From electric vehicle (EV) adoption to brand reputation and from smart homes to marketing initiatives, putting customers’ needs first when building or revamping your programs will make sure that your offerings resonate with customers and meet their needs. But it can be challenging to know where to begin to understand how customers feel about their utility experience and what they desire moving forward. We believe in the power of ethnographic research. Traditional forms of data collection, such as surveys and email outreach, don’t capture customers’ true sentiments and raw honesty. Ethnographic research focuses on individuals, examining their behavior in real time through direct engagement.
How does ethnographic research work?
Experts from E Source Management Consulting partner with your organization to help bring you closer to your customers. Using ethnographic research gives us insights into their emotions and needs, delivering the data required to create effective programs that are attractive to customers, such as:
- Connected homes
- Low income
- Residential EVs
- Small business customer experience
- Small business engagement
In addition to handling the research for you, we use a design-thinking approach to develop new products and programs, redesign customer experiences, improve marketing and communications, revamp stagnant programs, and more.
Ethnography in action
Using these methods, we recently helped a large northeastern investor-owned utility develop a customer-centric marketing and messaging campaign to increase adoption of EVs and curbside charging stations. Through customer-recorded video interviews, we gathered perceptions of EVs and charging stations in a densely populated city in the utility’s territory. Then, during hands-on working sessions, we turned these insights into campaign strategies built on customer needs first.
Our combination of ethnography and design thinking is unparalleled in the industry and ensures that you can develop the right solutions that your customers will love. Ready to learn more? Contact us today.