Energy efficiency is increasingly becoming a priority for utilities. But power companies do not want to turn off their customers by pressuring them to change their habits.

However, utilities do owe it to consumers to communicate the benefits of energy efficiency and to build a strong reputation around customer engagement. Reaching the next level of energy savings and increasing performance requires a complete behavioral framework to identify motivational factors that could drive maximum energy efficiency.

Intelen's DiG solution integrates a mixture of critical components, including gamification and social networking, for behavior change and customer engagement. The product also personalizes efficiency programs, ensuring maximum results.

The importance of personalization

Personalization should come after extensive customer segmentation. To find the right customers to target, utilities perform either demographic or attitudinal segmentation of power consumers. However, insights gained from such segmentation cannot compete with Intelen’s DiG solution, which provides multi-layered personalized services.

At its core, DiG is designed to make an impact on a user’s behavior by deeply understanding the user. Intelen’s architecture, based on behavioral analysis and machine learning techniques, collects and analyzes demographic and meter data -- along with behavioral data inside the DiG app -- to form customizable programs for each user.

Understanding user needs is only one piece of the solution. The other piece is adapting to a customer’s behavior and preference changes to constantly provide the maximum value to the user. Based on the nature of the app, DiG can identify several values for the user and categorize him or her according to player type.

A user could be a learner (she likes to receive content), a socializer (she treats the app like a social platform), a watcher (she likes to monitor others' activity), an influencer (her actions have some impact on a social cycle), or a competitor (she likes to compete and win). Any single player can respond to multiple types of motivation, but the distinction is used to inform the main game’s design. Using this understanding of player roles and motives helps build strong personalization and customization.

How DiG personalizes

DiG’s power is created in three ways: personalized educational content, personalized reward systems and personalized campaigns.

Personalized content is about providing as much educational material as possible based on daily habits, energy consumption and reported comfort. Such personalized material could come in the form of tips, notifications about rising energy consumption, or energy savings goals that are about to be achieved.

The reward systems are designed to provide personalized recommendations about rebates, bill discounts and other prizes.

Personalized campaigns are about data-driven marketing, allowing utilities to improve their efficiency by targeting segments that are indeed interested in a particular product, service, or offer. This will increase key performance indicators and reduce the cost of the campaign. 

Personalization matters. Without it, utilities will not be able to bring long-term savings -- nor increase the loyalty that is so important in a customer-centric world.