Utility Week

22 | APRIL 2021 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Analysis Can you make a difference in a commodity market? How do utilities selling a commodity differentiate their offer and excite consumers about a product that is a necessity rather than a luxury? Adam John talks to marketing experts to get their views on how suppliers can stand out from the crowd. A recently published report titled Brand Love by PR agency Energy PR sur- veyed more than 100 marketers from across the UK and asked them what makes a particular brand great – or even loved. It revealed some interesting findings, most notably that brands (including utilities) may be mistaking apathy for loyalty. The study found the average consumer was very apathetic – willing to tolerate on average two mistakes from an ordinary brand before being stirred to shop around. This passivity, Energy PR says, could be enabling "inferior customer service to go unpunished". Yet once a brand eventually loses passive customers, winning them back is difficult. Eon was among the top ten brands sin- gled out by survey respondents, ranking a joint sixth place in a list of brands marketers love the most, achieving the same number of recommendations as Amazon and supermar- ket giants Tesco and Asda. But how does one energy supplier differ- entiate from another? It's all in the experience The market is saturated with myriad suppli- ers offering essentially the same commod- ity, which for most people is difficult to get excited about, according to Louise Findlay- Wilson, Energy PR managing director. She explains: "It's quite hard for people to get passionate about utilities. They're kind of a necessary evil, we all need to use them but don't necessarily get wildly excited about them. The challenge they have from the get go is 'how do I get people to get passionate about something that is essentially a rela- tively mundane necessity'?" The answer, she says, lies in the quality of service and the customer experience of deal- ing with the company, where a lot of the per- ception of a brand is going to be influenced. A case study featured in the report ref- erenced disruptor brand Bulb, which was singled out by Tracey Daley, marketing man- ager at Van Walt, as her personal favourite brand. In the study, Daley points to the cus- tomer experience she has with Bulb as being behind the reason it is her favourite. She said: "What I get from Bulb is not only more competitive pricing and a simple, single tariff but greener energy to boot – why wouldn't I be thrilled? Saving the planet while running my tumble dryer on a sunny day, less guilt and dry clothes." Daley also points to the simple switching experience she had with Bulb and the fact the supplier remunerated her account with £10 and apologised a›er she was le› waiting while sorting out her bill. For her the fact the supplier apologised, rather than the money she was credited with, was key. Shades of green In November, Glasgow will host the COP26 summit, highlighting the biggest crisis yet faced by humanity – climate change. On the frontline in the battle for achieving the UK's net zero 2050 target will be energy retailers, offering ever more green energy tariffs. A recent survey by consultancy EY found Covid-19 had accelerated the willingness of people to choose more sustainable products, with 62 per cent more likely to purchase a product or service that is sustainable. EY says its research revealed that while these changing attitudes present an oppor- tunity for energy companies, they also bring risks. Almost a third of respondents (32 per cent) said they had stopped using a product or service because it was non-sustainable. One concern raised in recent years has been "greenwashing", where tariffs legally marketed as 100 per cent renewable may be backed by renewable energy guaran- tees of origin (REGO) certificates, which some argue do not create demand for new renewable energy. Rich Morris, business development direc- tor at Utility Umbrella, which provides utility services to businesses, including digital mar- keting, believes the gap between pure green energy retailers and those who "greenwash" their tariffs will become a key battleground. He says: "Moving towards net zero, the big play will be about the true green suppli- ers. For me, those suppliers out there that are offering pure green tariffs need to push that and make that really obvious to the end customer." Central to this, Morris argues, is trans- parency: "I think the better the transpar- ency in marketing products, the better they will do. There is a market out there for cus- tomers who really do want to be green and that will grow over time. Unless you have a background in energy, most people wouldn't know what greenwashing is. For me that's quite key." Solar PV, electric vehicle (EV) chargers and heat pumps are just some of the low- carbon technologies being offered to con- sumers by their energy retailers – a sign the push to net zero is ramping up. Core to this is how clearly retailers communicate the ben- efits of these new offerings, which Findlay- Wilson argues feeds into trust. She says: "People can easily get confused, and if your customer is confused there's a real problem around trust. Clarity of commu- nication for the sector as whole is going to be really important. Then it's how individual brands carve out what their take is on net zero. What does it mean for their customers and how are they going to head towards that and differentiate themselves?" Personality – be true to your brand More suppliers turning to supplying renewa- ble power poses a further marketing issue for

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