Email performance is generally equated to open, click-through and conversion rates. While some sources have reported a decline in the basic engagement metrics, it appears that email is trending toward great productivity among those users that do engage. Revenue per email, return on investment and other performance metrics show promise with upward trends. Here are 6 email facts and associated insights that can serve as benchmarks and direction for email marketing efforts.

One of the biggest challenges utility companies face in marketing is customer participation and customer engagement in energy efficiency efforts. Utility marketers often hypothesize that participation is due to lack of education. Energy efficiency can save customers money. Adopting energy efficiency efforts can also make a home or business more comfortable, as well as support environmental efforts. Despite all these benefits, customers still tend to ignore many utility energy efficiency marketing efforts. Utility content marketing is one of the best ways to get attention and motivate customers to learn more. Read on to learn why.

It’s becoming more and more likely that the average retailer is going to be engaging in a battle for their share of the consumer’s wallet. Most industry experts agree that traditional brick-and-mortar retail is going to face nominal growth over the next 2 years, although specific sectors of retail such as online and active wear have a chance to see double digit growth.

Energy efficiency and energy management are focal points of many utility marketing efforts. Customers are often surprised to learn that their utility company wants them to use its product less. Seems pretty counterintuitive at first. Beyond savings for customers, energy efficiency efforts have a number of additional benefits, including environmental and managing system load.

When it comes to utility marketing, the only thing that stays the same is that things are always changing. This is more so than ever before with the explosion of digital marketing and in particular social media in recent years. Because of this, many utilities are trying to determine how to infuse modern marketing techniques into their communication plans. Here is a list of 5 key consumer trends that have an impact and influence on marketing for utilities and energy companies.

Email is a growing tactic being used by marketers in all industries. If you take the time to look into email marketing facts, you will find that this form of marketing is rapidly growing, with millions of people checking their email each day and a recent HubSpot survey stating that over 50% of respondents report reading most of
their email.¹ Utilizing email marketing allows utilities to effectively and efficiently reach a huge captive audience of potential customers. The most important thing to remember is that email can be used in many different ways and can achieve many different goals.

Utility marketing can be challenging. It isn’t always easy to engage a utility’s customer base. Retailers seem to have it easy compared to utilities. Customers seem to have an innate interest in retailer’s products. Many utility and energy marketers are stretching to find new techniques that can be tested from other industries. Retail might not be the first industry that many utilities would consider borrowing techniques from for their marketing communications efforts. This article will explore whether any of the techniques that retailers employ make sense for utilities, and if there are any learnings or adjustments that can be applied to utility marketing.

Utilities are a need, not a want. Most people don’t think about their utility and the utility’s services except when something doesn’t work (e.g., the lights don’t go on) or when they receive a bill. This means that it can be hard to get customers to engage in energy management and energy-efficiency initiatives, or other programs that require active participation. This is one of the key reasons that utility marketing can be such a challenge.

However, there is a movement of customers becoming more knowledgeable about how they use energy. New codes that require businesses to install equipment that complies with energy reduction standards, consumer interest in greening and general environmental awareness are all contributing to increased engagement around energy management. This movement is opening the door to a new way of engaging customers using content marketing for utilities.

Global mobile payment transactions increased by 44% from 2012 through 2013.¹ How does your bank stack up to that trend? If your bank’s mobile and online payments aren’t growing in pace with the rest of the world, it could strongly indicate that your financial institution needs to do more to grow adoption.

Many have hypothesized that email will replace direct mail. When you think about the best ways to develop and maintain communication channels with prospects and customers, what comes to mind? With the Internet being such a vital part of life and work for many, developing a successful email marketing plan is one of the top go-to tactics for many marketers. However, even a successful email marketing plan is only one part of the full marketing picture. For many firms, a multichannel marketing approach is the best way to get those amazing results you desire.