Supporting the energy and utility companies with audience insights and advertising solutions to understand your target audience and increase your customer base.

The UK energy and utilities sector is constantly innovating and transforming. With your company supplying a vital infrastructure of water, gas, electricity or renewable energy to your customers, you have a duty to keep them updated and informed. 

Now a quarter of a decade on from privatisation, the UK market has seen significant improvements in productivity and also new entrants to the industry, making it a very competitive environment for businesses to succeed. 

UK consumers have more options available to improve their energy efficiencies from the nationwide smart meter roll out giving households more information on the energy they use, to improved energy ratings on household appliances and even more energy-efficient lighting options. All of these advancements give your customers more ways to take control of their financial outgoings and support the ecosystem. 

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/gas/retail-market/metering/transition-smart-meters  

Smart Home Devices by Category, 2019 and 2023 (shipments in millions)

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Smart Home Device Tracker, March 29, 2019

With the ability to benchmark current supplier rates, review pricing models more easily with comparison sites and online cost calculators, we as consumers, are now used to trying to find the best annual deal, for our homes, household spend and our consumption levels.   

Whistl work with a range of energy and utilities companies and understand the importance of communicating effectively with your suppliers, partners and crucially, your customers.

Changing Energy Market and Consumer Behaviour

The UK energy market is one of the most advanced deregulated markets, globally and the switching nature of engaged consumers is here to stay. In 2018 KPMG defined four key consumer personas for the engaged market: 

• In control: data-driven and interested in optimising energy usage (e.g. home energy management). 
• Price sensitive: cost-driven and fears an unexpected or high bill.
• Always on: need to be connected at all times, without having to think about their power. 
• Green conscious: will make purchasing and usage decisions based on a socially conscious set of values.

To ensure retention of customers and look to create sustainable growth, the smart utility suppliers will look at the available market of engaged consumers and look to segment and define them into an obtainable target market. By creating specific marketing strategies for the segments around their company ethos, pricing and offering the defined target audience is more likely to connect with their messaging. 
 

As a tangible channel, advertising services such as door drop media can be used to build trust, reminding and reassuring your customer base of the great services they are receiving. Door drop media is a highly-targeted solution, which your business can take advantage of and better influencing their energy-usage and brand loyalty. 

Influences on the Utility Consumers Behaviour

In recent years the UK has seen a number of new entrants come into the market, with independents accounting for 18% market share, in 2018. This change in buying behaviour has disrupted the historically dominant position of some of the larger suppliers. KPMG research states that there are three primary drivers influencing consumer switching behaviour:

1. Lower price
2. Better customer service 
3. Differentiated products 

_{Source: OFGEM}

Though there has been more research and understanding of the engaged market and the reasons behind switching behaviour, there is almost 60% of consumers that remain disengaged from the retail energy market. With the right marketing messages and targeted communications, some energy companies may start to connect with this ‘disengaged’ audience and improve their market share, against the growing number of competitors
 

Advertising services from Whistl

Whistl works with a range of energy and utility companies and understand the importance of communicating effectively with your suppliers, partners and crucially, your customers. 

We are experts in enabling brands to connect with consumers in their own homes. Our process starts with your communication planning strategy, to try to understand your target audience or customer base. Whistl’s dedicated planning and insight team has the right systems and full data analytics tools to understand the reasons behind your customers’ choices and how to best target the right households. 

With access to almost all of the 29 million UK residential homes and extended reach into European markets, Whistl ensures your utility company has the best opportunity to inform and update your key target audiences. 

Through our insight capabilities, Whistl has provided an example of the typical target audience looking to change gas suppliers, in the image below. 

For the full report or to understand how we can add further insight to your customer or prospect base please contact us and one of our account managers will be in touch. 

Whistl’s consultative full circle, 360° approach helps our account management team and insight specialists focus on your communication challenges. All successful leaflet advertising campaigns start with your campaign brief, the question you need to answer. Our effective full circle approach allows us to understand these challenges to create the right test and learn approach, to improve campaign success. 
 

Partially Addressed Mail

Whistl also offer a fully GDPR compliant option for our customers with partially addressed mail. Partially addressed mail or PAM offers the chance for energy and utility companies to connect with customers or prospects, influencing product selection and spending behaviour. 

Campaign effectiveness is increased when audience profiling and insights are used to identify the right homes, your financial service communication is to be sent too. PAM is an advertising mail option that is as compliant to GDPR rules, as an unaddressed door drop campaign. 

How we have helped our customers