ATLANTA, Feb. 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the average open rate of marketing emails at about 25 percent and click-through rates inside emails averaging only 4 percent*, it's no wonder the industry takes notes when a utility achieves a 46 percent open rate and a 30 percent click through rate.
Apogee Interactive's Web Services Manager Brian Jackson presented these compelling results and more at the 25th Annual Conference of the Association of Energy Service Professionals today in Orlando, which attracts hundreds of utility program managers, energy efficiency professionals and energy policy makers each year.
Jackson offered a recap of a 40,000-member email campaign conducted by Rappahannock Electric Cooperative last fall. "Not only did the campaign blow away national averages, customer satisfaction with the quality of the video and the value of its message exceeded 90 percent," said Jackson.
Apogee automatically generated highly personalized, animated videos for each of the REC members using its flagship energy and bill analysis software, variable-data video technology and the existing data in the utility's billing system. "It's secure, it's accurate and the email campaign numbers show that consumers approve," Jackson said.
REC first partnered with Apogee to do a pilot using 2,000 emails with the videos and a follow-up survey. REC quickly moved to implement the 40,000-member email campaign after seeing the remarkably positive, over-the-top survey responses. To the survey question about "ideal frequency," an astounding 99 percent indicated either monthly (72 percent) or quarterly (27 percent). REC will continue to expand distribution of the personalized video messages to members promoting programs by replacing the survey link each month with a program offer tailored to the unique characteristics of the recipient's home as detected with Apogee's bill analysis software.
Apogee's customized video messages for utility customers can be delivered by email, accessed from consumer portals and delivered on mobile devices. In addition, the same analysis software and video technology can be used beyond proactive bill explanations for delivering virtually any important message where sending a specific message to customers meeting a certain criteria is beneficial, including program sign-up, demand-response event participation, high bill alerts, or providing customized outage messaging.
For more details, see Apogee's personalized video messaging and the AESP's 25th Annual National Conference.
*Source: Epsilon Email Market Research Center Study 2013
Apogee Interactive Inc. (www.apogee.net) Founded in 1993, Apogee pioneered electronic applications designed to increase a utility's customer engagement and consumer energy efficiency. Today, its comprehensive customer communication platform of applications have expanded to include personalized video messaging, outbound email and text messaging, and its energy analysis apps are available for mobile devices. Clients include investor-owned, municipal and cooperative energy companies including Con Edison (ED), American Electric Power (AEP), PSEG (PEG), CPS, Georgia Power (GPE-A), LCEC, Avista (AVA), and SMUD.