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Introducing myself –
Robin Neven
• Started 2 weeks ago as graduation intern at Liander,
Taskforce Energy Saving Solutions.
• MSc Marketing Management.
• University of Groningen.
16 March 2011
Home and office pilot projects
Pilot Project Participant Acquisition & Retention – Motivation to Join and Stay
Robin NevenLuleå, March 16th, 2011
• Part of Task 3.2: Set-up of the Experiment
• Part of Deliverable 3.3: Experiment design transfer technology and protocol
• Contributing in Knowledge Transfer
The issue in its core defined by Liander
16 March 2011
Problem Statement & Research Questions
• Problem statement:
How can pilot projects in the area of energy (saving) innovations be conducted more effectively and successfully concerning the acquisition and retention of participants?
• Research questions:
1. How can the acquisition rate for participation in pilot projects best be improved? What are the success and fail factors for this?
2. How can the retention rate of the participants during the pilot projects be improved and thus how can churn be minimized? What are the success and fail factors for this?
3. What can be done to increase the success rate of pilot projects; how can the per participant contribution (or participant equity) be improved?
16 March 2011
Aim of my stay here: gather input from all of you regarding all of the above!
Focus of the Research
16 March 2011
Possible basis for Conceptual Model
FOCUS
Acquiring
Participants Initial Pilot Test Group
Drop-out of Participants
Behavioural Change of Remaining Test Group
Population Pilot Project
Factors/variables in control of firm, e.g.:
- Reward systems
- Sociological
- Information Provision
- Communicaton
Factors/variables outside control of firm:
- Socio-demographics*
- Economics
* These can be influenced in selection.
Minimize this churn flow!
Green = Group of People
Orange = Action
Purple = Given Fact
Improving participant acquisition rate, success and fail factors:
– Reward systems: in what form, monetary or otherwise? Of what value? Direct or indirect?
– Sociological motivational reasons: recognition, image, feeling of belonging, being amongst ‘the innovators’. How to communicate this for acquisition? Is it a problem then that you only attract these kind of people?
– Communications: what media can best be used to communicate the above and to what extent (cost effectiveness)? What information? E.g. goal.
– Lowering thresholds: e.g. ease of installation of products or helpdesk.
Intrinsic motivation is stronger than extrinsic! How to reach that?
16 March 2011
Improving participant retention rate, success and fail factors:
– Reward systems: duration, continuity, increasing over time, to compensate fatigue?
– Information provision: over course of the pilot, with what intervals? Other ways to keep participants involved? Types and forms of feedback (direct, indirect).
– Communication in general; quality (how to be defined?), type of media, form.
16 March 2011
Intrinsic motivation is stronger than extrinsic!
Improving pilot success rate/participant equity:
– What is success? Define by asking managers if wanted insights are gained.
– Reward systems: Lottery example.
– What’s the influence of the experience of the participants during the pilot? Is there a relation with the contributions they make?
– What about two-way communication, how can participants feedback to the company?
– Reliable pilot results being relevant for the participant? Not only in ‘rewards’, but how does it ‘return’ to them in other ways? E.g. societal consequences, ‘moving towards a better world’? How to let them know?
16 March 2011
Intrinsic motivation is stronger than extrinsic!
Other interesting questions (but not the main aim)
• What is the influence of certain socio-demographics:
– Age;– Gender;– Income;– Education;– Occupation;– Marital status;– Household size.
• What is the influence of certain economics? Should you or should you not target population segments hit harder by a downturn for example?
16 March 2011
Design of the Research
• Theory: Discover solutions offered by (marketing) literature; what are suggested best practices for acquisition & retention and increasing customer/participant equity?
• Empirical: Quantitative and qualitative research; calculating A&R and Succes rates from pilot data, interviewing management, exploring documents. What are ways of doing it now? Which work and which don’t?
• Data sources: Liander (databases and employees), APOLLON (shared pilot project knowledge), pilot project participants (PPPs).
16 March 2011
16 March 2011
Luleå LLLuleå LL Helsinki LLHelsinki LL
Lisbon LLLisbon LL Amsterdam LLAmsterdam LL
Vitória LLVitória LLLL Cross-border LL Cross-border BenchmarkBenchmark
Liander has many pilots from which experiences can be gained, but considering APOLLON, focus will be Amsterdam Smart City (ASC):
The Pilots (I)
16 March 2011
Other Liander pilots to gain information/experiences from, are in four focus areas:
The Pilots (II)
Which to actually be researched? At least individual as well as office. All focus areas/all pilots? What do you think?
In the end…
• Come to conclusions and managerial recommendations concerning A&R of participants and increasing participant equity:
– What to do always/never?
– Which (A&R) methods to use in what situations (selection criteria)?
– Different methods for different client groups? Compile the overall picture afterwards? Or test ‘the average Dutchman’?
16 March 2011
16 March 2011
Overview of total energy usage and quick technical feed-back may improve user experience and effectiveness
• Consumers signed up spontaneously or were contacted by telephone• Retention limited for solicited participants (target!)
Findingparticipants
System
Systemusage
• Retention limited by complexity of installation• Helpdesk not yet up to speed• Technical feedback and troubleshooting will improve consumer experience
• Computer, TV, Washing machine, Drying laundry and Lighting• Feedback difficult to interpret• Demand for total energy use overview• Switching schemes were complicated and therefore not often used
The World Cup football was an important factorin consumers’ energy usage
16 March 2011
Improved contact with employees stimulates energy saving and improves troubleshooting of new system
- Information on the project (goal, status quo, helpdesk) hardly reaches employees, despite communication effort (flyers, e-mails)
- Measuring and saving energy requires insight into work place management during project
Pilotproject
Savingbehaviour
System
-Personal contact could stimulate insight and motivate employees to save energy
- Switching off PC’s after hours has strong savings potential, but is a hassle for employees due to long start up
- Fast installation of plugs requires accurate inventory and planning
-Monitoring and maintenance of system requires external ICT-access
-Effective savings measures on lighting (light pulse) are hard to combine with wireless network that uses tension of light socket
16 March 2011
Future projects involve effective energy management and focus on user retention
Idea
Set up
Experiment
Future projects
Today
Evaluation Focus on User
Upgrade setup
Energy management pilot
16 March 201118
Employees were informed about the pilot to createenergy awareness, with limited results
Commu-nication
Response
On location
“Interesting, but complicated!”
“Can employees get this system at home?”
“The bathroom light is often on; perhaps we can apply the energy management
system there?”
“So the new switchdoes work!”
“Will I be able to get coffee when I’m working late?”
E-mail & Flyers
Live data on Intranet
Reference vs. experiment
