton from GDS and Abigail Emery from HMRC. Some top tips are:
Sam Rea from Ofgem reassured suppliers that even though there are regulations about what suppliers should communicate, they have the freedom to creatively design their letters.
Following a fun icebreaker, Nasa’s moon landing task, each team worked on developing a letter from either the debt or complaints journey. Each group was initially presented with a customer profile and scenario, e.g. Dilsher, who’d complained to his supplier and wasn’t happy with how it was being handled. The goal was for each team to develop a letter template to better meet the customer’s needs and their particular situation.
In the first 2 activities, each team mapped out how the customer in their scenario might be feeling and what they might understand about how they’d arrived in their situation. We used these assumptions to write user needs, using the format:
As…
I need…
So that…
For example:
As… someone who’s in debt to my supplier
I need… to arrange a repayment plan
So that… I can afford to pay what I owe and resolve my problem
Then, teams started to decide what to put in their letter. We used a method called a KFC. No, not the chicken shop — this stands for ‘Know, Feel, Commit to’. This helped teams to understand the things the customer in their scenario needed to commit to doing after reading the letter and, then, what the customer needed to know and how they’d need to feel to help them achieve those things.
We used a business needs vs. user needs matrix to prioritise what went in the letter, by thinking about what was important to both consumers and energy suppliers. So, teams decided what went into the letter in a user-centred way.
The final 2 activities were about letter writing. Teams paired up to write sections of the letter. Then the pairs came back together as a team for a crit session. They brought their different sections together, critiqued the content, and agreed a final version of their letter.
Each team presented their letter back to the room. They were encouraged to say what they had found surprising about the task, what they had found most challenging, and to pick out a line from their letter that they were happiest with.
- Designing a deadlock letter to a customer following their complaint, one team used simple headings — “How we got here” and “What happens next”.
- Another team used similar headings in their ‘8 week’ letter — “How did we get here?”, “Where are we now?” and “What happens next?”
- Teams made their letters personal and engaging, with phrases like “I’m Katy, and I’ve taken on your complaint” and “Please can you let me know the best number and a convenient time for me to give you a call?”
- Writing for a customer who had missed a payment, one team provided the details of payment options on the back of their letter. This meant they could make their “What if I can’t pay?” section more prominent.
- Another team wrote “We can work something out if you can’t pay today” in their final reminder letter.
To round off the day, teams reflected and captured what they liked about the day, what they would take back to their organisation, and what they felt was lacking from the day.
What next?
The next step for energy suppliers is to take this learning back to their organisations. It’s important to remember that we designed prototype letters in a very short time. It’s vital that suppliers test changes to their communications with customers.
As for us, this was our first time hosting a hack day. We’ve learned a lot and know where we could improve. We’re really pleased with how it went and with the feedback.
We learned that people really enjoyed the talks and would have liked more time for them. People felt some activities were too long, while others felt rushed. Some people felt it would have helped to see examples of existing letters. All really helpful feedback!
Here are the slides from the day, the user scenarios we worked with and the prototype letters we produced. We hope you find them interesting.
Thanks to all who helped organise the day and to everyone who came along!
