To Engage Energy Customers, Elevate the Interest Level

At K KEMA_LABEL_FC copy EMA’s 21st Executive Forum last week, industry leaders agreed that while the energy sector is re-surging, it is in transition. To come through it, the market needs to accelerate learnings that lead to innovation while prices remain low. A major key to success is engaging customers.
“This is a low interest product for a large degree of the market,” commented John Berger, former CEO, Standard Renewable Energy. “The more you ask customers to get involved, the less likely they are to stay involved. Customers don’t want interaction, they want their issues resolved and their risk managed.”

Resolving their issues may lie in the ability to provide active intervention on their behalf. That is, the recipe for success is a “do-it-for-them” model that leverages data to deliver insights and advice instead of raw analysis. Plenty of discussion ensued on how to simplify products and rate plans that are highly complicated.
Michael Kagan, President of Constellation NewEnergy, however, offered up another perspective. “I don’t think this product is low interest at all,” declared Michael. He went on to explain that it’s about companies needing to create competitive advantage in their business. And out-buying their competitors is one way of generating that edge.
So whether simple or complex, financial innovation is at the center of motivating customer involvement. For marketers, it will be our job to communicate the value of the effort.