Last Exit Benchmark Studies: Pension Funds Sector

ENERGY SECTORDIGITAL BENCHMARK©

2012

TABLE OF CONTENTSDIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

234689

11131618192527

INTRODUCTIONMETHODOLOGYTHE BENCHMARKEXECUTIVE SUMMARYMOBILESITE SEARCH ENGINESACCESSIBILITYNAVIGATIONCALLS TO ACTIONSEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATIONCUSTOMER CONTENTBILLING PROCESSSOCIAL MEDIA

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US: [email protected] • +44 (0)20 7407 7666 // [email protected] • 1(646) 347 4340

“... the proportion of our bills that is made up of the electricity and gas that

we consume is falling. The rest of the bill is made up of other elements, many of

which are outside the control of the energy companies. ”

Angela Knight CBEChief Executive at Energy UK

“It's time to face facts: the energy market is broken. The sector is

dominated by a handful of big and powerful players who are seemingly

una�ected by the normal competitive pressure of price and customer service. ”

Richard LloydExecutive Director at Which?

“You get all this stu� through your letterbox from the energy company, lots

and lots of information, you go online and it's all incredibly confusing.”

Nick CleggDeputy Prime Minister & customer

INTRODUCTION

P 2

Last Exit Energy Sector Digital Benchmark

It’s a tumultuous time for the UK energy market. It can seem that energy providers, especially

the “big six” are under attack from all sides. Much of the press, amplified by social media, are

shouting “rip-off!” amid claims that providers are pushing up gas and electricity bills beyond the

rate of inflation. Politicians are responding to the public outcry by talking of creating “an energy

market that is trusted, simple and transparent”, alongside Ofgem calling for “radical reform” in

the way the customers are dealt with. But the unwelcome news for customers is that upgrading

the UK’s ageing gas and electricity networks will surely keep forcing bills upwards. And let’s not

forget the recession, growing eco-awareness from consumers or Energy Secretary Ed Davey

promoting ‘collective switching’ for energy customers looking to get a better deal.

It’s our belief, and obvious to most, that the energy sector’s response to these challenging times

must feature the web. Digital is not only a battleground for energy providers looking to

differentiate themselves from the competition, but it may hold the key to developing a better

relationship with UK consumers.

The Last Exit Energy Sector Benchmark

Building on expertise gained contributing to digital industry think tank reports for L2, Last Exit

has conducted a study to benchmark the desktop websites, mobile and social presences of nine

of the UK’s energy providers. Covering 57 different touchpoints, and focusing on customer

awareness, engagement, conversion and loyalty, the findings of the benchmark are summarised

in this document.

For more detailed information and analysis please contact me.

Fred BrownPartner and Managing Director, Last Exit

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR


METHODOLOGY

MobileConsumers no longer confine their research,

requests and purchases to desktop computers.

We looked for website optimisation for mobile

phones, and whether the sites employed

responsive design.

Mobile optimised template

Responsive design

Mobile apps

Design, content, tech & marketingMultiple touch-points, delving into

technical excellence, organisation of

information, usability, content

quality, and content marketing.

Accessibility

Billing process

Content marketing

Calls to action

Contact forms

Navigation

Excellence of rich content

Information about how to switch

Ease to submit meter reading

Search engine optimisation

Social MediaWe looked for an understanding of Twitter,

Facebook and YouTube and the quality of

engagement in those spaces.

Social media and website integration

Quality of social content

Share buttons

Scoring systemWe examined the websites of nine leading UK energy providers.

Our three main criteria are Design & technology, Marketing and

Social Media, which we divided into 57 touch points. Each

touch-point is given a score.

80%+Excellent

60% - 79%Good

40% - 59%Mediocre

<40%Weak

P 3

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR


THE BENCHMARK

P 4

RANK COMPANY SCORE DESCRIPTION

1

2

3

Ranks 4 – 9 overleafOverall ranking: 80%+ Excellent, 79% – 60% Good, 59% – 40% Mediocre, <40% Weak

76% / 100%

GoodAn industry-leading, well designed website with a

decent search engine, good accessibility information,

and excellent online billing. Features engaging tools

and a comprehensive 'help' section. Suprising lack of

mobile optimisation. Social media offering needs

improvement. A good digital presence, but not

excellent overall.

70% / 100%

GoodAn attractive site with good information about

switching, tariffs & energy saving. Let down by its

live chat technology not working with the latest

browsers. Forcing new-comers to "like" its Facebook

page before it will reveal more about the company's

services is short-sighted.

69% / 100%

GoodThough not the most stylish of websites, it succeeds

in placing its Green credentials to the fore, giving its

content a focus. Good internal search, and excellent

search engine optimised pages. Lacks engaging tools,

and crucially, bills cannot be viewed online. Good

social media pages.

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR


DIGITAL BENCHMARK©THE BENCHMARKENERGY SECTOR

P 5

RANK COMPANY SCORE DESCRIPTION

4=

4=

6

7

8

9

E.ON

Good Energy

EDF

Npower

Ovo Energy

ScottishPower

67% / 100%

Good

67% / 100%

Good

65% / 100%

Good

63% / 100%

Good

60% / 100%

Good

54% / 100%

Mediocre

An easily navigable site, that doesn't need the jargon-ish "reset" in its main nav-bar. Use of red and white makes calls to action stand-out. Good SEO, but content lacks richness with little evidence of video. Website does not do a good job of integrating with EON's social media pages.

A stylish website and one of the only sites to feature a photograph of an actual human on its front page. Site is easy to navigate, but is not optimised for mobile. Crucially, customer bills cannot be viewed online. Good social media presence,including a popular Twitter page.

A dated-looking website, in need of a design refresh. Image heavy front-page is search engine unfriendly. Site seems to be aimed squarely at existing customers, there appears to be little segmentation. Navigation is hidden under one orange button, and social media is barely acknowledged, which is a pity as EDF is making an effort with its seven accounts, the most of all the energy providers we have examined.

The only website in our report to feature, slightly confusingly, two separate search engines. Navigation is clear, and the site is SEOd. However, it was marked down for its dull presentation of information for customers, and it's one of the only sites to still use .pdfs to explain its bills. Npower appear not to maintain an energy-related Facebook page (there are NPower Championship football pages, though). Npower's own separate energy debate website is a poor substitute.

A website with a cheerful, colourful appearance that has a very poor search engine. The site is organised well, complementing the "cheaper, greener, simpler" tagline, but it does seem to be aimed mostly at potential customers. Its web-offer for existing customers is mediocre, the ‘My Ovo - Account’ needs better explanation, for example. Front page carries a note explaining that its taking staff five days to reply to emails.

A usable jumble of a website and the only site of the nine we examined that plasters an off-putting cookie box over the front page. At first glance it looks presentable, but explore and you'll find broken links, confusing overlays, and sections of the site hosted on separate domains, with inconsistent navigation. The use of a "new customer" personalisation tab is a nice idea but it just adds to the inconsistency. Scottish Power are the only one of the providers in our report that do not maintain some kind of Facebook presence.

Overall ranking: 80%+ Excellent, 79% – 60% Good, 59% – 40% Mediocre, <40% Weak


P 6

Consumers are more demanding, informed, time-starved and saturated by choice

than ever-before. Our research looks at how energy providers are using the web to

reach, engage and then convert these people into loyal customers.

We are unable to grade any of the nine web presences belonging to the UK's top energy companies as

'Excellent' overall. Eight are 'Good', one 'Mediocre'. But of the ‘Good’, five are a mere seven, or less,

percentage points away from sliding into the ‘Mediocre’ ranking. It’s not a hugely impressive tally - these

websites should be excelling.

Our benchmarking research and analysis has examined energy providers’ website design and technol-

ogy, marketing and their use of social media. Findings, and recommendations, include...

Despite more and more UK adults owning smartphones and tablets, none of the energy companies that

we’ve examined are using responsive design or dedicated mobile sites. Five firms do offer limited mobile

apps, but what of prospective customers who are researching tarrifs on their phones? Providers are not

making it easy for them.

Only two (Ecotricity and SSE Energy) reached our ‘Excellent’ mark for technical search engine optimisa-

tion. ScottishPower’s pages were the weakest with missing elements and meta-descriptions. Across the

sector, providers are not making it easy for customers to reach them through “organic’ search.

When visitors do reach providers’ websites, presumably on their desktop computers, they are then faced

with too many navigational options and poor information organisation. British Gas, for an example, use

an overly comprehensive dropdown menu as their starting point. E.ON hide information about

complaints reporting behind the ‘Reset’ label on their menu bar. What is Reset? It’s the name of an E.ON

campaign. It’s almost as if many energy providers’ websites are designed to reflect corporate priorities

rather than provide a excellent customer experience. There’s UX work needed across the sector.

If frustrated by poor information organisation, confused customers and prospective customers will then

turn to the websites’ search engines to find what they are looking for. Aside from ‘Mediocre’ Good

Energy and the ‘Weak’ Ovo Energy, we ranked providers’ site search engines as broadly ‘Good’. We noted

that only two companies, Ecotricity and British Gas, are using predictive search technology to assist their

site visitors.

British Gas also did well with their website accessibility information, we graded their efforts as

‘Excellent’. It suprised us that only five of the nine sites link to their accessibility information from their

front pages. The UK has an aging population, and its only polite to offer assistance.

We ranked E.ON and Good Energy as having ‘Excellent’ calls-to-action. It may be instructive to compare

and contrast the clarity and consistency of Good Energy’s efforts with ScottishPower’s calls-to-action

that lead to pop-ups and other sites with differing layouts.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ARE ENERGYPROVIDERS MAKING

THE MOST OF THE WEB?

GAS, ELECTRICITY ANDPEOPLE POWER

�

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR


P 7

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOROnce engaged and ready to take action, visitors should be taken to the heart of these websites;

information for customers about switching, tariffs & energy saving. Perhaps not suprisingly all nine aim

messaging at consumers looking to switch. We graded the quality of this information across the sector

as ‘Mediocre‘ to ‘Good’. British Gas, again, do well in this area with a straightforward tariffs chart that

allows a comparison of their gas and electricity prices. Ovo Energy’s switching page is also easy to

understand, but it should be as they only offer two plans.

Also worth noting is the lack of content marketing on these sites. With the networking power of social

media, good customer information and brand journalism can become another marketing tool. The

smaller companies appear to be using content marketing more effectively, rallying customers around a

cause, clearly linking to blogs that allow customers to get a sense of the provider's values.

Once the consumer has signed up, we’ve found that information and content is of a lower standard for

existing customers. Yes all but one of the providers make it easy to complain and submit a meter

reading, but where’s the prominently-displayed, rich, engaging content that consumers can share with

one another?

The online billing process is another crucial element of these sites for customers. Yet again, British Gas

lead, ranked ‘Excellent’ for their well designed service. Ecotricity and Good Energy trail the pack as they

do not yet offer customers the ability to log in and monitor their accounts from their home computer.

And finally we turn to social media. Its power is evident. Over at the British Gas Facebook page

thousands of disgruntled ‘fans’ are currently voicing their displeasure at the increases in fuel bills.

What’s interesting is that there’s currently no clear “social leader” in the energy sector. Although five

companies operate dedicated customer service Twitter accounts, only three link to these pages from the

pages of their websites. Only the Good Energy website displays social share buttons. It seems providers

are still learning about engaging customers in conversation across the web.

Of the nine companies we looked at, we rated six “Good” and four “Mediocre” for social media. Minnow

Ecotricity gets the same ‘Good’ grade as British Gas. In fact, Ecotricity has thousands more Facebook

‘Likes’ than British Gas, and similar engagement levels.

Social media has to be taken seriously. Increasingly, providers wanting to forge new bonds with their

customers will have to integrate their web and social presences.

So, to recap, our research reveals that energy providers are not making the most of the web, their digital

presences are passable but not delightful. Good is not good enough, they should be demonstrating great

customer service. In the areas of mobile optimisation, content quality and social media especially,

there’s an opportunity for providers to enhance their offering, and to use the web to build a better

relationship with customers, while differentiating themselves from their competitors.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

“We now have more customers contact us online than through our call centres and

we are delighted that our customers have recognised our e�orts to make our

website and smart phone apps easy to use and full of useful content. ”

Ian PetersManaging Director Energy at British Gas

“It’s positive that there has been some improvement in how customers’ energy

complaints are handled. However there is still a very long way to go – with around

half of consumers dissatis�ed. The energy industry routinely tops the charts as the

sector least trusted by consumers and the customer service they receive is a

signi�cant factor in this.”

Audrey GallacherDirector of Energy at Consumer Focus, April 2012


P 8

MOBILE

Use of responsive design?

NO

YES

NO

YES

Separate mobile site?

Mobile app?

British Gas, SSE Energy,E.ON, EDF, Npower

NO

YES

0

9

0

9

5

4

TWO FIFTHS OF UK ADULTS NOWOWN A SMARTPHONE

Two fifths also say that their phone is the most important

device for accessing the internet, reports OFCOM.

Yet we've found that many energy providers are not mobile-ready. Of the

nine we examined, none use responsive design for their websites, none use

separate mobile templates and only five offer mobile apps

(some of which are iPhone only).

Why is mobile important?

Research by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB, 2012) has found that

mobile optimised websites increase visitor dwell time by two crucial

minutes. Energy providers are missing an opportunity to

engage their customers.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%2007 2011 2015

73%

27%

43%48%

57%

73%

52%

Mobile web surfing is estimated to overtake desktop web surfing by 2015

Source: Morgan Stanley Research data

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR


P 9

SITE SEARCH ENGINESDIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO NO NO NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

NO

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES YES

YES

Ecotricity

British Gas

E.ON

EDF

Npower

ScottishPower

SSE Energy

Good Energy

Ovo Energy

A list of the energy provider websites rankedby search engine excellence. Scored out of 5.

weak excellent

Do they have asearch function?

Predictive searchengine technology?

Term: Pay bill. Does it return

relevant pages?

Term: Updateaddress. Does itreturn relevant

pages?

Term: Complaint. Does it

return relevantpages?

SITE SEARCH ENGINES A technically excellent internal search engine will help site visitors to cut through the clutter and allow them find what they're looking for.

Seven of our nine energy firms are deploying search engines that we've ranked good to excellent, which is positive news.

However, we've found that with the exception of British Gas and Ecotricity, top energy providers are not making the most of advances in search technology. Only these two

providers are employing predictive search technology that assists site visitors by suggesting terms that they may be looking for.


P 10

SITE SEARCH ENGINES – EXAMPLESDIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

British GasBritish Gas assists its website visitors by offering a predictive search mechanism.

EcotricityEcotricity also use predictive search technology, helping to engage their site visitors.

City University LondonEnergy providers could perhaps learn from the higher education sector. Universities are increasingly using advanced search technology to help make sense of their large, information-rich, websites. See City University London's search engine.


P 11

ACCESSIBILITYDIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION There are both ethical and commercial justifications for implementing the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. There are, for example, ten million people in

the UK over 65 years old, and the latest projections are for 5½ million more elderly people in 20 years time.

Of the nine sites we examined, all appear to abide by the guidelines, but many do not clearly advise the visitor about their site's accessibility. Only British Gas

scored top marks, due to their helpful accessibility page. Only five of the nine sites link to their accessibility information from their front page.

YES

YES

NO

YES

YES

NO

YES

NO

NO

British Gas

EDF

E.ON

Ovo Energy

ScottishPower

Ecotricity

Good Energy

Npower

SSE Energy

Accessibility information excellence, scored out of 5.

weak excellent

Link on home page?


P 12

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

NpowerNpower's website accessibility page is difficult to find. Perhaps it doesn't exist?.

British GasBritish Gas link to their helpful accessibility information from the front page of their website.

ACCESSIBILITY - EXAMPLES


P 13

NAVIGATION DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

NAVIGATION AND ORGANISATION There's an art to making websites easily navigable and well organised. A site that makes it difficult for a visitor to find what they're looking for, is

making it difficult for that visitor to become a customer. The nine sites that we've examined differ in their approaches to organising their content.

Even comparing navigation bars and menus can be instructive. All but one site uses drop-down menus, with varying degrees of success. Of the sites

that use drop-downs, Ovo Energy is the only one that, slightly confusingly, repeats the links in the main navigation bar in its drop-down panels.

Ecotricity

Npower

E.ON

Good Energy

Ovo Energy

SSE Energy

British Gas

EDF

ScottishPower

Excellence of navigation? Are the sections organised well? Scored out of 5.

weak excellent


P 14

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

NpowerNpower's drop-down panels are easier to read, a little less intimidating.

British GasBG use large, off-putting, overly comprehensive, blue block drop-downs.

NAVIGATION – EXAMPLES


P 15

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

Ecotricity Ecotricity's site is the only one not to use dropdowns. It could be argued that its navigational simplicity is attractive.

Good EnergyGood Energy's site fades on menu rollover, highlighting the options.

NAVIGATION – EXAMPLES


P 16

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR CALLS TO ACTION

ENGAGE SITE VISITORS BEFORE THEY CLICK AWAY Of the nine websites we analysed, E.on and Good Energy employed the best calls to action.

Why are calls to action important? “Users often leave web pages in 10–20 seconds", says Jacob Nielson, usibility expert, "but pages

with a clear value proposition can hold people's attention for much longer.”

E.ON

Good Energy

British Gas

Ecotricity

Npower

Ovo Energy

SSE Energy

EDF

ScottishPower

Scores for calls to action, scored out of 5.

weak excellent

EcotricityWhen the visitor is inactive, the Ecotricity site is the only one of the sites to display a clear "Would you like us to call you back?" message.


P 17

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR CALLS TO ACTION – EXAMPLES

E.ONThe simplicity of E.ON's homepage allows it to focus attention with wide images.

Good EnergyGE's use of strong blocks on the side of pages focuses attention.


P 18

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)Google calls it the Zero Moment of Truth, “that moment when you grab your laptop or mobile device and start learning more about a product or

service.” Energy providers can build awareness with potential customers by ensuring that their pages are correctly search engine optimised.

We looked for the quality of title tags, metadescriptions and URLS. SSE scored highly for well written metadescriptions, Ecotricity for descriptive title

tags. British Gas is missing metadescriptions, as is poorly SEOd ScottishPower.

Ecotricity

SSE Energy

E.ON

Npower

British Gas

EDF

Good Energy

Ovo Energy

ScottishPower

Which providers score highest at technical SEO excellence? Scored out of 5.

weak excellent


P 19

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR CUSTOMER CONTENT

CONTENT FOR POTENTIAL (& EXISTING) CUSTOMERSAlthough few energy providers explicitly segment their websites for potential customers, none of the sites were judged to be weak in using their

sites to attract new business. Five providers were judged to be good, four mediocre.

All of the nine aim messaging at potential customers who may be considering switching. Most have information about tariffs and energy saving.

Suprisingly only four of the providers are finding prominent places on their sites for shareable content marketing and brand journalism.

NO

NO

NO

NO

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

British Gas

Ecotricity

Good Energy

Ovo Energy

SSE Energy

E.ON

EDF

Npower

ScottishPower

Excellence of information for potential customers? Scored out of 5.

weak excellent

Prominent content marketing?


P 20

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR CUSTOMER CONTENT – EXAMPLES

Ovo EnergyOvo's 'choose your tariff' page is among the clearest we've seen, too.

British GasBG's clear tariffs page helps their customers to compare gas and electricity prices.


P 21

...DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

British Gas BG uses a stylish "Get a quote tool".

Good EnergyGood Energy's blog gives a flavour of the nature of the business and its values.

Ovo EnergyOvo use their website to allow us to meet members of the team.

CUSTOMER CONTENT – EXAMPLES


P 22

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR CUSTOMER CONTENT

CONTENT FOR EXISTING CUSTOMERSCustomer Complaints Handling Research (2012) by Ofgem reveals that:

"The main source of contact information when registering a complaint remains the bill or account statement, used by just

under two thirds (63%) of all Domestic customers – a slight decline from 66% in 2010."

However, energy provider websites are increasingly being turned to by disgruntled customers:

"Almost 1 in 5 (18%) used their supplier website to find the contact information they used to make their complaint, compared to 12% in 2010."

So it's heartening that we've found that all provider websites, bar one, make it easy to complain. As part of our research, we also looked at meter reading, online tools, brand journalism and

energy saving information excellence for existing customers. British Gas came out top with E.ON, Good Energy and ScottishPower close behind.

NO

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

YES

British Gas

E.ON

Good Energy

ScottishPower

EDF

Npower

SSE Energy

Ecotricity

Ovo Energy

Excellence of content for existing customers? Scored out of 5.

weak excellent

Easy to make a complaint?


P 23

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©


E.ONE.ON's Energy Tracker tool shows "you your daily energy usage based on meter readings".

British GasBritish Gas make it easy to submit a meter reading, new customers do not have to log in.


DIGITAL BENCHMARK©


ScottishPowerSP use YouTube video on their site, a rarity.

Good EnergyGE write about their patnership with the National Trust.

P 24FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT US: [email protected] • +44 (0)20 7407 7666 // [email protected] • 1(646) 347 4340

P 25

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR BILLING PROCESS

DOMESTIC CUSTOMER BILLING PROCESSWe examined the excellence of the online billing process for domestic customers. We looked at the billing-journey, bill information and access, and online bill payment.

The “big six” energy suppliers scored highly for offering bill paying and bill-viewing functionality, British Gas was rated 'excellent', the others 'good'.

Ecotricity and Good Energy do not yet offer customers the ability to log-in and monitor their accounts, which cost them points. Ovo let their customers view bills online,

check consumption figures, enter meter readings, adjust personal information and adjust direct debits... but we had to email the company to find out this information.

Their website does not do a good job of explaining what the 'My Ovo' Account is.

British Gas

E.ON

EDF

Npower

ScottishPower

SSE Energy

Good Energy

Ovo Energy

Ecotricity

Excellence of billing process? Scored out of 5.

weak excellent


P 26

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR BILLING PROCESS – EXAMPLE

British GasBritish Gas customer accounts are well designed and packed with features.


P 27

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

“Firms have to be part of social media and play an

active role. They must go in and create a community of

friends, rather than just looking for potential clients.

Basically, they have to become social in the true

sense of the word. And they have to open up.”

Of the nine providers we looked at, all maintain Twitter accounts, five operate dedicated

customer service Twitter accounts. All but two maintain energy-related Facebook pages.

Social media deserves scrutiny because it's becoming increasingly important to providers who

want to build a relationship with their customers.

If we look to the U.S, research from Nielsen and McKinsey reveals that, nearly half (47 percent)

of social media users today actively seek customer service through social media.

"What we're seeing is that customers are turning to social media channels for customer service,

regardless of whether and where a particular brand is actually equipped to handle customer

service over social media," said Gadi BenMark, of the research team. "Today's customers choose

when and where they voice their questions, issues, and complaints. They don't care if a company

is set up to answer customer questions on Facebook, or if it has an actual Twitter handle for

customer service."

Our research found that the "big six" are not making the most of the power of the network to

spread their messages. The smaller, and perhaps more nimble, energy providers are using social

media as more than a broadcast tool. As well as fielding complaints, they're using social to build

relationships with their customers and to raise awareness of their products.

To paraphrase The Cluetrain Manifesto:

1) Markets are conversations

2) Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors

3) Conversations between humans sound human, they are conducted in human voices

Or as Matthias Lüfkens from the World Economic Forum recently said:

“Firms have to be part of social media and play an active role. They must go in and create a

community of friends, rather than just looking for potential clients. Basically, they have to

become social in the true sense of the word. And they have to open up.”

We believe that the energy provider that can successfully "open up" and can integrate its social

media with its consumer website will create an competitive advantage, and may even begin to

heal their often troubled relationship with UK customers.

It will be interesting to see if the smaller providers can remain "social" as they grow.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Matthias LüfkensWorld Economic Forum


P 28

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR

British Gas

Ecotricity

EDF

Good Energy

SSE Energy

Ovo Energy

ScottishPower

E.ON

Npower

Excellence of social media for customers (aggregated, out of 10)

for new customers (out of 5) for existing customers (out of 5)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

SOCIAL MEDIA


P 29

DIGITAL BENCHMARK©

ENERGY SECTOR SOCIAL MEDIA – FOLLOWERS AND ENGAGEMENT

20.000

NUMBEROF PEOPLE

16.000

12.000

8.000

4.000

0

SOCIAL SHARE BUTTONS ON MOST PAGES OF CONSUMER WEBSITE?

DIRECT LINKS ON MOST PAGES OF CONSUMER WEBSITE TO SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES?

SEPARATE CUSTOMER SERVICES TWITTER ACCOUNT?

NUMBER OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS FACEBOOK PAGE?

NUMBER OF TWITTER FOLLOWERS ON MOST POPULAR ACCOUNT?

NUMBER OF FACEBOOK ENERGY PAGE FOLLOWERS?

Ecotricity

Good Energy

EDF

British Gas

Ovo Energy

SSE Energy

E.ON

ScottishPower

Npower

18.0

00

14.1

40

13.7

17

9.58

3

3.43

0

7.73

5

5.92

8

4.27

9

3.70

0

9.62

7

1.69

0

2.03

4

1.80

6

392

4.11

7

1.90

8

32303

161

52

537

330

450

0 00 0


London office

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Last Exit Benchmark Studies: Pension Funds Sector