Midwest Utility Uses Engage Platform to Simplify Sending of 3.7 Million Operational Emails

Challenge

A Midwest energy utility needed to send quick-turn communications to its customers. However, traditional marketing workflows made same-day emails difficult to accomplish.

Solution 

The utility’s communications team worked with Questline Digital to build email templates that could be used for non-marketing messages. These templates were loaded into Questline Digital’s Engage™ platform for simple editing and quick deployment. 

Results

The energy utility now uses the self-send tools in Engage to share operational updates quickly and securely. The utility no longer needs significant lead time to craft messages and get creative approval. Important messages about severe weather, power outages, activations for community aid or other timely messages can now be sent to customers without delay.

Emails can be sent immediately or scheduled for future deployment based on the utility’s needs. Additionally, teams can share performance statistics with other departments for easy measurement of customer engagement.

The utility successfully sent nearly 3.7 million operational emails through Engage between Jan. 1, 2021, and Sept. 1, 2022. These messages have achieved, on average: 

• Delivery rate of 99.6%
• Open rate of 45.5%
• Click-to-open rate of 4.4%
• Click-through rate of 2.0% 

Premade templates reduce the time needed to send operational emails down to minutes.

“The Engage email platform is extremely user-friendly. It gives utility communicators the ability to quickly deploy messages using pre-approved templates and manage customer lists, all without getting slowed down by technical hurdles.”
—Maureen Mierke, Senior Marketing Manager, Questline Digital