Our customers

We provide water supply and sewerage services to over 22,000 contractual customers and approximately 435,000 end consumers in Tallinn and its surrounding areas. We are responsible for providing almost one third of the Estonian population with reliable and high-quality water supply and sewerage services.

We understand the significance of our service to people and therefore, we focus on maintaining and improving the quality and reliability of our services. In 2015, our special focus was on enhancing the customers’ awareness of our actions that impact their quality of life. We also made efforts to improve the quality of resolving customer contacts, to give the customers less reasons for repeated contacts.

Feedback from our customers

For us, systematic and regular feedback from our customers and consumers is instrumental. This provides us with a fair assessment on our activities and helps to understand both our strengths and the issues which we should address more in the future. Each year, an independent market research company TNS EMOR carries out a survey among our customers and end consumers. Satisfaction is measured on the basis of the TRI*M method developed by the research company to characterise the strength of customer relationships and to allow comparison with other companies. This model is based on three elements:

• TRI*M index, which measures the strength of customer relationships and comprises further four elements – general satisfaction, recommendation, repeated use and usefulness/necessity of services/products;
• TRI*M typology of customer relationships, describing the satisfaction and loyalty of customers;
• TRI*M grid analysis to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a company.

Customer services in 2015

Last year was remarkable for an exceptionally high customer satisfaction indicator, which, by the survey carried out by TNS EMOR, reached 94 TRI*M index point level. This is the best result achieved so far and the Company outperforms the European and Estonian averages for industrial sector, by a considerable margin. A total of 900 customers and end consumers were surveyed to map changes in our customer relations’ strength and the factors influencing it, as well as to receive feedback on the success of our activities.

The biggest progress last year was made in the ratings given by apartment associations, who had been slightly more critical than the others in previous years. Customers encountered less problems with failures and interruptions, and were more satisfied with the level of being informed about the interruptions. Broadly speaking, preventing problems is the positive change. Reason behind the high satisfaction is the stability and good quality of water and water supply service.

Strong customer relations also rely on the positive shift in the company’s media image in recent years. People are becoming more interested in the topics that define our activity such as service quality, environmental activities, educating children and young people. Media messages have a wider resonance: commercial customers notice more than ever various campaigns of the Company and its activity in protecting the environment and educating the consumers. We are certainly pleased about the number of people, who trust to drink tap water, which has been increasing, both among private and commercial customers.

Trends in 2016

Even though the feedback to our services continues to be good, it also indicates a need to focus more on the constant strengthening of the emotional side of customer relations. Therefore, we will keep making efforts in maintaining and increasing the satisfaction mainly by improving in the quality of our services and customer service.

In 2016, we see a continuous possibility to facilitate the problem solving process in the customer service area. The number of customers, who need to contact us because of issues with our service, has been reducing year on year. Nevertheless, we do our best to be a pleasant partner to our customers by providing quick solutions that meet the expectations of both parties.

We also try to provide more information about our activities and keep customers better informed about the solution being provided to them. We consider the engagement of customers in a dialogue, by actively involving and listening to people, growing more important in our business, both in terms of customer service and wider consumer awareness.