Case Study: Watercare restores customer experience after a crisis with Thematic

Watercare restores CX in months with Thematic after a storm-driven crisis

Watercare, New Zealand's largest water utility serving Auckland, faced a severe customer experience crisis following major storms in 2022 that damaged infrastructure and exacerbated pandemic-related repair backlogs. Their call center was overwhelmed, and they lacked sufficient insight into the sentiment of the 85% of customers who did not proactively contact them. To capture a fuller picture and restore service, they partnered with the vendor Thematic to implement a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program.

Using Thematic's analytics platform, Watercare built a three-pronged VoC program to analyze feedback. Thematic identified that customers' primary frustration was a lack of updates on repair progress. These insights enabled Watercare to form a cross-functional task force that reallocated resources, improved triage, and launched initiatives like an "I'm a hero" program to recognize frontline staff. As a result of implementing Thematic's solution, Watercare returned to its benchmark service levels within just a few months.

Watercare