In today’s dynamic energy retail market, numerous challenges and transformations are unfolding for energy customers; propelled by macro trends, the surge in renewables, self-generation dynamics, financial margin pressures, and an expanding array of industry participants.
To successfully navigate this minefield while maintaining a resilient and profitable operation, it is crucial to place your energy customers at the core of your strategic digital thinking. Constructing compelling experiences that not only attract energy customers but also retain their loyalty is paramount to success in 2024 and beyond. It’s about engaging with them in a predictable and enjoyable manner as you aim to work to be their trusted energy partner.
Amidst the plethora of research and insights on energy customer preferences and engagement strategies, Hansen has distilled this into ten core principles or customer wishes.
The 10 Wishes from Energy Customers for 2024
- Certainty: Ensuring a reliable & predictable energy supply and safeguarding personal data security.
- Choice: Offering diverse tariff options and new energy add-ons, empowering consumers with options for grid and self-generated power.
- Consistent Communication: Building trust through fair and transparent engagement on a consistent basis.
- Comprehensible Offers: Crafting offers that are immediately understandable and evoke excitement.
- Confidence: Instilling confidence in the retailer, their offers, and their ability to swiftly resolve issues.
- Conservation: Commitment to a net-zero future while supporting environmental conservation and biodiversity.
- Control: Granting consumers flexibility to modify their energy consumption patterns, rates, and preferences.
- Convenience: Facilitating easy understanding of options, bills, tariffs, and enabling hassle-free package changes.
- Cost: Exploring how to implement and showcase incentives to minimise energy costs for consumers.
- Customise: Empowering consumers to be unique individuals, tailoring offers and bundles to align with their lifestyle.
Energy retailers have historically explored various avenues, from devices to self-serve portals, in pursuit of meeting these imperatives. However, a comprehensive digital solution that surpasses consumer expectations and delivers the desired experience has been elusive. The future needs to go beyond the self-serve basics and create a digital ecosystem that supports energy companies to better deliver marketing campaigns, bundling, and advanced self-serve functions.
Profitable customers are those who remain loyal, adapting their energy consumption patterns while staying committed to your brand. These energy customers seek personalised engagement, understanding of their household dynamics, flexibility in energy consumption, and straightforward interactions that evolve with their lives. To deliver this, energy companies need to embrace a more modern, agile and robust digital engagement centre. At Hansen, we’ve been exploring this concept with promising results.
To learn more on how this approach can bolster your energy retail business, we invite you to connect with us for a virtual or in-person discussion over coffee.
Nick Nikolitsis
Product Director, Energy
