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

Download the slides | Customer awareness and perceptions of electrification technologies

How viable are electrification technologies in the residential sector? Join us to discover what the results from the E Source Residential Electrification Survey reveal about this issue. We’ll share what we learned about customers’ awareness and perceptions of residential electrification technologies—and their intent to purchase. Use the information to assess the market potential for electrification technologies and plan your electrification programs.

Potential topics include:

• Residential customers’ awareness of and interest in electrification technologies
• Residential customers’ motivators and purchase behaviors for electrification technologies

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you find solutions to your toughest challenges.

Speakers:

Laura Ruff Agard, senior analyst, Market Research, E Source

Steve Day, senior analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Luke Beckett, product strategist, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Who should attend:

Members of any E Source service who are interested in residential electrification.

Interested in this event but can’t attend? Register anyway and we’ll notify you when the presentation and recording are ready for on-demand viewing. Questions about this event? Send us a message.

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for the recording and event description.

Is your account management team delivering a world-class customer experience to critical customers? Are you struggling with how to best serve midsize businesses? Are you adapting well to regulatory changes? Are you effectively cross-selling and up-selling customers on your most relevant, valuable products and services?

Join utility account management leaders from across the US and Canada to explore these questions and more at the 17th annual Account Management Leadership Council. Attendees can join us in person or online. You’ll spend a full day networking and sharing knowledge. Attendees routinely praise this event as the best way to get a fresh perspective and gain insights from peers who are facing similar challenges.

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

Future-proofing account management

BGE’s Chris Duncan will explain how his team is shifting to meet current goals while preparing for ongoing changes related to what the utility and its customers expect from them. Some of BGE’s goals and challenges will likely be familiar, and Chris’s strategies for girding against an uncertain future will help us all think about the ways account management will remain a critical component of our utilities’ and customers’ successes. Chris will discuss:

• Defining and measuring proactivity
• Collaborating with large politically sensitive developments and projects
• Furthering regulatory and legislative priorities
• Identifying and delivering customer solutions

Speakers:

Chris Duncan, director of large customer services, BGE

Chad Garrett, managing director, Management Consulting, E Source

Advancing your goals

Join us to learn about

• Shaping regulatory and legislative outcomes
• Promoting new products and services to key accounts and large commercial and industrial customers
• Driving load growth while working toward your carbon-reduction goals and helping customers hit their sustainability goals

Speaker:

Chad Garrett, managing director, Management Consulting, E Source

Designing an excellent new-construction experience

In many markets, new construction hasn’t slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid this stable growth, many utilities have caused unintended negative customer experiences during the new-construction process. We’ve partnered with various utilities to take a fresh look at and revamp their new-construction customer experience. Learn what you need to do to design an excellent experience and put some of your new skills into practice.

Speakers:

Patty Potvin, director, New Business, NiSource

Melanie Wemple, senior managing director, Management Consulting, E Source

Using data to bring value and solutions to your customers

While data collection and analysis has become more sophisticated over the years, we need to be sure that our follow-though with that data follows suit. We’ll discuss how utilities can leverage advanced metering infrastructure and data science applications to improve service to their business customers. We’re excited to hear questions from the group around your priorities and challenges related to putting data into action.

Speakers:

Mark Hatfield, vice president of innovation, Technology Planning and Implementation Consulting, E Source

Joel Westvold, vice president of the project management office, Technology Planning and Implementation Consulting, E Source

Jesse Woods, managing director of client success, Data Science, E Source

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

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.

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

Download Fall 2021 E Source Market Research Leadership Council (PDF)

Using data to improve programs and services

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 10:15–11:30 a.m.

We’ll hear firsthand how SMUD has used market research on electrification to improve participation in the utility’s induction cooking and water heater programs. Then we’ll share related E Source data and research findings.

Speakers:

Laura Ruff Agard, senior analyst, Market Research, E Source

Vanessa Greenlee, principal market research specialist, SMUD

Paige Martin, senior analyst, Market Research, E Source

Tom Martin, managing director of product, Data Science, E Source

Hands on with Immersion Neuroscience

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 1:00–1:45 p.m.

Have you ever wondered how, why, or when a customer decides to make a purchase or participate in a program? You’re not alone. In this session, experts from Immersion will explain how their technology allows us to directly measure what content captivates our customers’ brains and predict future actions with over 80% accuracy—all using the smart watch your customer is already wearing. The Immersion team will demonstrate the company’s new product and let us experience how it measures consumers’ unconscious neurological connection to an experience or piece of content as it’s happening.

Speakers:

Laura Beavin-Yates, senior vice president of customer success, Immersion Neuroscience

Scott Brown, CEO, Immersion Neuroscience

Market research hot topics breakout session

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 2:00–2:30 p.m.

Choose your own adventure! Join a small breakout group for the topical discussion you find most helpful for your role: 

• How research has changed due to recent events such as the pandemic and civil unrest; your challenges and wins through this time; and which new research tools, methods, and processes you’ll adopt permanently
• All about metrics—which metrics are best and when to use them, what are ideal response rates, etc.
• How to decide when to conduct new research versus using existing data, and how to communicate your research findings across the organization

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

Each year, this meeting of marketing and communications leaders delivers rich discussions and new ideas and insights that you can take back to your team. You can expect exclusive presentations, breakout discussions, and a workshop that will help you hone your marketing and communications strategy.

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

Building a business case for data science

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 9:30–10:15 a.m.

Data science has unlocked the potential for you to find your just-right customer. In this session, we’ll explain how to overcome the obstacles associated with implementing data science at your utility. See what successful microsegmentation can do for you and how to use it to build effective marketing campaigns.

Download Building a business case for data science (PDF)

Speakers:

Tracy Gehrts, product strategist, Marketing and Communications, E Source

Tom Martin, managing director, Data Science, E Source

Cracking open the social media playbook: How does your utility stack up against its peers?

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 10:15–11:00 a.m.

We gathered insights from utilities across the US and Canada to bring you industry best practices. In this session, we’ll share findings from the 2021 E Source Social Media Survey. Find out how other utility teams are staffed and funded, what platforms they’re using, where utilities are spending their advertising dollars, and much more.

Download Cracking open the social media playbook (PDF)

Speakers:

Cory Coggins, analyst, Market Research, E Source

Miriam Stein, associate analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

You’ve got the power: Communication strategies for strengthening connections in the power industry

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 11:15 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Public affairs and communication strategist Matthew L. Moseley will discuss specific strategies for how utility companies can tell more-powerful stories. He’ll use unique experiences from the front lines of communications to illustrate universal principles that will help companies thrive in difficult environments.

Download Communication strategies for strengthening connections in the power industry (PDF)

Speaker:

Matthew L. Moseley, principal, Ignition Consulting Group

Low engagement? Absolutely not! Consumerism and brand strategy in the utility sector

Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 1:00–2:00 p.m.

Learn how today’s ubiquitous digital and social communications channels affect brands of all kinds. See inside two utilities’ brand campaigns, exploring the why, the how, and what they produced. Come away with a vision for your next brand campaign and identify systems and actions to measure effectiveness.

Download Consumerism and brand strategy in the utility sector (PDF)

Speakers:

Meredith Vaughan, CEO, Vladimir Jones

Amy Trinidad, public affairs lead, Colorado Springs Utilities

NOTE: This event has already taken place. See below for the recording and event description.

The Customer Energy Solutions Leadership Council meeting is an exclusive event where utility demand-side management (DSM), distributed energy resource (DER), and emerging technology leaders from across the US and Canada come together to discuss pressing issues, share successful strategies and lessons learned, and build their professional networks.

This meeting is an open-format, roundtable summit, and attendees can join in person or online. Mixing preset themes with discussion on topics of interest to participants, the agenda is flexible and can be modified as the group desires.

Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind event that participants have described as “the most productive day of the year.”

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

Group discussion | COVID-19: Utilities innovating under pressure

COVID-19 taught us that utilities are capable of swift innovation under pressure. In this E Source-led discussion, we’ll focus on the major lessons learned from the challenges of COVID-19 and how utilities can continue to boldly face the challenges of tomorrow. We’ll invite you to share any major successes that you’ll continue to pursue with programs, how your interactions with and views of customers shifted, and how the pandemic provided lessons for a complex and uncertain future.

Advancing DSM with innovative programs and evaluation processes

Harder-to-reach savings goals are driving the development of innovative new program designs and evaluation processes. In general, these approaches boil down to finding new and expanded ways of counting the benefits that utilities help deliver to their customers and to society at large. In this panel, we’ll discuss case studies of innovative ways utilities and legislators are addressing this issue through new types of programs and evaluation processes, including adjusting savings attribution to account for non-energy benefits; challenges around energy-efficiency-as-a-service programs; and market-transformation efforts.

Using data science to assemble a winning portfolio of programs

The goal of the clean energy game is to secure cost-effective customer resources that are as reliable as a power plant with the precision to be called at a local feeder level. The key to winning this game is to assemble a winning portfolio of programs. The right combination of programs will give you the capabilities to win the game in a way that’s equitable across all customer classes. Data science solutions help in this regard, giving you the information you need to identify high-value customers who can help you cost-effectively achieve your program goals. In this session, leading utilities will join us to discuss how data science solutions can help you deliver on the vision of a clean energy future.

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

Download the slides | Improving your customers’ outage experience

An electric outage can make or break a customer’s perceptions of their utility. While outages can’t be eliminated completely, utilities that understand and adapt to customer expectations can transform outages from experiences that lead to dissatisfaction to those that create greater satisfaction and loyalty. In this peer exchange, which is exclusive to members of the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, we’ll discuss how to deliver communications, tools, and information to customers so an outage becomes a better experience.

Potential topics include:

• Research findings from the E Source Residential Customer Insights Center
• Utility insights from the E Source 2019 Digital Metrics Survey on outages
• Effective ways to communicate the why, what, how, and when of outages
• How employees can provide better experiences during outages

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you find solutions to your toughest challenges.

Moderators:

Eryc Eyl, senior solution director, Customer Experience, E Source

Jessica Bailis, solution director, Marketing and Communications, E Source

Who should attend:

Tennessee Valley Public Power Association utility members who are interested in improving outage experiences and communications.

Interested in this event but can’t attend? Register anyway and we’ll notify you when the presentation and recording are ready for on-demand viewing. Questions about this event? Send us a message.

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

Download the slides | Improving your self-service start, stop, and transfer experiences

Join your utility peers to discuss tactics for improving your self-service moving features. During this discussion, we offer a sneak peek at the most recent data from the E Source Digital Metrics Survey on start, stop, and transfer transactions and describe trends we’re seeing in designing seamless moving experiences. (Preliminary data sharing is dependent on utility responses received. Full results will be available to E Source E-Channel Service members this fall.) Get advice on what your peers have done to improve this key journey for customers and share your own successes in this area.

We discuss:

• Automating start, stop, and transfer transactions on your website, interactive voice response system, and other self-service channels
• Reducing customer effort and fail rates for self-service moving transactions
• Utility case studies of recent improvements in their start, stop, and transfer offerings
• Data from our latest voice-of-the-utility survey

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you find solutions to your toughest challenges.

Moderators:

Eryc Eyl, senior solution director, Customer Experience, E Source

Lisa Schulte, senior analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Who should attend:

Members of the E Source E-Channel Service who are interested in self-service and digital moving transactions. All participants who completed our Digital Metrics Survey on start, stop, and transfer transactions are also welcome to attend.

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

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

Download the slides | How does your contact center compare? Findings from the E Source 2021 Contact Center Performance survey

Join us to hear the results of the E Source 2021 Contact Center Performance survey. We take a look at utility contact center operations and present voice-of-the-utility performance data related to contact volumes, costs, and key performance indicators (KPIs). Hear how your contact center compares to those of your peers and get an early glimpse at the data.

We cover:

• Which KPIs utilities track, including goals and actual performance
• Which channels contact centers are offering and how they’re staffing those channels
• How many interactions utilities are handling through each channel
• Average cost per interaction by channel

Moderator:

Devin Fink, product strategist, Customer Experience, E Source

Speakers:

Laura Ruff Agard, senior analyst, Market Research, E Source

Sarah Baker, analyst, Market Research, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

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

Download the slides | Insights from the 2021 Social Media Survey: How does your utility stack up in the industry?

We recently finished fielding the E Source 2021 Social Media Survey and have notable insights to share with you. Thank you to all the utilities that participated in our study. Get a pulse on where the industry is going, how the social media landscape differs since our last survey, and what trends we’re seeing today.

This program covers:

• Social media uses and challenges
• New social media channels and strategies utilities are using
• Social media team resources: staffing and budget

Speakers:

Jessica Bailis, solution director, Marketing and Communications, E Source

Miriam Stein, associate analyst, Customer Engagement Solutions, E Source

Cory Coggins, analyst, Market Research, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

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

Download the slides | Behavioral programs exchange: Customer satisfaction, engagement, prepay programs, and more

Join behavioral program managers from around the US and Canada to discuss the topics that matter most to you. Home energy report (HER) programs continue to dominate the behavioral space, and we explore the challenges facing new and established programs in this field. We also share the latest E Source research on HERs, prepay programs, and new behavioral strategies. And we leave plenty of time for you and your peers to share experiences and ask questions.

Learn about:

• Strategies to improve customer satisfaction with HERs
• Keeping customers engaged with behavioral programs
• What’s new with prepaid billing as a behavioral program

Through E Source exchanges, you can build a topic-specific network of utility professionals who can help you solve your biggest problems so you can do your best work. We encourage you to ask questions and share your experience during the event.

Moderator:

Beth Fitzjarrald, senior research manager, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Who should attend:

Members of the E Source Demand-Side Management Service who are interested in HERs and behavioral programs.

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

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

Download web conference slides | Driving electric vehicle messaging through ethnographic research: A Con Edison story

Customers don’t always think about electric vehicles (EVs) and EV charging the way that industry insiders do. In fact, most customers don’t know much about either. Con Edison, a large investor-owned utility in New York, is well aware of the challenges this brings. The utilty is installing curbside charging stations across New York City—a considerable task in a densely populated area with fiercely competitive parking. But before launching its EV charging infrastructure program, Con Edison wanted to better understand its customers’ perceptions around EVs and EV charging. That’s where E Source came in. We worked with Con Edison on an ethnographic market research study designed to elicit New Yorkers’ true opinions via pictures, messages, and self-filmed videos on EVs, EV charging, and curbside chargers. Con Edison used this ethnographic research to guide its messaging strategy for EV and curbside charging.

During this webinar we cover:

• Con Edison’s curbside charger project
• Our approach to the ethnographic market research study
• Key insights regarding customers’ opinions about EVs and EV charging
• Customer insights that helped shape Con Edison’s EV messaging

Speakers:

Adam Maxwell, managing director, Management Consulting, E Source

Brian Ross, EV demonstrations project manager, Con Edison

Questions about this event? Send us a message.

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

Download the slides | Tech Roundup Spring 2021

The E Source Tech Roundup keeps you up to date on the latest developments in energy-efficiency, load management, and decarbonization technologies. In this interactive, rapid-fire webinar, we’ll discuss the technologies and trends that offer the most potential for your pilots and programs.

Topics include:

• Update on the hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant phase-down
• Multifamily electric vehicle (EV) charging
• New heat pump controls
• Competitive markets for renewable natural gas credits
• New measures for residential and commercial windows
• Induction cooktops for residential efficiency and electrification
• Residential nanogrids
• EV market update
• Problems with ionization for indoor air quality
• Residential personal energy storage
• Light-duty EV market update

Speakers:

Luke Beckett, product strategist, Portfolio and New Product Strategy, E Source

Kenneth Darisaw, senior analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Steven Day, analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Miles Hayes, lead analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Bryan Jungers, lead analyst, Customer Energy Solutions, E Source

Michael Hartnack, senior solutions director, E Source

Jay Stein, senior fellow emeritus, E Source

Questions about this event? Send us a message.