Customer communication when something’s gone wrong: Ovo Energy, E.ON, and Scottish Power

Customer communication sits at the heart of our crisis management training courses.

But when something’s gone wrong in your business, it often falls to the bottom of the agenda.

Why?

Because first of all, there are employees who need to know what’s happened.

Then there are shareholders to update.

And plans to be put in place, too.

But what about your customers?

It’s something we’ve seen unfold with three energy companies in the last fortnight.

Ovo Energy, E.ON, and Scottish Power have all made headlines for the wrong reasons.

And their customer communication in media interviews has varied.

Let’s investigate the three news stories, and look at what we can learn.

So you’re prepared the next time something goes wrong in your business.

1. Ovo Energy’s ‘cuddle your pet’ advice

These stories all come on the back of soaring energy costs.

Experts say the price of our gas and electricity will skyrocket come April 2022.

Enter Ovo Energy.

In what their boss later described as “ridiculous advice”, the company sent out a blog with top tips for keeping warm.

On the now-deleted page, suggestions included eating bowls of porridge or doing star jumps.

Arguably the worst one advised readers to have “a cuddle with your pets… to help stay cosy”.

The backlash was severe.

Amid accusations of being tone-deaf and just plain silly, Ovo’s Stephen Fitzpatrick did a round of media interviews.

Here’s a clip of when he spoke live on BBC Breakfast.

"It was a bad day, we made a mistake"

On #BBCBreakfast the boss of OVO Energy Stephen Fitzpatrick apologies to customers who were told to 'cuddle a pet or loved one' if they can't afford to put the heating on.https://t.co/ECCQaTFdMk pic.twitter.com/uqWYWBdiCL

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 12, 2022

That interview was largely well-received.

Because Mr Fitzpatrick came across as genuine and sincere.

He put himself on camera to speak to his customers, and talk to those who’d heard the story.

That takes confidence to put yourself under the spotlight to face tough questions.

It’s the right thing to do, and in our experience, it’s far better than publishing written statements.

Which, unfortunately, they did when announcing 1,700 UK job cuts a few days later.

2. E.ON sends out socks

I’d love to hear how this idea slipped through the net.

Just days after the Ovo blunder, E.ON Next followed up with a marketing howler.

Along with energy-saving advice, branded socks were posted to 30,000 British households.

And a quick glance at Twitter (here and here, for example) shows you how poorly received the idea was.

The company took to the platform to respond.

If you recently received a pair of socks from us, we would like to say we are incredibly sorry for how we have made some people feel. In light of the seriousness of current challenges that many people are facing, this mailing should have been stopped and we are sorry.

— E.ON Next (@eon_next) January 14, 2022

First of all, well done on using the word ‘sorry’ (twice, in fact).

It’s sorely lacking from the majority of business apologies.

Usually, it’s ‘deeply regret’ or ‘sincerely apologise’, which comes across as cold and impersonal.

It’s as good a response as you could write in these circumstances.

But a media appearance from a senior figure (as we saw with Ovo) would’ve been even better.

3. Alleged harassment at Scottish Power

Concerns about how Scottish Power operate were first raised in December 2021.

And stories about how the company runs continue to emerge from whistleblowers.

This week, a former employee alleged that call handlers were told to threaten customers with debt enforcement.

It came less than a month after a video emerged showing a Scottish Power debt team raiding the wrong home.

The company responded in the right manner by putting forward a senior figure for interview.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme, chief executive Keith Anderson said:

“There’s no way we’ve ever instructed any organisation we work with to treat the customer in that way.

“I can absolutely tell you that is not our company’s policy and it is not the way we operate.”

Standing up to scrutiny is always the best way to deal with an unfolding crisis.

The only thing to change about Keith’s quote is the pink elephants. Can you spot all three?

Those negative soundbites are only reinforcing the concerning allegations.

So how about this rephrased quote instead:

“We only ever instruct organisations we work with to treat customers with dignity and respect.

“These allegations go completely against our company policy.”

Saying the same thing, only positively.

Dropping unnecessary negatives from your speech ensures you’re satisfied with whatever quote the media take.

And although it’s daunting, making yourself available for media interviews is the first step.

Why customer communication is crucial

When a crisis strikes, customer communication needs to be at the heart of your action plan.

Whether it’s speaking to them directly or through the media. 

Your customers are the ones who’ll be chatting about you to their friends and family.

Whether it’s about how well you handled the situation or how you mishandled it is up to you. 

And it starts with Regret, Reason, Remedy.

Saying sorry, explaining why, and what you’re doing to fix it.

It’s a vital tool to begin the process of recovering – and in some cases improving – your reputation.

At Pink Elephant, we’ve run crisis management courses since 1989.

We’ve simulated on-site accidents, leaked private information, even data hacks.

These days, we can run these courses virtually or in person.

Email us today if your team’s in need of sharpening your skills.

And let us turn up the heat.

Colin Stone is Communications Lead of Pink Elephant.

You can read more about him here.

Photos in Customer communication blog by Cats Coming & suludan diliyaer from Pexels /Lord Hornchurch / and Pink Elephant Communications.