Content Marketing Archives - Questline Digital

The Power of Content Marketing for Utility Communications

Imagine Sarah, a busy homeowner, looking at her latest utility bill. The page is a maze of numbers and technical jargon, leaving her frustrated and disconnected. “There must be a better way to understand my energy use,” she sighs, tossing the bill aside.

Sarah’s experience highlights a common shortcoming in traditional brand communication. Historically, brands in all industries have relied on a one-way model. For utilities, that means bills arriving monthly, generic service updates and interactions limited to problem-solving calls. While these methods will always serve a purpose, they fail to truly connect with customers, leaving them feeling more like account numbers than valued partners in energy consumption.

Enter the power of content marketing: a game-changing approach transforming this outdated landscape. Instead of a generalized paper bill, imagine Sarah receiving an engaging email newsletter filled with personalized energy-saving tips or a link to a helpful video explaining her usage patterns.

Through informative blogs, interactive tools and customer-focused stories, content marketing conveys information while building relationships, fostering engagement and empowering customers like Sarah to take control of their energy use.

Transforming Utility Communications

Content marketing hinges on the power of storytelling and creating connections. By offering educational, engaging content that helps customers increase energy and water efficiency, save money and better comprehend complicated topics, utilities can:

Become a thought leader: Utilities position themselves as thought leaders in the industry by sharing insights and trends.
Build trust: When customers see their utility as a knowledgeable partner rather than just a service provider, it nurtures confidence and trust.
Foster brand loyalty: When engaging content fosters a sense of connection and trust, customers end up with positive brand associations.
Improve customer satisfaction: Over 70% of consumers expect a personalized experience when interacting with a company. By addressing concerns and providing helpful tips, content marketing can meet those expectations and increase satisfaction.

The power of content moves beyond transactional communication, opening a two-way channel for meaningful dialogue between utilities and their customers. This presents a pivotal opportunity for utilities to reimagine their role in customers’ lives — from mere service providers to trusted partners.

Content Formats For Effective Communication

Utilities can use various formats to fully leverage the power of content marketing and create the most effective content strategy for customers.

Blogs: Informative and engaging blogs on relevant industry topics and customer concerns serve as the backbone of many content marketing strategies. Utilities can use blogs to discuss industry trends and provide seasonal energy- or water-saving tips.

Example of leveraging the power of content marketing for utility communications with blogs

Infographics and videos: Visual content simplifies complex information and increases engagement. An infographic sharing energy myths or a video explaining how water is treated at a processing facility can make technical information accessible, exciting and memorable to a broad audience. In fact, studies show that people can remember 65% of visual content even after nearly three days, as opposed to written content, which is typically recalled at a rate of 10%.

Example of leveraging the power of content marketing for utility communications with infographics

Newsletters: Email newsletters provide utilities with a regular, personalized touchpoint to engage customers beyond billing and service updates. Monthly newsletters can deliver a variety of topics, such as smart home technology and energy efficiency home improvement, directly to customers’ inboxes.

Social media: Social media platforms are powerful tools for content distribution and fostering two-way communication. Share snippets of blogs, infographics and videos, provide essential outage updates and engage with customer questions and comments.

Example of leveraging the power of content marketing for utility communications with social media

Webinars: Host educational webinars on subjects like energy-efficient lighting solutions, developing an energy plan, using gas appliances safely and conserving water. Webinars allow for in-depth discussions and real-time customer interaction, which increases utilities’ value propositions.

Example of leveraging the power of content marketing for utility communications with webinars

Understanding your audience is crucial. Utilities must conduct research to identify customers’ preferences, pain points and information requests. This knowledge helps tailor a content strategy that resonates.

Maintaining a Powerful Content Strategy

To ensure the long-term success of a content marketing strategy, utilities should focus on several key aspects:

Consistency: Regularly publish high-quality content to maintain audience engagement and improve search engine visibility.
Relevance: Keep content aligned with customer interests and needs. Use data analytics and feedback to inform content creation.
Personalization: Tailor content to different segments, addressing their concerns and preferences.
Multichannel approach: Distribute content across various platforms to reach customers where they are most active.
Measurable goals: Set clear objectives for content marketing efforts and frequently assess performance using key metrics.

Remember, successful content marketing is an ongoing process requiring continuous evaluation and refinement. Utilities should review their strategy regularly to ensure it aligns with customer goals and needs.

Focus on these attributes to unlock the power of content marketing

Unlocking the Potential of Content Marketing

The true power of content marketing lies in its ability to educate, inform and empower customers. When executed effectively, utilities not only enhance the customer experience but also position themselves to thrive in a complex industry landscape.

By fostering a more informed and engaged customer base, content marketing doesn’t just benefit communication strategies — it can also drive innovation, support business objectives and contribute to a resilient and sustainable future.

Learn how a content marketing strategy from Questline Digital can help your utility improve the customer experience.

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Webinar: 2024 Digital Marketing Trends and Best Practices

An effective digital marketing strategy is essential for reaching utility customers and establishing a long-lasting digital relationship over time. To genuinely connect with customers, utilities must embrace a relevant outreach strategy.

As another year has come and gone, the digital marketing landscape has continued to evolve with the emergence of new trends and technologies. It’s crucial for utilities to adapt to the evolving digital marketing landscape to ensure their communications are relevant and engaging for customers.

Our recent webinar, “2024 Digital Marketing Trends and Best Practices,” provided insights and strategies from marketing experts Brian Lindamood, Questline Digital’s VP of Marketing and Content Strategy, and Jonathan Nelson, Sr. Digital Marketing Manager, Growth with the American Marketing Association. They discussed what’s new in the digital marketing world as well as best practices for the upcoming year to revolutionize the way utilities engage with customers.

What’s new and trending for digital marketing in 2024?

Content Marketing
Newsletters
Social Media
Artificial Intelligence

Content Marketing Trends for 2024

To kick off the webinar, Nelson introduced the EEAT, which stands for:

Experience
Expertise
Authoritativeness
Trustworthiness

This is a framework used by Google to evaluate content for search engine optimization, or SEO. Content that encompasses EEAT is more likely to show up on the first page of Google search results, which makes it a valuable guide to follow while creating content.

Nelson recommends that utilities should incorporate the EEAT framework in everything they do. He advises to consider your audience and assess if your content is engaging and consumable.

“You’re writing for someone who is not nearly as involved in the industry as you are. Take time to explain and walk them along the process and your thoughts,” says Nelson. “My general recommendation is to write something that you want to read. You should be publishing and creating content that you’re excited about.”

The concept of EEAT lends itself to the work Questline Digital does with utilities nationwide. “EEAT is right in the wheelhouse of how we create content for utilities. Content marketing is a chance to educate customers about utility topics to inform them without being promotional. You can explain programs without directly selling,” says Lindamood. As content becomes educational and engaging, it builds trust among customers and reinforces the utility’s authenticity.

Newsletter Trends for 2024

Newsletters are another way that EEAT and authenticity can be implemented into utility digital marketing strategies. Newsletters provide a chance for utilities to establish a digital relationship with customers that extends beyond the monthly bill. They are an engaging and meaningful touchpoint that offers an opportunity to add value to customers on a consistent basis.

“No one likes parting with their money. Having a form of communication where you aren’t asking for money and you’re just providing value is a fantastic route for any organization to go after,” says Nelson. “I think utility companies in particular have a huge opportunity to help educate and reach out to their community.”

Lindamood agreed, explaining that newsletters are an especially effective way to deliver relevant and timely information directly to a customer’s inbox. “As a consumer, it saves time and cuts out the digital clutter of trying to find that information on your own time,” he says.

Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) utilized this approach, establishing a monthly residential email newsletter that included educational content for customers, plus information on the utility’s programs. As a result of this implementation, SWEPCO saw a substantial increase in J.D. power scores for customer satisfaction and increased participation in its energy efficiency programs.

Like SWEPCO, the results of consistent digital communications, such as newsletters, can be substantial. “Newsletters have an impact on your overall brand and company health,” says Nelson.

Social Media Trends for 2024

Harnessing social media is imperative for proactive digital marketing and customer outreach strategies. “Social media and content marketing are linked very closely together. I don’t think one works super well without the other,” says Nelson.

Many industries, including the utility industry, use social media not just for content marketing but also as a customer service channel. For effective customer service, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook were recommended by Nelson, as they are ubiquitous and have robust direct messaging services.

TikTok and Instagram reels, centered around videos, offer an ideal platform for sharing educational and entertaining content. “Utility companies might not necessarily think that they are out there to entertain always, but they absolutely are,” says Nelson. “When people are on social media they’re looking for something to make their day better.”

In fact, businesses that are not traditionally associated with social media are succeeding. Nelson provided an example from the Milwaukee Public Library, which is effectively creating entertaining content on TikTok and encouraging engagement. The library’s efforts are enticing more visitors to the library, a substantial win for digital marketing tactics. With the rise in TikTok and Instagram Reels, vertical videos have become common and Nelson doesn’t see this changing anytime soon.

Another popular social media platform, LinkedIn, had a major algorithm update to their feed this past June, which now works similarly to the EEAT framework. This means that the more that content follows EEAT — experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness — the more likely it is to show up on LinkedIn users’ feeds, therefore increasing engagement.

While many usages of social media from X to TikTok are rapidly increasing, organic social media reach for companies has been declining and is continuing to do so. Nelson advises utilities not to be discouraged. He explains, “It’s just how the system works.”

Artificial Intelligence Trends for 2024

It’s widely recognized that artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an important tool and widely discussed topic for marketers. “Something is new with AI every day,” says Nelson. “Don’t wait to start using it. Get comfortable through trial and error and give it a shot.”

AI signifies a transformative change in technology, reshaping the functioning of various industries, and carries the potential to revolutionize the landscape of digital marketing. Nelson mentioned that AI has streamlined workflows and made it easier to solve marketing challenges, without replacing digital creators.

There are concerns with the accuracy and security of AI, but Nelson and Lindamood both recommend that these concerns can be mitigated with human oversight. While AI has not reached the stage of surpassing human capabilities, it stands as a highly valuable resource to make humans more efficient and effective in their work.

“It’s here to stay,” says Nelson. “This is going to be the next internet, the next smartphone. This is something that is going to change how everything functions.”

Quotation advice about artificial intelligence for 2024 digital marketing trends

Overall Best Practices for 2024 Digital Marketing Trends

Go where your audience is, not just where you want to be.
Use personalization and segmentation to make sure your messages are relevant to customers’ interests.
Don’t get bogged down in other people’s best practices; do what is right for your utility.
Make sure your marketing strategy is driven by business goals, not the other way around. You should be communicating with customers for a reason.

All of these best practices are driven by consumers interests, preferences and needs. “Everything you do should have a purpose,” says Nelson. “Meet your customers where they are.”

An example from AEP Ohio highlighted the importance of providing relevant content to customers. The utility sought to increase engagement among business customers. To do so, the utility implemented monthly newsletters that were segmented by industry type, including healthcare, education and manufacturing. The results of this segmentation campaign were substantial, driving up to an 84% increase in customer engagement.

“AEP Ohio’ success underscores the point that customers will engage with content that they’re interested in, that’s relevant to them,” says Lindamood, “and a segmented content strategy is a good way to achieve that.”

An effective digital marketing strategy is critical for utilities to meet customer’s expectations and engage with them in their preferred channels. Incorporate the latest trends and strategies into your utility’s strategy and reinvigorate your digital marketing efforts for 2024.

Learn how Questline Digital can enhance your utility’s digital marketing strategy and build stronger relationships with your customers.

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My Account Enrollment: 5 Steps to Success

My Account makes your customers’ lives easier. They can set up their payment options, sign up for paperless billing, explore their energy use and more. My Account isn’t just beneficial for customers — it’s an essential tool to help energy utilities achieve long-term customer satisfaction.

Beyond personalizing their experience, My Account helps customers be more digitally connected with your energy utility. However, it’s not always easy to encourage customers to enroll in this convenient service. Try these five proven strategies to increase My Account enrollment.

Promote My Account Enrollment in Welcome Series

The best time to promote My Account to customers is at the start of service. We recommend taking advantage of a new customer onboarding campaign such as Welcome Series to introduce the features of My Account. In fact, nearly half of all Welcome Series emails are opened, and one in 10 customers click on at least one email.

Promote My Account enrollment throughout your welcome messaging, especially in communications focused on setting up service and billing options. Our benchmarks data shows that the welcome and billing message have the highest customer engagement, with open rates of 43% and 53%, respectively. In these emails, highlight the key benefits of My Account and include a CTA directly to the enrollment page.

Example of email promoting MyAccount enrollment

For example, Questline Digital helped these energy utilities highlight My Account in their Welcome Series campaigns. The billing and payment email features prominent links for customers to create an account. The My Account messaging reinforces how customers can customize their utility experience.

Example of customer welcome email marketing MyAccount

Create an Eye-Catching Email Campaign

Customers are drawn to emails that are fun, engaging and stand out. Instead of simply listing the benefits of signing up for My Account, it behooves utilities to create a compelling theme.

In other words, tell a story that speaks to customers’ needs, interests and lifestyles. For example, show an image of a customer relaxing on the beach while checking their utility bill. This lets customers envision how on-the-go account access can benefit them.

Questline Digital worked with a large Southeast energy utility to deploy a My Account email campaign. The campaign showcased how residential customers can manage their electric account wherever they go. The imagery of a customer relaxing on a hammock during a camping trip emphasizes the benefit of “anytime and anywhere” account access.

Example of engaging marketing email to promote My Account enrollment

A Midwest utility focused on women, a large segment of their customer base, with this creative campaign. The campaign highlighted how the utility’s online user profile is designed for “the Super You.” In other words, creating an online user profile will help these customers accomplish even more in their day.

Example of segmented marketing campaign to increase My Account enrollment

Segment Your Audience

An engaging message has the power to increase the effectiveness of your promotions. Segmentation helps increase My Account enrollment by promoting specific benefits to smaller, targeted audiences.

We recommend segmenting your audience by customers’ needs and interests. For example, business customers are more interested in no-hassle payment options like auto pay that make their busy schedules a little easier.

You can segment your residential customers by homeowners and renters. Homeowners are interested in keeping track of their monthly energy usage. Budget billing or payment assistance programs may be more relevant to a renters.

A large Northeast energy utility segmented their My Account email to business customers. The email, part of a four-email Welcome Series, featured the billing and payment options that businesses care most about, including paperless billing, auto pay and flexible payments. The email includes multiple call-to-actions (CTAs) to sign up for My Account.

Example of marketing email to business customers to promote My Account enrollment

A Pennsylvania-based energy utility created an email campaign targeting residential customers who have not signed up for My Account. The email features an eye-catching animated GIF that illustrates how easy it is to choose various My Alerts, including billing alerts and payment confirmations, available through My Account.

Example of marketing email to promote MyAccount enrollment

Make it Easy with One-Click My Account Enrollment

A potential roadblock for customers is a complicated, multi-step enrollment process. One-click enrollment features an easy-to-use landing page with customers’ account information dynamically prepopulated in the form. All they need to do is click a button to enroll.

Our energy utility clients have found success with one-click enrollment for various promotions, from paperless billing to rebate programs. For example, we helped Eversource Energy create a one-click enrollment landing page and enrollment confirmation page for their paperless billing program. As a result of this easy enrollment, Eversource experienced the largest annual gain in five years with an increase to 33%.

Add an Incentive

Incentives are an effective way to increase My Account enrollment. Questline Digital performance metrics have found that a small reward for every customer who signs up is more effective than a single grand prize. Promotions with an incentive have a 17% higher open rate and 28% higher CTR.

Here are some best practices when choosing a smaller incentive:

Awarding a $5 gift card to all signups converts better than enter-to-win contests of $1,000 or more.
Products like LED lightbulbs rank second to gift cards among the best drivers of click-throughs.
Thermostats and smart-home device giveaways are also top performers.

While less effective than small rewards, a single grand prize (tickets to a sports game or free electricity for a year) is better than no incentive at all. These prizes will still encourage opens and drive customer interest in your promotional email.

Example of My Account enrollment promotions that uses an incentive

A large Midwest energy utility utilized a sweepstakes to motivate residential customers to sign up for an online account. Customers could win up to $3,000 in home improvements by creating an online account, enrolling in e-Bill and other helpful tools. The “Click It to Win It” sweepstakes was a successful way to increase online account sign-ups, while also helping customers make energy efficiency improvements to their home.

Connect on Social Media

The demographics of energy utility customers are changing — and younger generations are a growing share of the population. To reach millennial and Gen Z customers, you need to be where they are online. With 90.4% of younger generations being active social media users, this is where to find them.

Don’t miss out on reaching younger audiences — share the benefits of My Account through an engaging social media campaign featuring fun videos or imagery. While it’s important to stay true to your brand, social media is the perfect opportunity to show off your brand’s personality.

Example of social media posts promoting MyAccount

A Pennsylvania-based energy utility utilized Facebook and Instagram to promote My Account’s home energy savings capabilities, including monthly bill comparisons and personalized energy savings tips. The social media campaign featured fairytale-themed imagery of houses with the tagline, “Everyone’s home is unique — so is their energy use.”

Making Moves with My Account

Opportunities abound for increasing My Account enrollment. Since every energy utility is unique, test out these different tactics to discover which one works best for you.

Learn how a digital marketing campaign will boost My Account enrollment for your energy utility.

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Content as a Service: How It Can Work for You

For companies in the energy industry — whether utilities, EV charging station manufacturers, solar providers or sustainability consultants — quality content is vital for customer engagement and business growth. Today’s energy customers are looking for helpful resources, not a sales pitch. That’s where content as a service comes into play.

Bridging the Knowledge Gap With Content

Compared to industries like retail, hospitality or entertainment, the energy industry can be technical and complex. Energy topics like beneficial electrification, demand response and time-of-use (TOU) rates are not always easy for the average consumer to understand. For energy companies, it’s essential to bridge this knowledge gap to increase customer awareness, engagement, and sales.

With a content-as-a-service platform, energy companies have the opportunity to educate customers on a wide variety of energy topics. This energy content is delivered to customers on their preferred channel, such as a website landing page, email newsletter or social media.

Content as a service, often abbreviated as CaaS, is defined as content that is delivered on-demand to consumers through a repository (typically subscription-based). This allows content to be stored on a content management system and then automatically sized and deployed in the best format for a particular channel. With this service model, energy companies always have access to a wide variety of content topics and formats to share with customers.

“This is a way for energy companies to get access to high-quality content without the heavy lift of creating everything from scratch,” says Ryan Prestel, Vice President of Business Development at Questline Digital. “Content as a service is a great place to get started with content marketing, with the added flexibility to use and edit content in any way they choose.”

Content-As-A-Service Platforms Save Time and Money

Consumers are looking for expert advice and resources, making thought leadership a critical element to an energy company’s marketing efforts. This requires ongoing content that is useful, engaging and speaks to customer needs and interests. Without a content-as-a-service platform, energy companies simply won’t have the valuable content necessary to become industry thought leaders.

“Many small companies are trying to be thought leaders, but they don’t have big marketing departments to make that possible,” Prestel says. “They see the importance of content from a thought leadership and SEO perspective, but they can’t afford to hire copywriters, designers and other creatives. This is where content as a service can make a huge impact.”

Creating high-quality articles, infographics and videos is both costly and time-consuming. For many energy companies, employing a copywriter or designer is not possible. Plus, marketing employees often lack the bandwidth to write and design new content every week.

Outsourcing the work is typically not an affordable option either. Freelance designers and copywriters cost $30 to $100 per hour, while a video production company can demand anywhere from $7,500 up to $45,000 per video.

Chart listing the cost of creating educational content for energy companies

Keeping Up with Industry Changes

Creating quality content isn’t a “one-and-done” task for energy marketers. In particular, the energy industry is rapidly changing with new technology, requiring continuous education to keep customers abreast of these innovations.

Content needs to be regularly published to ensure it’s timely and relevant for customers. However, it’s not always easy to think of new ways to educate or market to customers. By using content as a service, energy company marketers have a repository of articles to choose from that speaks to these industry innovations without complicated jargon.

For example, Questline Digital’s Engage Content Library includes more than 4,500 content assets on a wide variety of topics, including energy efficiency, beneficial electrification, electric vehicles, smart technology and more. This content-as-a-service platform is produced by a team of industry experts who ensure the content is updated with the latest research and trending topics.

Armada Power, a demand management service provider, is taking advantage of the Engage Content Library to help grow their utility clients’ hot water heater program. Through content as a service, the energy company plans to increase program participation by educating customers on demand response, virtual power plants, load management and other related topics.

“Content as a service allows energy companies to show the breadth and depth of their knowledge and capabilities,” Prestel explains. “Customers will start to see them as an expert resource for their energy needs.”

Content for Every Customer Touchpoint

To be effective, content marketing must reach customers at every touchpoint in their journey. Content as a service ensures that energy companies have the right resources for each stage in the customer lifecycle, including awareness, education and action.

Awareness:

Welcome email series
Social media
Outage communications
Digital ads

Education:

Email newsletters
Interactive content
Videos
Infographics
Articles
Webinars

Action:

Program promotions (EV, solar, TOU)
Paperless billing campaigns
Payment assistance campaigns
Energy marketplace promotions

For example, a solar photovoltaic (PV) installer needs content to build awareness on their various customer-facing channels. Topics could include the benefits of solar energy, common myths about solar, and an overview of the installation process. The awareness stage transitions to the education stage where customers receive useful content in their preferred channel, like social media, eNewsletters or webinars.

In the action stage, the company needs content to encourage customers to move forward with solar PV installation. A content-as-a-service platform allows energy companies to access and easily post content for every stage of the customer lifecycle.

Equipping Energy Companies With the Right Content

Becoming a thought leader and energy expert takes time and ongoing publication of relevant and timely content. With a content-as-a-service platform, energy companies have access to best-in-class energy content — without relying on an entire creative department. Through a repository of ready-to-go content, energy companies are better equipped with resources to educate and engage customers throughout their journey.

Educate your customers and boost conversions with content-as-a-service solutions from Questline Digital.

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Myths Debunked! Email Spam Facts

Spam emails are a major issue for many internet users. In fact, research shows that out of the 333 billion emails sent worldwide, 85% of those are spam. Although email marketing is still one of the best tools for reaching customers, spam messages can confuse, frustrate or victimize your utility’s customers.

As your utility works to make sure its emails aren’t susceptible to spam filters or misinterpreted by customers, it’s important to debunk the myths surrounding email spam. Additionally, it’s important to know the best practices when it comes to email marketing and spam to ensure you’re building trust with customers.

The following email spam facts will help your utility keep its customers safe and secure, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction.

Myth 1: Spam Words Always Get Your Email Filtered

Email spam myth: “Free,” “Save” and “Win” are just some of the words that have been labeled as “spam trigger words,” inspiring fear and distrust among customers and their energy utilities who might use them in their subject lines.

Email spam facts: In reality, these words aren’t the trap everyone thinks they are. This is a lingering myth from years ago when inboxes were besieged by spammers and email providers used simple content filters to determine what was spam.

Content filters look at subject lines, email content and even the image-to-text ratio. As the spammers figured out how to get around those filters, email providers got more sophisticated. More and more, email providers are evaluating the larger picture to identify spam, including sender reputation, deployment patterns and recipient engagement. Those have more weight on whether your email gets delivered than using previously defined “spam words” in your subject line.

For example, as an ode to this email spam fact, PSEG Long Island deployed a paperless billing campaign in 2018 that promoted free LED lightbulbs to customers who signed up for the program. The utility received extraordinary engagement, including a 21.8% open rate and 7.7% click-to-open rate. The subject line the utility used that received these specific results was, “Paperless = Free LEDs.”

Example of email message to show spam facts

This is proof that including the word “free” doesn’t mean your utility’s emails will automatically go into spam folders. On the contrary, it might just increase engagement with your utility’s customers.

Myth 2: CAN-SPAM Compliance Leads to Automatic Delivery

Email spam myth: Your email meets all the requirements of CAN-SPAM, so it will go straight to your customers’ inboxes, right? Not necessarily. As mentioned above, many email providers are using algorithms to determine if an email is considered spam or not.

Email spam facts: Just because your email meets CAN-SPAM requirements it does not guarantee a free ride to the inbox. Overcoming CAN-SPAM is about meeting legal requirements, not deliverability standards. Although meeting CAN-SPAM requirements sets your utility’s communications up for better success, it does not guarantee deliverability or email opens from customers.

Instead, to reach customers’ inboxes, make sure your utility is abiding by email best practices and sending relevant content to the right audience to keep your sender reputation positive and engagement metrics high. This email spam fact is the way to reach customers’ hearts… and inboxes.

One Southeast energy utility grew its customer engagement by creating automated anniversary emails that thanked customers for their business. Rather than developing another transactional email, the utility wanted to create a friendlier touchpoint with its customers. Thus, the anniversary emails were born.

Example email message demonstrates facts about spam

These emails were delivered to both residential and small-to-medium-sized business customers after their first year of service. The emails were personalized to each customer and included helpful links, like newsletter registration, rebate programs and energy efficiency tips. Customer engagement drastically increased from these emails, achieving an average 46% open rate. Additionally, the utility was better able to understand its customers and what they sought from the utility to further develop communications to meet those needs.

Myth 3: There is a Perfect Day and Time to Send Emails

Email spam myth: A popular question in email marketing is, “When is the best day and time to send my emails?” Marketing blogs are full of conflicting answers: send early in the mornings, send Thursdays at 3 p.m., never send on a Monday.

Email spam facts: The truth is, there is no perfect day and time to send your emails. It comes down to one thing: knowing your audience and their preferences. You need to know when your customers are most likely to engage with the emails your utility is sending.

How do you figure this out? When tracking your metrics, include the day and time you sent the email. Then, evaluate the days of the week and times of day where you see high engagement. Don’t forget to also look at the type and topic of communication. Maybe your audience prefers to read email newsletters on a different day than when they engage with promotional messages. Testing different times and days for your utility’s messaging will help to identify these factors and decipher which days work best for your utility and its customers.

According to Questline Digital’s digital marketing data, even the deployment of utility email newsletters and promotional messages differs in time and day. The below charts show the differences calculated in days and times sent between residential and business communications for both email newsletters and program promotions.

While it appears that for residential customers, the best days to deploy a newsletter were Mondays and Thursdays, promotional messages for the same group saw Tuesdays and Thursdays outperform the other days. When it comes down to this email spam fact, customers are in control of when they interact with your utility’s emails. The best your utility can do is track and compare against your own performance metrics rather than those of other utilities.

Myth 4: The Bigger the List Size, the Better

Email spam myth: A lot of marketers think that email list growth is always a good thing. While you do want to reach as many customers as you can, you want them to be relevant and engaged, not just along for the ride. Connecting with them isn’t as simple as just adding them to your list.

Email spam facts: A good email list is about the quality of your recipients, not the quantity. Every year, your utility typically loses a number of subscribers to abandoned or changed email addresses. Sending communications to these inactive email addresses negatively impacts your deliverability by hurting your utility’s sender reputation.

Developing a re-engagement campaign to target inactive subscribers will help your utility clean up your list. Those who want to remain on the list will and those who have inactive addresses will drop from the list. Your utility may lose a portion of its list recipients, but in the end, the quality of your utility’s email list will improve, as will your email deliverability, and your utility will start seeing better results.

Separating Email Facts from Fables

Many of these email spam facts come down to knowing your utility’s customers and audience. Continue to test and analyze your utility’s communications to see what works and what doesn’t. In doing so, your utility will be better able to communicate with its customers and ensure its emails are reaching their inboxes, not their junk folders.

The digital deployment experts at Questline Digital can help you separate email marketing myths from best practices.

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