The power of data and APIs in energy supplier switching
I remember the first time I met Hedley Smith, founder and CEO of Homebox, during a venture programme four years ago. His energy and passion to transform the energy switching market was palpable. Using data to improve customer experience has always been a constant for Homebox and in this episode of Tied Together we look closely as how Hedley has cleverly used data to power the transformation of Homebox and its services. At Homebox, they use analytics tools such as Amplitude to measure customer interactions, drop off rates, and identifying all those customers who are having trouble, such as spending lots of time trying to complete an action, which could be a journey through an energy switching process. This focus on data empowers Homebox to form insights on long term trends on how their customers are setting up energy accounts and where the switching process is slow or fast. Using data to analyse how customers switch between energy suppliers is very complex and the UK energy regular OFGEM is trying to introduce a rapid supplier switching framework in 2021/22 that could potentially allow customers to switch supplier every 24 hours which is an exciting proposition and it is one of the many reasons why data and the API economy is central to the future strategy and success of Homebox. As Hedley puts it, if you're not using data to constantly focus on conversion rate optimisation to provide the best possible service to your customers, using techniques such as A/B testing and customer feedback, then other competitors will steal a march on your success.