Customer Engagement
Description
Customer Engagement solutions, which enable utilities to provide a better experience for their customers and acquire customers for their programs, are needed to cost-effectively realize New York State’s ambitious Climate Act goals. To break out of the traditional education and outreach tactics, companies are encouraged to embrace approaches used by leading companies known for interactive platforms and interactions, such as Netflix or the Apple Store—how do we bring that same joy to engaging with electricity and energy-related topics? Customer Engagement is a cross-cutting innovation need that would also apply to any project concepts that require customer acquisition – how do we help utilities take existing ideas to scale and encourage widespread uptake? Here are some illustrative examples, and we expect even more solutions could address this Innovation Opportunity:
Utility-Specific Interests
Our sprints in 2021 will focus on our two priority topics, Grid-Edge Flexibility and Accelerating the Gas Transition. Both can benefit from creative customer engagement ideas, such as:
- Methods for understanding who among the utility’s customer base will be most likely to adopt products and services that enable grid-edge flexibility, to focus marketing budgets on those groups.
- Launching a platform to gauge customer sentiment toward new offerings, such as those relating to grid-edge flexibility or thermal system transformation, to aid utilities in focusing on services that customers want.
We encourage submitters to incorporate Customer Engagement into their submissions to either sprint.
Funding Pathways
Customer engagement and acquisition plans would be necessary for any customer programs advanced out of REV Connect – see utility needs and Funding Pathways in other Innovation Opportunities. More information on each utility can be found on their Utility Profile.