Tag: Digital Marketing

Illustration of marketing paperless billing to utility customers

Webinar: Helping Utility Customers Switch to Paperless Billing

In Questline Digital’s Plugged In webinar, “How to Market Paperless Billing to Customers,” Senior Copywriter Breanne George and Creative Director Joe Pifher shared their insights and advice for creating successful promotions that encourage customers to switch to paperless billing.

In order to reach your program goals, your energy utility needs to understand your customers and their motivations. In doing so, you will be able to segment and promote your paperless billing program with effective messaging.

Use the right message to make them switch

In order to know what type of paperless billing campaign is right for your energy utility, you must first understand your customers. The right paperless message is personalized to your target audience.

Ask yourself this: How will paperless billing make your customers’ lives easier? To help answer this question, get to know your customers:

  • What are their needs, wants and interests?
  • What are their challenges or barriers to adoption?
  • What do their day-to-day lives look like?
  • What are their values and motivations?

George suggested a few ways to encourage the switch to paperless billing, based on successful campaigns she has worked on for energy utilities across the nation.

  • Showcase how paperless billing fits into your customers’ daily lives. This could be as simple as how your customers get to work. For example, if customers often commute on a train or subway, easy access on-the-go would be an important benefit to showcase in your paperless campaign.
  • Try easy and convenient enrollment options. Customers like simplicity – make signing up for paperless as easy as one-click enrollment and your conversion rates can increase dramatically.

Customer motivations drive eBill enrollment

Often customers who don’t switch to paperless billing have one of three reasons for not doing so. They may fear that…

  • Enrollment will take too long, and they don’t have the time
  • Going paperless will mean they won’t have statements for their records
  • They’ll be more likely to forget a payment if they switch to digital

To combat these concerns, your energy utility should relay the top paperless benefits for customers:

  • Simple – easy to manage and pay from anywhere
  • Convenient – saves time and fits the customers’ on-the-go lifestyle
  • Affordable – no need to buy stamps or worry about late fees
  • Eco-friendly – use less paper and reduce environmental footprint
  • Reliable – never forget or lose track of a bill again
  • Secure – safely manage statements and payments online

Business and residential customers have very different needs, so segmenting these audiences is encouraged. When it comes to paperless billing, business customers value:

  • Easy access to past bills and usage history
  • 24/7 bill availability when they are out and about
  • Less paper clutter in their office

Encourage multiple generations to switch to paperless billing

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the digital age of TikTok and Twitter, but when it comes to Millennials and Gen-Zers, George says email is still a viable option for these younger generations.

In fact, she shared that nearly 75% of millennials and 58% of Gen-Zers check their emails multiple times a day. However, they have a 12- and 8-second attention span, respectively, so it’s important to connect with these customers through storytelling rather than with overly promotional copy.

When it comes to older generations, Questline Digital often sees the biggest concerns related to payment security or having records on hand. George suggests “speaking to their concerns first.” Reinforce the safety of paperless billing and how it is often more secure than dropping a check in the mail. It’s also important to show them how to retrieve records of their past bills with a simple click.

Design best practices to boost campaign performance

The next step following great copy is great design. Pifher, Questline Digital’s Creative Director, shared the email best practices to consider for your creative campaign. These tips include having a message hierarchy, keeping a clear and active CTA and ensuring the email is mobile-friendly.

It’s also imperative for your energy utility to use the right imagery. You want the image to be relatable to customers, eye-catching and relevant. Pifher stressed the importance of looking at your specific audience demographics to determine the visual elements of your campaign:

  • People – age, gender, race, socioeconomic status
  • Region-specific – weather, transportation, landscape
  • Customer interests – sports, local spots, the environment, values and motivations

Pifher suggests utilities design around the inverted triangle strategy: grabbing a customers’ attention at the top, building anticipation in the headline and first few sentences and then taking them to the call-to-action. There should be plenty of white space throughout the design. Ensure the email is easy for customers to scan with the use of bullets or icons.

Incentives add value to eBill sign-ups

Pifher recommends testing incentives in your campaigns to encourage more people to switch to paperless billing. Customers often enjoy being rewarded, even if the incentive is small in value.

Questline Digital’s performance metrics show smaller, immediate rewards perform better than enter-to-win sweepstakes. However, it’s important to test large and small incentives with your target audience.

Pifher also says that by developing not just a single email, but also web banner ads, social posts, direct mail inserts and more, your energy utility is able to reach customers no matter which channel they prefer to use.

The impact of coronavirus on paperless promotions

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted every aspect of people’s lives, including how they get mail or pay bills. Before the pandemic, a large push for paperless billing was the “on-the-go, anytime, anywhere” messaging. Now, Pifher says customers are looking for more convenient ways to pay bills and messaging has turned to “on the couch or in bed, anytime, anywhere” messaging.

The importance of “no touch” payments and a focus on decluttering paper bills became more important benefits of paperless billing for customers. In addition, the pandemic has simply shown the importance of adaptation — whether due to major pandemics or simply customer interests changing. The ability to shift focus at a moment’s notice is an important skill to have when developing campaigns. 

Successful campaigns require more than a simple email

As these insights show, there are many aspects to a successful paperless billing campaign. Between knowing your customers, segmenting messages based on their needs, motivating customers through diligent copy and creative design, connecting through an omnichannel approach and adapting for current environments, there is more involved to reach conversion goals than a simple email.

Equipped with these copy and design best practices, revisit your paperless billing campaign strategy to achieve your energy utility’s conversion goals.

Help more customers switch to paperless billing with an eBill marketing campaign from Questline Digital.

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Illustration of energy utility customer using paperless billing on laptop

E Billing Best Practices and Campaign Ideas for Energy Utilities

The benefits of choosing paperless billing may be obvious to you. But your customers may not understand these benefits, or they may not be properly incentivized to give up paper bills and make the switch. Follow these e billing best practices to improve your energy utility’s e bill marketing and boost conversion rates.

Infographic listing best practices for energy utility paperless billing promotions

E billing best practice #1: Focus on personal benefits for customers

Your messaging should help customers understand the benefits of paperless billing and overcome potential barriers that might stand in the way of adoption. The most successful messages speak directly to the customer, use personal language (“you”) and address the ways that paperless billing makes everyday life easier. Focus on solving problems, not just offering a new payment option.

In Questline Digital’s experience creating paperless conversion campaigns for energy utilities, the benefits that most appeal to customers are: 

  • Simple; easy to manage and pay from anywhere
  • Affordable; no need to buy stamps or worry about late fees
  • Convenient; saves time and fits into your on-the-go lifestyle
  • Eco-friendly; reduce your environmental footprint by using less paper
  • Reliable; never forget or lose track of a bill again
  • Secure; safely manage statements and payments online

E billing best practice #2: Drive opens with effective subject lines

The best email subject lines are upbeat, active and strike a personal tone while encouraging the customer to open the message. Short subject lines are best for capturing the attention of residential customers. Questline Digital data shows that subject lines with 40 to 50 characters perform best.

According to metrics from the many paperless billing campaigns Questline Digital has deployed for energy utilities, the top-performing subject line was, “You’ve got eBill and a $10 gift card.” This campaign achieved a 77% open rate, compared to 21% for the average campaign.

E billing best practice #3: Attract attention with compelling incentives

Incentives pay off in paperless billing campaigns, enticing customers with the promise of a contest prize or financial benefit. Not only do incentives boost email open rates, but incentives also increase conversions.

The most successful incentives are small giveaways awarded to everyone who signs up for paperless billing (including LED lightbulbs and $5 gift cards). Contest entries that award a single large prize (such as $1,000 cash or major league sports tickets) have been less successful.

Offering an incentive pays off with higher conversion rates (and by reaching participation goals more quickly). Paperless billing campaigns that award an incentive achieve a 34% conversion rate on average. In comparison, campaigns with no incentive achieve a 23% conversion rate on average.

Example of e-billing best practice incentive campaign

E billing best practice #4: Use segmentation

The same message or incentive is unlikely to work with all customers. Instead, your utility should segment customers into groups and build campaigns that speak to the specific concerns of each audience.

McKinsey’s Next in Personalization 2021 Report shares that, “71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions. And 76% get frustrated when this doesn’t happen.” Furthermore, McKinsey shares that companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue from those activities than those who don’t.

As this data showcases, personalization is a must-do e billing best practice. Here are several ways you can segment your paperless promotion emails:

  • People who pay online but still get paper statements
  • Follow up with those who didn’t complete e bill signup
  • Eco-friendly message to EV customers
  • Convenience message to busy professionals and parents
  • Security message to older audiences or customers with smart security systems
  • Decluttering and convenience message to small business owners

E billing best practice #5: Don’t forget about design

You want the imagery in your e bill promotions to be relatable to customers, eye-catching and relevant. Consider your specific audience demographics and build in visual elements that help customers see themselves in your campaigns.

  • People – age, gender, race, socioeconomic status
  • Region-specific – weather, transportation, landscape, city landmarks
  • Customer interests – sports, culture, the environment, value and motivations

For example, Questline Digital worked with the Pittsburgh electric utility Duquesne Light to alter imagery to represent Steelers and Penguins sports team colors. This small alteration made the email campaign more relatable to the group of recipients.

How you display these images also matters. Consider designing around the inverted triangle strategy, grabbing a customers’ attention at the top, building anticipation in the headline and first few sentences and then taking them to the call-to-action.

To ensure the email is easy for customers to read, there should be plenty of white space throughout the design, clear line breaks and adequate use of bullets or icons.

Example of e-billing best practice email design

E billing best practice #6: Incorporate with onboarding 

It can be difficult to encourage customers to switch their behaviors, even when there are clear benefits or reasons to do so. Humans are creatures of habit and change isn’t easy.

Get customers enrolled in e billing on day one. Share electronic payment options at the start of service so you don’t have to convince customers to change later. Include prompts in onboarding materials and welcome emails, or run e billing campaigns at the beginning of the customer lifecycle.

E billing best practice #7: Try an opt-out campaign

Rather than asking customers to sign up, automatically enroll them in e bill and give them an opportunity to opt-out. If you take this approach, ensure you have adequate communication that keeps customers informed.

For example, Questline Digital ran an opt-out campaign with a Southeast utility. We targeted customers who received both a paper and e bill, but who had made at least one electronic payment in the past. This audience segment was automatically enrolled in the program but given the chance to opt-out and continue receiving paper bills. The opt-out campaign received positive customer feedback, with 90% of customers remaining enrolled. 

E billing best practice #8: Make enrollment simple

Customers abandon complicated digital processes. In fact, a study by Splitit showed that 87% of online shoppers abandon their carts during the checkout if the process is too long or complicated. Signing up for paperless billing is no different – customers want frictionless digital experiences.

Remove as many steps as possible for your customers. One effective way to do this is by auto filling forms with dynamic coding.

Questline Digital worked with PSE&G to set up one-click enrollment, making the sign-up process as easy as possible. Customers who clicked on the call-to-action within an email campaign were automatically taken to a landing page to confirm their information in a prepopulated form and enroll in paperless billing. The ease of one-click signup encouraged customers to make the switch, enrolling 21,945 customers.

E billing best practice #9: Use a multichannel approach 

Unfortunately, you can’t rely on email to convert all your customers. To get the best possible results, your utility will need to employ a multichannel approach and spread out the heavy lifting.

Complement your email campaigns with channels like direct mail, social media, outdoor signage and online advertisements. Your customers may need to see your message multiple times before they act. If you can get in front of customers via multiple mediums, they’re more likely to convert.

E billing best practice #10: Launch deeper digital customer relationships

Paperless billing conversions create an opportunity for long-term engagement by cementing the customer’s digital relationship with their energy provider. Once converted, paperless billing subscribers are more engaged with email communications and less likely to unsubscribe compared to customers who receive paper bills.

Before converting to paperless, energy utility customers have an average email open rate of 25%, according to Questline Digital performance metrics. After converting, paperless billing customers have an average open rate of 33%.

This higher engagement rate is an opportunity to connect with customers beyond their monthly e bill — sharing program promotions, energy efficiency advice and other educational content. By following these e billing best practices and boosting conversion rates, you can reduce operational costs and build long-lasting relationships between your energy utility and its customers.

Convert more customers to paperless billing

Converting customers to e bill doesn’t have to be difficult. Employ these e billing best practices and realize the many benefits of going paperless.

Learn how Questline Digital’s paperless billing solution and help your energy utility reach your e bill conversion goals.

Learn More
Illustration of email marketing trends for 2022

Webinar: Email Marketing Trends and Best Practices for 2022

As the new year approaches, marketing teams everywhere are planning their communication strategies to reach customers in 2022. For energy utilities, this is no different. It’s a perfect time to reflect on what worked or didn’t work in the past and revitalize your marketing efforts for the year ahead.

In our recent webinar, “2022 Email Marketing Best Practices & Trends,” Bethany Farchione (Questline Digital) and Cynthia Price (Litmus) shared their forecast for design and marketing trends and how utilities can prepare to make the biggest impact on customers.

A Look Back at Last Year’s Email Marketing Trends

Farchione began the webinar by taking a step back to discuss the email marketing trends Questline Digital saw in 2021, including:

  1. Personalization and segmentation
  2. Automated campaigns
  3. Interactive emails
  4. Bold/bright email designs
  5. Multichannel marketing

“For 2021, the biggest thing we saw was a massive rise in digital adoption and digital communications,” she said. “What’s important as we move forward is maintaining and growing that engagement into the next year.”

She explained that personalization and segmentation became major influencers, impacting nearly every communication as utilities tried to better target their audiences. “These trends are not going away in 2022,” Farchione added. “We expect that they will continue to grow in importance, but we do see a handful of new trends being added.”

A Look Ahead at Email Marketing Trends for 2022

Farchione proceeded to look ahead to the major themes of 2022:

  • Email marketing will continue to be extremely important
  • The goal for utilities is to keep engaging with the digital customers they acquired in 2021
  • Focus on continuing to improve digital services and experiences

“A new study from DMA Consumer Tracker says that 96% of consumers check their email every day and over 70% of consumers believe that email is the best channel for company contact,” she said. “So, while email has been around forever, it’s still really important within the customer communication mix. When done right, it’s actually a conversation with your customers, which is really valuable and powerful.”

Farchione also shared the most important trends to watch in the coming year.

Top 10 email marketing trends of 2022:

  1. Create an improved after-sales experience
  2. Audit and understand your data
  3. Accomplish more with your newsletters
  4. Optimize for all platforms and preferences
  5. Create more interactive emails
  6. Ensure your emails are accessible
  7. Showcase user-generated content
  8. Utilize preference centers
  9. Hyper-personalize your email campaigns
  10. Adapt to changes with open rates and privacy

Create an improved after-sales experience

Farchione shared that customer journeys are becoming more important to pay attention to and targeting customers where they are in that journey matters. Research from McKinsey shows that customers are actually asking for, and want, an improved after-sales experience.

For utilities, building this improved workflow for customers will be especially important for program enrollment, onboarding and marketplace sales.

Farchione shared an example of a customer purchasing a smart thermostat and the importance for utilities to be part of that journey. “Following up with customers and having journeys for each interaction is essential,” she said. “How do they install the thermostat? Do they need maintenance reminders? Do they need suggestions for future purchases? How do they make the most of that thermostat? Customers are looking for guidance.”

Understand your data

Price reflected on the importance of segmentation and personalization for utilities and shared, “At the core of every great segmentation strategy is understanding and using your data effectively.”

She recommends an annual audit to understand what data points are available and specify what your goal is for understanding that data. “Start with the key data points that you think will allow you to build customer segments and dynamic campaigns that will really give you a more effective experience.”

Make more of your newsletters

Newsletters aren’t new, but now is the time to go all-out with them. They’ve seen a resurgence of popularity in the past year and for good reason — they provide the foundation for ongoing customer engagement.

“We recommend that utilities focus on creating specialty newsletters for different interests that their customers may have. And since they are a foundation for engagement, we recommend sending them monthly. Customers are accustomed to getting monthly newsletters and when done right, they look forward to them,” Farchione said.

“Newsletters are an amazing way to build trust over time,” Price added. “Goals with newsletters are often less specific than for other campaigns, and they’re a great way to build awareness and trust for brands in general.”

Optimize for all platforms and preferences

Price explains that there is an overwhelming amount of data that shows that one bad experience in an email, whether a broken link or an image that doesn’t render, can turn off a consumer to a brand. “It can have long-lasting negative effects,” she said.

With the number of platforms available for users and the different requirements for each, it’s essential to test for quality assurance to ensure everyone receives emails as they were intended.

In addition, coding for dark mode needs to be at the forefront of development. Dark mode has become increasingly popular in the past few years. In fact, Price shares that over 80% of consumers who use Apple devices use dark mode. Therefore, it’s important to ensure your utility is checking how emails will look with dark mode rendering.

Example of dark mode email testing for different clients

Create more interactive emails

Interactive email continues to rise in popularity. In general, interactive content includes surveys, calculators or games. For email, interactive content simply means adding interest and movement so your messages stand out to customers.

“People like excitement in their inbox. They’re in their inbox every day so they need more visually exciting creative materials to keep their interest,” Farchione said.

Plus, the data doesn’t lie — interactive content is proven to generate five times more views than static content.

Ensure your emails are accessible

Focusing on email accessibility not only ensures that anyone is able to engage with the email, “it also makes the emails more pleasing and you see better engagement from all audiences when you use foundational accessibility techniques,” Price said.

She shared some tips to make emails more accessible:

  • Copywriting: Keep it concise and limit jargon
  • Design: Create a strong hierarchy, use white space and high contrast
  • Email code: Use semantic HTML and include alternative text for images

Showcase user-generated content

Data shows that consumers trust other consumers before they trust a brand. Because of this, both residential and business customers want to see the success of others. By including video testimonials or case studies, new customers can see firsthand experiences of the success of energy efficiency programs or marketplace purchases. Adding actual customer reviews directly in email is also a valuable way to prompt more action and improve click-through rates.

Utilize preference centers

Utilities obtain most of their customer data from contact information when they sign up for service. But what customers actually want and expect from utilities differs from this generic information. Preference centers are great tools for asking for details about a customer that might not be readily available when one signs up for service.

“With preference centers, you’re emailing them with content they actually want to get from you,” Price explained.

A few benefits of using preference centers includes:

  • Reduced unsubscribes
  • Showcasing email offerings
  • Increased engagement

Preference centers allow utilities to see which topics customers are interested in, or not interested in, and helps to tailor messages specifically for that individual.

Hyper-personalize your email campaigns

“Gone are the times of mass email messages,” Farchione said. “People want and expect content that fits their specific interests and needs.”

Hyper-personalizing communications makes customers more engaged and helps your utility reach its business goals. As Farchione pointed out, “Personalization drives performance and better outcomes.” In fact, data from Content Marketing World 2021 shows that 74% of customers are frustrated when information isn’t tailored to them.

Farchione shared an example of Questline Digital’s work with AEP Ohio on a segmentation strategy for the utility’s business eNewsletters. After adding targeted, industry-based audiences such as healthcare and education, the utility saw an 84% increase in engagement among its business customers.

Changes to open rates and privacy

Apple recently introduced Mail Privacy Protection, a privacy setting that hides IP addresses so senders can no longer see who opens an email, the time of open, location or type of device.

Although many utilities are concerned about these changes, Price reminds us to look back at the goals: “What was the goal of the actual email? The goal was never for customers to open it, the goal was for them to engage with it in some way.”

Price recommends expanding KPIs to better align them with long-term business goals. She suggests considering:

  • Email quality
  • Unique clicks
  • Account activity
  • Website visits

Prepare Your Marketing Strategy for 2022

As your utility looks ahead to the new year, consider these email marketing trends when planning your communications strategy.

Questline Digital can help your energy utility deliver more effective and engaging email communications.

Learn More
Interview with Hanna Bella customer experience for energy utility

Energy Spotlight: Hanna Balla

From the airline industry to healthcare, Hanna Balla has seen it all. Currently the Director of Customer Experience & Insights for NiSource, Balla looks to her past industries with gratitude for helping her get to where she is today.

Working with utility digital experiences, Balla has seen the energy industry go through a major transformation. Long gone are the days of “ratepayers,” making way for opportunities to engage and listen to customers. Her passion for the environment ties in perfectly with the growing role that utilities play in energy efficiency and sustainability. “The industry is fun to be in right now,” she notes.

Headshot of energy utility customer experience leader Hanna Balla

Balla grew up in New York but has lived in Columbus, Ohio, since college. Beyond her work with NiSource, Balla loves hiking, surfing and traveling. Although international travel had to be put on hold due to COVID-19, Balla said that the remote year actually helped her team, which is scattered throughout the Midwest, become more efficient, effective and closer. “In the past, Columbus colleagues would meet in the office,” she said. “With everyone now over Zoom, the opportunities to engage as a full team have been equalized.”

Balla is also a strong advocate for minorities in the energy industry. “I’m Korean-American and I don’t see a lot of Asian-Americans in the energy industry, at least from where I sit. Since I don’t see it, I’ve become an advocate for minorities in energy and leadership in general. It’s been really fun to be a part of that and to pave a path for others.”

Focusing on customer experience is also important to her work. “The voice of the customer has gotten louder and we’re responding to it,” Balla said. “Previously, old systems and processes hadn’t been touched, but now we’re focused on making things easier for customers and catching up to their expectations. There is a lot of energy and acceleration to help customers do more online than they could before.

“Things are changing, and utilities are excited to get fun and creative now,” she added. “The moment we look at things as a customer, the narrative changes.”

Questline Digital spoke with Balla to get her thoughts on changes in the utility industry, thought-provoking marketing campaigns and the evolution of energy.

How did you get started in the energy utility industry?

It was actually by accident! I had a couple of good friends/former colleagues in the healthcare industry who were working for NiSource. At the time the company was hiring a marketing manager for one of its states, Columbia Gas of Ohio. Given my experience, my former colleagues reached out about the opportunity.

I didn’t have any sort of background in the energy industry. Most of my experience was in the airline, healthcare, retail and QSR (quick-service restaurant) industries, but a lot of those skills were transferrable to the role at Columbia Gas of Ohio. I applied — and I’ve been on the energy industry learning curve ever since. 

What has changed the most about working in the utility industry over the course of your career?

I’ve actually held four roles in the five years I’ve been with the company. I started in energy efficiency marketing for Columbia Gas of Ohio and now I’m leading customer experience and insights across the enterprise (six operating companies). It’s been exciting because things have constantly been in flux. The energy industry has seen a major shift in customer-focused modernization and transformation in the last few years. Sitting on the customer-focused side, that’s the biggest shift I’ve seen. 

What excites you the most about the energy utility space? 

The opportunity. We’re in an industry that experiences a lot of change and innovation, from digital transformation to a focus on renewable energy, and we’re giving our customers more control, transparency, and options. The industry is ripe for change, and the pace of the change has been rapid, which has been very exciting. 

Tell me about the campaign or initiative you’re most proud of.

When I first joined Columbia Gas of Ohio, we did a full marketing audit and a rebrand to ensure that our messaging was consistent and impactful. Also to ensure it resonated with our customers in order to improve awareness, recall, and action for energy efficiency programs and initiatives. It was exciting to see the impact that strategic marketing can have on not only customer awareness and participation of our programs, but the positive impact those actions were having in communities and on our environment. 

What is the hardest part of an energy marketer’s job today?

I think it’s keeping things simple. Our industry is large and complex, but at the end of the day, our customers care about having reliable service and interactions being simple. One of our challenges is making sure we constantly see and solve for things through the customer’s lens — not our own as people who are close to the industry. 

How do you anticipate the world of energy evolving in the coming years? What are you looking forward to?

We often say that our customers don’t have a choice to be our customers, and though that may not change in the near future, I do think that how they get energy from us will change and the options they have for energy sources will grow. With that, customer choice becomes greater and being able to meet customer needs and keep things radically simple and transparent will become more and more important. I think the opportunities with renewable energy is incredibly exciting!

What advice would you give to those entering the utility space? 

Stay curious. This is a large, complex industry with a lot of moving pieces and parts, and a lot of history with dependencies in many areas. In order to do good work, it’s critical to understand the industry itself and all the levers that influence the work we do. That means there’s a lot to learn, there are a lot of existing systems in place, and sometimes, it takes some creative problem solving to get things done.

Five years in, I feel like I just scratched the surface. I think it’s a balance of understanding the industry and also bringing fresh ideas to the table to really make an impact for our customers.

Participation in Questline Digital’s Energy Spotlight series does not indicate an endorsement from utility partners.

Examples of digital marketing to promote energy utility marketplace sites

Master Guide: How to Market Your Energy Utility Marketplace

As energy providers look to strengthen relationships with their customers, many are launching utility marketplace websites to sell energy-related products and services.

Energy utility marketplaces are appearing in two distinct categories:

  • Project marketplaces connect customers interested in energy efficiency and home improvement solutions with certified professionals. These marketplaces include installation services for EV charging stations, solar panels and even home security and smart home hubs.
  • Product marketplaces are e-commerce-style websites where customers can purchase smart thermostats, ENERGY STAR® appliances, LED lighting, advanced power strips and other efficiency-related products directly from their energy utility.

Energy utilities face an uphill battle to break through the crowded field of marketplaces dominated by titans like Amazon and Walmart. This competition, coupled with the fact that the average e-commerce site conversion rate is between 2% and 3%, reinforces how energy utilities are fighting for a slim share of a very crowded market.

How can energy utilities break through the noise?

A Trusted Marketplace For Energy Products

Though challenging, energy utilities actually have a few competitive advantages over established e-commerce players.

If you search on Amazon for LED lightbulbs, you’ll find more than 10,000 results. However, there are few recognizable brands to choose from and it’s hard to compare the many features and prices.

Your customers are busy and don’t have the time or patience to wade through the overwhelming number of options.

In comparison, your utility marketplace offers fewer products that have been vetted by your energy utility, ensuring authenticity and reliability.

Customers want a simple recommendation they can trust, and your energy utility can provide that.

What’s Missing From Today’s Energy Utility Online Shops?

Currently, most utility online shops aren’t built to match the e-commerce shopping experience customers have come to expect. Shoppers are used to having an easy-to-use search tool, personalized recommendations, product reviews, linked tutorials, and more. Without these features, online shoppers are apt to jump over to more user-friendly sites.

Most utility marketplaces also lack search engine optimization (SEO). Product listings are not discoverable to consumers and remain reliant on marketing promotions. Yet, promotions have historically been limited to occasional bill inserts and mass messages to all customers.

In order to be successful in today’s crowded smart tech market, energy utilities will need to embrace the advanced marketing tactics used by e-commerce brands.

“Energy marketplaces are really an e-commerce business, and they need to be treated as such,” explains Mark Wilkinson, SVP Products at ibex Digital. “Utilities should really embrace the e-commerce philosophy. It comes down to personalized, timely and relevant marketing. Something that direct-to-consumer brands do very well.”

Driving repeat and regular traffic to utility online shops is now essential. 

How to Market Your Energy Utility Marketplace

In order to fully realize the potential of marketplaces, energy utilities should implement a multifaceted marketing strategy to drive awareness, traffic and conversions.

Here are a few impactful ways to better market your utility marketplace:

Content marketing:  Before making a purchase, customers need to learn about the energy efficient or smart home products in your marketplace. Why do they need them? How do they use them? What are the benefits?

Content is great for boosting awareness and developing interest. Use blog posts, videos, social media and infographics to educate customers on utility marketplace products and how they fit in their daily lives. Share content across eNewsletters, social media and on your marketplace itself.

Incorporate links to related products and calls-to-action within your content to create an organic buying experience. For example, include a CTA to your marketplace in an article about smart home technology or an infographic featuring energy-savings tips. Content marketing leads your customers to the next step naturally.

Be relevant and timely: Purchases are also tied to triggers and events, making relevancy and timeliness key for e-commerce marketing. Get in front of customers when they are making buying decisions.

Capitalize on seasonal changes and holidays; put rebates and product promotions in front of customers when they are most likely to make a purchase.

Behavioral emails: Use scheduled email cadences to encourage action and build a positive customer experience. Build timelines that match customer behaviors.

Let’s say someone bought a new smart thermostat. Send them an instructional email after their shipment is delivered with tips on how to install. Then send an email three or four days later that helps them learn how to take the next steps with program enrollment. If they don’t enroll or open that email, have a reminder sent a few days later. Then in a month, follow up with suggested products that complement their previous purchase.

“We always recommend tackling behavioral promotions in small chunks,” explains Wilkinson. “Offer recommendations and cross-promotions (people who bought this also liked…) and follow-up emails related to customer’s purchases to really help the experience. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated and can lead to immediate results.”

Abandoned cart emails: Emailing customers who have abandoned shopping carts is a successful strategy for driving incremental conversions. By sending an automated message, you can offer additional incentives such as a coupon to complete the sale at a lower cost. These easy-to-implement emails achieve success rates between 27% and 30%.

Audience segmentation: Energy utility customers encompass a vast set of demographics. Understanding the wants and needs of different groups is monumental for utility marketplace promotions.

Let’s say you identify a segment of empty nesters who also have pets. This audience is primed for streaming cameras or security systems that allow owners to check in on their animals.

“Segmentation can really benefit topic and tone for utility marketplace promotions,” explains Wilkinson. “Customers get interested in the same product in very different ways, so understanding the customer personas really helps develop traffic and ultimately sales on a utility marketplace.”

Tie in program promotions: The biggest win for utilities may be tying marketplace sales to program enrollments. For example, when customers are checking out for their smart thermostat, utilities can incorporate prompts to sign up for time-of-use (TOU) rate programs.

Program prompts can be built into the marketplace itself, or they can function more like a follow-up email. Today, consumers expect an effortless shopping experience. Take the extra step to make the connections between products and programs.

Examples of Great Utility Marketplace Promotions

The energy utilities finding success with energy marketplaces are those who actively promote and follow e-commerce standards. Check out these examples:

First Energy Home

Experimentation with social media, display ads, content, email promotions and search engine marketing (SEM) has allowed First Energy to build brand recognition for their utility marketplace.

Examples of digital marketing for First Energy Home utility marketplace

Holiday Promotions

In an effort to be timely and relevant, this Questline Digital client has seen success with promoting its marketplace and product rebates around holidays.

Examples of email marketing promotions for energy utility marketplace

Examples of Great e-Commerce Content

Still not sure how to promote your utility’s marketplace? Pull inspiration from brands that have mastered e-commerce. 

Williams Sonoma is great at using content to sell. Their emails often include how-to cooking videos with links to products used during tutorials. Plus, emails are sent to customers based on previous shopping and site visitation behaviors.

Were you looking at their bread mixes? Then you might receive an email in a few days that highlights their baking and pastry tools, bakeware and easy-to-prepare croissants. It will likely be paired with a supplementary video that provides a few baking tips or links to fan-favorite bread recipes – all the things you might need next after your initial purchase.

Example of digital marketing for Williams Sonoma ecommerce site
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Williams Sonoma understands their customers and their buyer journey. The retailer knows that basic purchases tend to lead toward future specialty products.

Similarly, smart thermostats are often the first smart tech product purchased. After an initial trial period, customers who found value in the product tend to expand their smart tech collection.

Take inspiration from brands like Williams Sonoma and build content strategies that ensure your utility is present when customers are ready for the next step. Offer help and guidance.

Be the Trusted Expert for Energy Products

While it can seem like an uphill battle to compete with colossal retailers, energy utilities should use their industry expertise to their advantage.

Your customers trust your energy utility and the products you recommend — and that’s a great place to start when promoting your marketplace.

Complement your competitive advantage with helpful content and timely promotions, and your energy utility will see results.

Learn how to boost engagement and grow sales with an Energy Marketplace Content strategy from Questline Digital.

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