nPower rolls out Apple Business Chat as part of smart meter switch program

Energy firm npower is turning to Apple Business Chat to improve its customer experience for customers looking to switch to a smart meter. Apple Business Chat is a new way for consumers to connect directly with businesses using the Messages app on Apple devices.

With more than 1.3bn Apple devices worldwide, Business Chat provides a significant reach and an unprecedented opportunity to create powerful and seamless messaging interactions between consumers and businesses. npower’s Apple Business Chat solution will be provided and managed by IMImobile, marking the cloud communications firm’s first such deployment.

“We are pleased to be the first energy provider in the UK to launch Apple Business Chat,” said Jon Drinkwater, head of digital and data at npower. “Reaching our customers via new and innovative conversational channels is key to differentiate our customer experience strategy.”

npower will use Business Chat accessed via IMImobile’s contact centre chat platform, to share rich media messages with customers that illustrate the benefits and installation process of switching to a smart meter. Customer service agents are also able to trigger post-chat surveys using Apple Business Chat’s ‘List Picker’ functionality. Uniquely, npower and IMImobile have also enabled the use of Emojis as part of the surveys to increase customer responses.

IMImobile chief executive Jay Patel said: “Conversational customer engagement, service and support present a huge opportunity for businesses, more so now than at any other time and we look forward to working with npower to further optimise the customer service experience.”