Webform Integration to Streamline Customer Service: Yarra Valley Water Case Study

Trust is vital to improving communities.

If the public doesn’t trust that an issue will be handled, they won’t report it. Their phone will stay in their pocket, as they pass by dumped rubbish, tripping hazards, and other community issues.

Additionally, minor water leaks may not prompt someone to make a phone call, allowing them to develop into large bursts and causing major issues down the track.

This is the reality for Yarra Valley Water, Melbourne’s largest water corporation with over $5.6 billion of infrastructure. They’re faced with the challenge of keeping a network of over 21,000km of water, recycled water and sewer mains across 4,000km² running smoothly.

Engaged, attentive customer service makes the community trust their problem will be solved, even if it hasn’t been yet. But consistently engaging with the community requires smart tools that help the teams involved know where, and when, to focus their resources.

For Yarra Valley Water focusing on customer service, and winning an award for their efforts, has had benefits that go far beyond community satisfaction.

Here’s how they increased report volume by 400%, improved their already stellar average star rating by 6% up to (4.39 out of 5), and better used their resources to save time and money.

Transforming Around the Customer

A key pillar of Yarra Valley Water’s strategy is ‘transforming around the customer’. They’ve been listening to their community for years, and receive reports through multiple channels.

"At Yarra Valley Water we're committed to providing a service that is easy, caring and responsive to the needs of customers. Snap Send Solve enables us to do this with user-centric technology. Partnering with Snap Send Solve has been a game changer for us, offering better tools for customers and resourcing flexibility.” - Julian Hill, Service Response Divisional Manager

Yarra Valley Water knew they needed to automate their report processing to keep phone lines open for emergency calls and report numbers manageable while maintaining community trust.

The community lies at the centre of Yarra Valley Water’s network.

“We rely on our customers. We do have some smart sensors but the majority of issues are reported by our customers so the easier it is for Yarra Valley Water to do that, the more likely it is that we can fix leaks instead of bursts,” said Stephen Pepping, Manager Service Interactions.

Yarra Valley Water has a service level agreement that 80% of phone calls are answered within 30 seconds, which can be difficult during major faults, says Stephen Pepping, Manager Service Interactions.

“We have some really tight service-level measures for phone calls that are hard to meet when we have some big faults out there.”

Enter, Snap Send Solve.

Building Community Trust

Yarra Valley Water’s responsiveness to both phone and online reports has increased community trust that their issue will be handled. In this way, Yarra Valley Water is closer than ever to the community they’re focusing on, and transforming around.

“Snap Send Solve does bring us closer to our customers and it means our customers feel closer to us,” says Stephen Pepping.

And this trust and efficiency are further evidenced by the results. In 2022, Yarra Valley Water received commendations for their amazing customer service.

Last year, Yarra Valley Water won the VIC Customer Service Award in Snap Send Solve’s Solver of the Year Awards (as voted by Snap Send Solve users). Here’s what Snap Send Solve users had to say:

• "Monitor reports closely and respond effectively and timely. If they can fix it they will and if not follow up with the responsible authority. Always had a good outcome and speedy acknowledgement of the issue."
• "Extremely fast personalised response by text and email. Then follow-ups with updates. They also go and actually do the work quickly as well."
• "I was super impressed with the speed of their response and then the problem was resolved within a couple of days. Well done!"

But it isn’t just the community that loves it. There are fans of Snap Send Solve everywhere.

“Our team members are using it internally and saying ‘It’s so easy, I’ve just reported it via Snap Send Solve’. Even our Managing Director Pat McCafferty had used it before [to report to Yarra Valley Water] and said he got a reply straight away.” says Stephen Pepping.

Key Takeaways

Yarra Valley Water’s commitment to customer service meant introducing more effective, modern ways to produce results for their community.

Working with Snap Send Solve, they promoted both in-app and webform reports, greatly reducing pressure on their customer service team while maintaining a high level of community trust.

“The community uptake of Snap Send Solve is growing month to month, year on year, and there is a lot of trust in it. We get a lot of positive feedback from our customers for using Snap Send Solve, as shown in the recent positive ratings left,” says Stephen Pepping.

But the benefits aren’t confined to high customer satisfaction.

With more reports now submitted digitally, the staff workload is more balanced. During a significant fault with a high call volume, staff can focus on the phones. Meanwhile, when call volume lowers, the team can move through Snap Send Solve reports efficiently.

Introducing the embedded webform has allowed Yarra Valley Water to more effectively prioritise major and minor issues across its large service area and has reduced the risk of major incidents and the costs they incur.

Yarra Valley Water is excited to see what they can achieve with further Snap Send Solve integration and automation in the future.

If you’re looking for a scalable solution that gives your customer service teams greater power to prioritise, reach out to us now.