5 consumer trends impacting utilities

1. Mobile Usage
Pew Research Center reports that as of January 2014, 90% of American adults had a cell phone. This number is astonishing and all the more reason why utilities have a need for mobile-friendly web sites, content and consumer experiences.

Many Americans no longer have a home phone, and most business phones (as well as some residential customers) are hosted on networks that require electricity. For that reason, many customers turn to their mobile phone to report an outage or look for outage information. If you’ve experienced a website that isn’t responsively designed for mobile, you’ll understand the frustration many people have. Users expect mobile sites to work quickly and efficiently. According to Google, 58% of mobile users expect mobile sites to load as quickly as or faster than desktop sites. And 38% of mobile users are willing to wait 30 seconds or less for a transaction. Ensure your customer experience is optimal via every device and viewing experience.

Furthermore, more emails are read on mobile devices today than on computers. It’s essential to understand mobile consumption of media and utilize the appropriate programming to ensure your utility’s customer experience is cohesive and represents this critical consumer trend.

2. Non-Stop Connection to Email
For many, email isn’t something that is checked weekly or even daily. Many people check their email throughout the day as a way to stay in touch with friends, family and business connections. This is true among consumers and businesses. On average, users report spending 3.3 hours a day on their smartphones.¹ A utility marketing program should reflect this reality and recognize the way this behavior establishes itself in frequency.

“How many emails are too many” is a question many marketers, including utility marketers, are asking. Many of the utilities I’ve spoken with, or worked with, have more conservative views on frequency, say than retailers. Many retailers have daily emails. I haven’t met a utility marketer who is comfortable with that level of communication. The point is that since users are checking email so frequently, marketers can actually up the amount of emails they are sending, and it might not be as noticeable as, say, 5 years ago, when someone only checked a secondary email inbox once a week.

3. Social Media and Its Diversity A few years ago, Facebook was just launching and MySpace was all the rage. Today there are more than 1.01 billion users on Facebook alone. Additionally, there are dozens of different social media websites and apps that allow people to connect with friends, businesses and organizations. Many utilities have implemented social media programs. Social media tends to be a challenge for many utilities. One of the biggest trends we’ve seen is that users are looking for answers, solutions and information. Being on the forefront of content marketing can help transform your utility’s social media to be consistent with current consumer trends.

4. Questions Answered
Another trend today is the sheer amount of information that is available on the Internet. There are an estimated 3.3 billion searches done on Google each day.² If people have a question, they will turn to Google or Bing to find the answer. That’s why it is vital that a utility company has a webpage designed to show up in these Google searches. It is actually surprising how many utilities don’t show up in basic searches related to energy efficiency or other topics that many utilities have expertise in and could “own” from a SEO perspective.

This is where content marketing comes into play. Providing how-tos, instructional and comparative information, industry-specific information for certain businesses, tutorials, FAQs as well as other forms of information on a website is a must for utility and energy marketers moving forward. Be sure to present content in an organized, clean and friendly manner. Content marketing for utilities that offers a useful benefit for your customers or potential customers can help you reach your utility marketing goals while improving the customer experience.

5. Direct Mail
While you may think that direct mail is not as important a tool today as it may have been years ago, the statistics would surprise you. The CMO Council reported that 79% of consumers act on direct mail right away, compared with only 45% who deal with email as soon as it is received. Direct mail has its place in most contact strategies, and is generally most effective when it can be targeted. The reality is that most utilities don’t have email addresses for their entire customer base. While there is a higher up-front cost for utilizing direct mail, the ROI can make it well worth exploring as part of a multichannel utility marketing campaign.

1. ExactTarget
2. Phandroid