Some people still think Fresno tap water is unsafe, study says
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – In a study by J.D. Power, water users who listed “City of Fresno” as their water utility were found to have the lowest customer satisfaction among midsized markets in the United States.
What does this mean?
YourCentralValley.com spoke to John Hazen with J.D. Power to make sense of the data.
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“We surveyed 30,000 plus residential water customers across the country,” Hazen said, “Fresno has consistently been one of the lower performing utilities that we survey.”
Of those 30,000, 266 respondents listed the City of Fresno as their supplier.
According to Hazen, the survey looks at customer satisfaction overall, not just billing and payment but also interactions and customer care.
Among cities like Irvine, Albuquerque, Sacramento, Tucson, and others, Fresno ranked the absolute worst, according to Hazen. Hazen says the study also found that 41% of respondents believe their unfiltered tap water is unsafe to drink.
“I drink tap water, you know? It’s never been like a – ‘Oh my god, I can’t drink the water’ kind of thing,” Hazen said.
Hazen says safety concerns can be a big factor in customer satisfaction. If your customers don’t think your water is safe, it doesn’t matter if it is or not, according to Hazen.
Hazen says it’s important for cities to communicate with their clients better on water safety to clear up misconceptions.
“It puts the onus on the utility to talk up, ‘Hey it’s safe, here’s what we do to make it safe.'”
Communicating with clients can mean several things, according to Hazen: if a city’s website is difficult to navigate, the problem of customer dissatisfaction will continue.
“Typically you go on their website and it looks like it was designed in 1994,” Hazen said, “it can’t be size eight font and a bunch of paragraphs.”
Besides poor communication about water safety, Hazen says communication about prices is just as important and that a hefty water bill doesn’t have to mean dissatisfaction.
“It isn’t necessarily that those with the lowest price have the highest satisfaction,” Hazen said. “The better you are communication the value you bring – if you’ve got a good story to tell tell it.”
Hazen says that there is hope for cities like Fresno that end up ranking among the bottom performers.
“I always encourage those at the bottom to focus on the top performers,” Hazen said, “you know who the smart kids are in class, go look at their website and their communications.”
YourCentralValley.com reached out to the City of Fresno for a statement about any communications strategies that might improve customer satisfaction – but did not receive a response prior to publication.
