Meet the Strategist Who Shapes the First Step of Every Customer Journey
Transforming customer insights into meaningful digital experiences.
Meet the Strategist Who Shapes the First Step of Every Customer Journey
Transforming customer insights into meaningful digital experiences.
At NRG, delivering an exceptional customer experience is at the heart of everything we do. During our annual Customer Experience Week, we celebrate the people who make that possible — not just those on the front lines, but also the teams working behind the scenes.
In this three-part series, we're highlighting employees whose work quietly shapes the customer journey. Their stories show how the customer experience comes to life across every part of NRG.
Today, we begin with Vilasini Panjalingam Pillay, NRG’s Senior Manager, Content Strategy and AI Search Visibility — someone whose work influences countless interactions with residential energy customers, long before a phone call or chat.
Where the customer experience really begins
Most people think of customer experience as something that happens during a conversation — an agent helping someone choose a new service plan or a technician installing a smart home solution. While those moments are vital, a seamless customer experience actually begins much earlier. It starts the moment a customer becomes aware of a brand.
For the past four years, Vilasini has focused on making sure customers can find the energy information they need online, understand their options, and feel confident in the decisions they make. She does that by paying close attention to what customers are saying through their search behaviors, call center feedback, social conversations, and even Reddit threads.
Those insights help her identify customer pain points, uncover content gaps, and build new resources — such as videos, FAQs, and guides — that answer common customer questions.
“Behind every search is a real person trying to solve a real problem,” said Vilasini. “For example, a search for same-day electricity might represent someone standing in a dark apartment, needing power turned on immediately, whereas a search for why is my electricity bill higher this month? might come from someone worried about affordability.”
To Vilasini, these aren't just search terms or data points. They represent actual moments in a customer's life — and opportunities for NRG to help.
“When you understand what’s behind that Google or AI search, it changes how you approach the customer experience,” she said. “It reminds us that clarity, empathy, and trust matter more than ever. And my job is to make it easier for customers to find what they need, where they’re already looking.”
Creating clarity when customers need it most
One example of how she and her team turned customer insights into action is the recently revamped Moving Hub.
When Vilasini examined the moving experience for customers, she found that Reliant, part of NRG’s family of companies, had plenty of useful information online; however, it was spread across multiple web pages with no clear path forward.
“We had a lot of great content,” Vilasini explained. “But it wasn’t organized in a way that helped customers figure out where to start or what to do next. That’s when my team and I saw an opportunity to bring everything into one place.”
She helped consolidate that information into an intuitive hub that now guides customers based on their situation — whether they’re transferring their electricity service, switching from another provider, or setting up service for the first time in Texas. From there, customers can find tailored moving checklists, FAQs, and step-by-step guidance.
Early results have shown increased engagement, traffic, and conversion — proof that when we simplify the customer experience and make it easy for them to find what they need, it makes a meaningful difference.
Keeping the human connection
While artificial intelligence, search, and digital tools can help customers find information faster, technology is only part of the experience. Behind every interaction is still a person. That's why Vilasini looks for ways to bring real customers and real subject-matter experts into NRG’s digital content.
“For a company providing an essential service like energy, that human element is especially important,” she said. “Customers want to know they can trust the company they’re doing business with, and real voices help build that trust.”
That is one of the reasons why Vilasini is a huge proponent of video testimonials and expert-led content. They bring authenticity, connection, and credibility to the customer experience — something that AI-generated content alone can’t replicate.
Ensuring customers find what they need
As search behavior continues to evolve, Vilasini’s role is evolving with it. In addition to optimizing content for actual customers, she has to do the same for the AI agents helping guide them.
“I need to make sure NRG’s content is clear, accurate, and easy for AI systems to understand so it actually reaches our human customers,” said Vilasini.
So far, her work has driven meaningful results, giving customers a smoother experience from the moment they start looking for help.
Designing a better customer experience
Even though Vilasini may not interact with customers directly, her work is deeply customer-centric. Every simplified process, clearer explanation, and helpful resource contributes to a better experience.
“For me, the customer experience is fundamentally about how easy or difficult we make it for someone to accomplish what they came to do,” she said. “Let’s say they visited our website. Did they find the information they needed? Did they understand their options? Did they trust what they're reading about us?”
Those questions guide her work every day.
As we celebrate Customer Experience Week, we recognize that putting customers first isn't just about solving problems after they happen. It’s about anticipating their needs and designing a clearer, more streamlined path at the very first step.
Be on the lookout later this week for two more posts in this series, each spotlighting behind-the-scenes team members who help power NRG’s customer experience.
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