NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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The utility sector currently faces an unprecedented level of change—some of it optional and some of it necessary to a utility’s survival. Unfortunately, many utilities don’t have a structured, repeatable approach to driving or managing change. In this web conference, Southern California Gas Co.’s Maria Liza Legaspi will share insights from her research with investor-owned utilities in California on the role that leaders play in ensuring successful change and what they should be doing differently.

You’ll learn:

• Nine major findings from Legaspi’s research and an additional finding that might surprise you
• The most important conclusions about change leadership that Legaspi drew from her research
• Legaspi’s top recommendations for actions that utility leaders can take to ensure better change outcomes

Speakers:

Maria Liza Legaspi, Project Manager, Southern California Gas Co.

Eryc Eyl, Lead Analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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We recently published our white paper on electrification and we’re excited to share our key findings in a two-part web conference series. Join us for part 1 as we explain how and why you should pursue a beneficial electrification strategy. We’ll also present our framework that shows how utilities, regulators, and other government entities can more systematically make decisions around electrification.

You will learn:

• How E Source defines beneficial electrification
• What we’re trying to achieve with electrification
• How to brand your electrification efforts

Speakers:

Bill LeBlanc, Chief Instigation Agent, E Source

Ryan Odell, Senior Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Kevin Andrews, Research Manager, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Luke Currin, Associate Director, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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What are today’s most promising emerging technologies? Join us for Tech Roundup to find out.

The E Source Tech Roundup is held twice a year to keep our members up to date on the latest developments in the world of efficient technologies. In this interactive, rapid-fire web conference, we’ll discuss technologies our tech team has evaluated over the past six months that offer the most potential for utility demand-side management programs. This is a must-attend web conference! We also covered these topics during our Tech Roundup session at the 2019 E Source Forum.

Topics include:

• New building technologies
• Water heater controls
• Technologies for smart metering and grid networking
• Switched-reluctance motors
• Low-e window film
• Deep root irrigation
• Update on Energy Star criteria for smart homes

We also covered these topics during our Tech Roundup session at the 2019 E Source Forum.

Speakers:

Jay Stein, Board Member, Senior Fellow, E Source

Clare Valentine, Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Monali Mujumdar, Senior Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Essie Snell, Senior Manager, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Zach Hamber, Associate Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Emma Rieves, Analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Smart speakers have become one of the most quickly adopted consumer electronic devices of all time, with overall adoption in US homes ballooning to nearly 30% in less than five years. Voice-controlled virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant have become so ubiquitous that they’re beginning to change the nature of internet search, and tech companies envision a shift toward “ambient computing” that’s available wherever users are and can readily understand and respond to their needs. For utilities, smart speakers and virtual assistants represent a compelling new channel to communicate with customers, control connected devices to reduce energy or demand, and provide excellent customer experiences.

Although a growing number of utilities have created a skill (for Alexa) or action (for the Google Assistant), the current level of functionality offered remains basic and unlikely to capture customers’ attention or to offer compelling use cases that could lead to persistent utility benefits.

Join this web conference to learn about:

• National trends with smart speakers and virtual assistants
• Existing utility skills and actions
• Emerging opportunities for utilities

Speaker:

Essie Snell, Senior Manager, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels with small and midsize business (SMB) customers? Stuck trying small variations of the same outreach methods and programs, never quite seeing the uptake you’d like? What if we take a step back and put ourselves in our customers’ shoes to understand their perspectives and see why they are (or aren’t) engaging? Viewing the world through their lens might provide insights into their daily lives and help us figure out better ways to engage them and improve their experiences interacting with utilities. The E Source E Design 2020 SMB market research did just that.

We performed ethnographic market research interviews with a dozen SMB customers across the country to drive a deeper understanding of who they are and how their businesses operate. This research explores topics that help us empathize with the busy, complex lives these individuals lead. We’ll be showing you videos of real customers voicing their perceptions and realities of the interconnected business worlds they live in. Insights derived from the research are meant to inspire unique ways to design utility engagement efforts that align with the contextual realities of real people working hard at their jobs.

You'll learn:

• People’s daily routines and communication preferences, and what that means for utility outreach
• Characteristics customers value with their other vendors and service providers, transferable to utilities
• SMB perceptions of existing utility relationships and desires for future ones
• How to increase the visibility and mindshare of utility companies in the eyes of SMB customers

Don’t miss this opportunity to view true voice-of-the-customer research that will help you inform your engagement efforts and identify opportunities to improve the customer experience.

Speakers:

Adam Maxwell, Head of Human-Centered Product Strategy, New Products and Services, E Source

Rachel Cooper, Associate Director, Market Research, E Source

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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The results are in! E Source is excited to share another year of interesting analyses, trends, and key takeaways from the 2019 E Source Gap and Priority Benchmarks on business customer satisfaction. Through these surveys, utilities and account managers gain a deeper understanding of their business customers: What do they care about most? What makes them unique? What exactly do they need from their account manager? We’ll address all these questions and more.

At the end of this web conference, you’ll have a better understanding of how your business customers’ needs and preferences are changing and what you can do, both individually and at a utility level, to increase business customer satisfaction.

You’ll learn:

• Satisfaction and value scores given by small, midsize, and large business customers
• Communication preferences and the importance of in-person interactions
• Business customer interest in programs, products, and services

Speakers:

Devin Fink, Manager, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Daniel Doutre, Lead Analyst, Market Research, E Source

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Want to know how your website stacks up against other utilities’? Join us for this web conference and we’ll discuss the results of the 2019 E Source Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Websites. Learn what made the top performers’ websites the best in the industry, which website improvements are most needed, and how our new methodology is pushing the industry forward.

Potential topics include:

• The 2019 ranking of US and Canadian websites
• What made the best websites perform so well
• Best practices for utility web design across four usability components
• How the updated methodology makes this the most detailed study of its kind

Speakers:

Heather Hilgenkamp, Lead Analyst, Market Research, E Source

Keenan Samuelson, Senior Analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).​

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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When was the last time you had honest conversations with real customers about their relationship with energy and your utility company? Through the E Source E Design 2020 initiative, we did just that, focusing on low-income customers, electric vehicle (EV) owners, and leaders in the smart home space. We performed extensive ethnographic market research with “extreme users” in these customer groups to hear about the role energy plays in the context of their lives. We’ll share video and audio clips that customers self-recorded on their phones. This residential market research shows you the true human side of energy, shaking up commonly held beliefs about customers within our industry.

You’ll learn:

• Energy-related trends at the front of customers’ minds
• Differences in how low-income customers perceive energy compared to how EV and smart home owners do
• Knowledge and perceptions around natural gas
• Key drivers of positive and negative relationships with utility companies

These video and audio clips provide a level of depth we don’t typically achieve in market research. These insights help you step outside of your daily job, put yourself in your customers’ shoes, and view the world through the lens of people that interact with your products and company on a daily basis.

Speakers:

Adam Maxwell, Head of Human-Centered Product Strategy, E Source

Bill LeBlanc, Chief Instigation Agent, E Source

Who should attend:

For more information about this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

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Our Next-Gen Residential DSM Workshop left attendees in Boulder, Colorado, wanting more, so we’re continuing the conversation. During this web conference we’ll tackle low-income programs.

As utilities watch residential lighting savings dry up and hear the call for energy equity, they’re looking for new savings opportunities. Utilities that improve and effectively scale low-income demand-side management (DSM) programs can increase energy savings from these programs and help those who need it most, making you and some of your loudest interveners happy.

Potential topics include:

• Strategies for scaling your low-income programs
• How to best work with local and federal agencies
• What’s working with best-in-class programs
• How to work effectively with regulators
• Challenges of meeting cost-effectiveness tests and how to overcome them
• How to get credit for health and other non-energy benefits

You’ll also learn:

• What the trends are in low-income programs and what some innovators are doing in this space
• How your peers are dealing with challenges and how they’ve been successful

Speaker:

Kate Merson, Director, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).

The Market Research Leadership Council is a must-attend meeting for utility market research and customer insights leaders who subscribe to any E Source service. We designed this exclusive event to enhance your strategies and build your professional network. Please come to the meeting ready to talk, share experiences, challenge the status quo, and collaborate on solutions.

The meeting is an open-format roundtable summit. Mixing preset themes with discussion on pertinent topics, the agenda is flexible and can be modified as the group desires. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event!

Weren’t able to attend the event or interested in revisiting the topics we covered? Via the links below, you can download the presentations from the leadership council. Please note that not all speakers gave us permission to share their presentations.

Download Agenda (PDF)

Making Connections

We’ll lead an engaging exercise to get to know one another and gain an understanding of how market research is evolving in the energy industry. What successes and innovations did you celebrate recently, and where do you want to steer your team in the next year? This exercise will provide context around how utilities are making gains and what challenges remain.

Rachel Cooper, Associate Director, Market Research, E Source

Organizing for Success

Department structures can significantly affect internal communication as well as project success, and we’ve learned that the ways in which utilities organize their market research and customer insights departments vary. Some utilities employ a centralized approach; others have a decentralized structure with market research living in several individual departments. In this hands-on session, we’ll explore the motivation behind these org structures and job title considerations for market research and insights professionals.

Heather Hilgenkamp, Lead Analyst, Market Research, E Source

Download Organizing for Success (PDF)

Bridging Research and Analytics

We’ll explore a best-case scenario for bringing research and analytics together to grow efficiency, solar, electric vehicle, and renewable programs. We’ll hear how Austin Energy uses analytics and segmentation to determine who will participate, resulting in a map of top segments for the programs and a map of potential customers based on similarities. We’ll also learn how this approach informs the utility’s other customer research. Be prepared to be inspired to implement this innovative approach at your organization.

Julie Black, Economist, Austin Energy
Meredith Jagger, Business Intelligence Consultant, Austin Energy

Download Segments and Sentiments: Combining Cross-Functional Collaboration and Analytics for Data-Driven Solutions (PDF)

Using Market Research to Meet Organizational Objectives

In this guided, interactive discussion, we’ll highlight utilities that are using market research and government survey data to meet objectives such as improving customer satisfaction, informing electric vehicle initiatives, forecasting and modeling, and boosting participation. We’ll also discuss how utilities are consolidating insights and metrics from various sources and drawing conclusions to provide the best insights to their stakeholders.

Chad Garrett, Managing Director, Consulting and Advisory Services, E Source
Oxana Humphreys, Marketing Research Manager, Southern Company
Melanie Wemple, Senior Managing Director, Consulting and Advisory Services, E Source

Download Leverage Multiple Data Sources (PDF)

Q&A

Let’s pause to digest what we’ve discussed so far and take time to ask each other questions, build on ideas, and start talking strategy.

Rachel Cooper, Associate Director, Market Research, E Source

Best Practices for Telling Stories with Data

The data you have might be terrific information, but if management isn’t convinced of how it will help them, it will gather dust on a shelf. We’ll use a hands-on approach to learn how to evolve from presenting data to presenting stories to successfully bring the voice of the customer to bear on strategic business decisions.

Heather Hilgenkamp, Lead Analyst, Market Research, E Source
Arthi Padmanabhan,Analyst, Market Research, E Source

Download Best Practices for Telling Stories with Data (PDF)

Principles of Human-Centered Design and How to Do It

How are utilities getting the insights they need when they need them, and what are they doing with those insights once they have them? In this interactive session, we’ll focus on approaches to gathering customer feedback that will help evolve your operations and product and service offerings. We’ll cover ethnography and design thinking, journey mapping, customer co-creation, and corporate intelligence. We’ll practice diving deep into customers’ wants and needs to keep decision-making and design focused on the customer.

Adam Maxwell, Head of Human-Centered Product Strategy, E Source
Melanie Wemple,Senior Managing Director, Consulting and Advisory Services, E Source

Next Steps

We’ll wrap up the day by consolidating what we’ve learned and committing to the next steps we’ll take to continue moving utility market research and customer insights forward. Then we’ll get out of our seats and have some fun.

Rachel Cooper, Associate Director, Market Research, E Source

Gallery Walk and Learning Lab Scavenger Hunt

We’ll introduce you to the E Source market research web page and show you our data tools, plus we’ll take a tour of our research and solutions gallery.

With the rapid adoption of smart speakers and voice-based virtual assistants like Alexa and the Google Assistant, how can you ensure that your customers will be able to effectively engage with your utility through this new channel?

In this day-long session, we’ll bring together utility leaders from across the US and Canada to explore ways that virtual assistants may help meet a range of goals—from improved customer experience to efficiency, load management, and marketing—and find out how to take the next steps.

Weren’t able to attend the event or interested in revisiting the topics we covered? Via the links below, you can download the presentations from the meeting. Please note that not all speakers gave us permission to share their presentations.

Download Agenda (PDF)

Introductions

Meet your colleagues from other utilities! We’ll kick off the day by going around the room and asking you to share what you’re currently working on related to smart speakers and virtual assistants, specific goals or challenges you’re addressing, and any lessons learned that others may benefit from.

What’s the Latest with Smart Speakers and Virtual Assistants?

We’ll discuss the latest E Source research on the smart speaker and virtual assistant markets, share what we’ve learned from our meetings with Amazon and Google, take a look at what other utilities have done to date, and talk about emerging best practices in skill and action design.

Arthi Padmanabhan, Analyst, Market Research, E Source
Essie Snell, Senior Manager, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Download What’s the Latest with Smart Speakers and Virtual Assistants? (PDF)

Tutorial: Building a Simple Action for Google Assistant

Chad Gilhoi, Xcel Energy’s voice expert, will show us what it takes to create an effective skill or action, and you’ll collaborate with your peers to create a simple Google Assistant action.

Chad Gilhoi, Product Developer, Xcel Energy

The Solution Provider Perspective

Join us for a rapid-fire discussion on voice from some of today’s top solution providers. Each speaker will talk about their current offerings, share key differentiators, and discuss lessons learned from their work with utilities.

Bryan Dreller, Group Product Manager, Uplight
Laura Frantz, Offering Manager, Voice Assistants for Utilities, ICF
Ashwin Karuhatty, Head of Partnerships, Global Product Partnerships, Google
Steve Malloy, Chief Innovation Officer, Franklin Energy
Jeff Wahl, Director, Strategy and Growth, Bidgely

Insights from E Source Ethnographic Research

After lunch, we’ll share highlights and videos from the ethnographic research we completed for the E Source E Design 2020 initiative and discuss implications and best practices related to voice development.

Adam Maxwell, Head of Human-Centered Product Strategy, E Source

Download Early Insights from E Source Ethnographic Research: Virtual Assistants and Smart Homes (PDF)

Utility Roundtable Discussions

We’ll give you the floor to talk with your peers about what you’ve heard, ask questions, and share relevant information and insights.

Creating an Internal Elevator Pitch to Support Voice Initiatives

We know you have unique goals and challenges when it comes to voice. We’ll guide you through the process of creating an elevator pitch about why voice development is important to set your utility up for success, regardless of whether you’re trying to get approval to move forward with a voice initiative for the first time or working to allocate more resources to bolster an existing skill or action.

Download Creating an Internal Elevator Pitch to Support Voice Initiatives (PDF)

Closing Comments

We’ll gather in a circle to share answers to such questions as:

• What’s one thing you learned today that you’ll take back to the office or do differently when you return?
• Where do you still have blind spots?
• What’s one thing you’d like to have accomplished this time next year?

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for recording, event description, and link to download the presentation slides.

Download web conference slides (PDF)

Want to know how your website stacks up against other utilities’? Join us for this web conference and we’ll discuss the results of the 2019 E Source Review of North American Electric and Gas Company Websites.

You’ll learn:

• The 2019 ranking of US and Canadian websites
• What made the best websites perform so well
• How the updated methodology makes this the most detailed study of its kind

Speakers:

Heather Hilgenkamp, Lead Analyst, Market Research, E Source

Keenan Samuelson, Senior Analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

For more information about attending this event, please email us or call 1-800-ESOURCE (1-800-376-8723).​