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According to recent forecasts, $13.5 million is expected to be spent by utilities worldwide on gamification tools, innovative applications and other customer-centric services by 2014, rising to $65 million in 2016. It is also predicted that by 2016, 60% of progressive global energy retailers will utilize at least one gamified application.
Provided by Intelen, DiG is a compact data-driven SaaS platform for the utility space that leverages advanced game mechanics and behavioral analytics to deliver optimal customer engagement and sustained customer satisfaction.
Based on a complete behavioral design framework, DiG is comprised by three main components. First comes gamification. DiG utilizes gamification techniques such as reward structures, positive reinforcement, and subtle feedback loops alongside mechanics like points, badges, levels, challenges, and leaderboards to turn learning experience into a game that will entail energy efficiencies, improved peak response and higher levels of customer loyalty.
Second comes the social aspect that can act as a boost on users’ engagement. Presenting end-users with their peers’ progress and activities is sufficient to trigger inner motivational chords.
Third component is customization. One of the most effective ways to persuade an end user is to provide personalized services. Understanding users and their needs is indeed challenging but is only the one side of the coin. The second implies to be ready to design a product that is so powerful that can sustain personalization. Create features in order to provide a service with the maximum value for the users.
Though, utilities are not challenged only to increase their customer’s engagement. The challenge of evaluating customer’s engagement still remains. In modern behavioral science and data-driven analytics, there is no a unified mathematical and conceptual model to account for engagement or assess other behavioral metrics. DiG is built on models that can measure all behavioral metrics such as interactions with the responsive app and the level of sub-liminal learning achieved while act as a communication tool that allows utilities to quantify and track KPIs of their interest like customer’s satisfactions.
The ultimate objective, is to generate actual data-driven behavioral reports, based on smart meter data, unique behavioral data, demographics and others, to identify human profiles (ex. influencers) that can sustain efficiency results and can increase overall measurable engagement.
However DiG does not stop there. DiG goes one step further by providing valuable insights to support business related crucial requests. By utilizing all available data sources, DiG manages all collected Big Data so as to enable the deeper understanding of every aspect of customers’ entities, complete the fuzzy scene and be ready to provide so accurate and customized marketing consulting services to utilities than ever before. Thus, DiG can address issues that utilities face such as how to increase market share and new customer rate, or how to reduce customer acquisition cost of campaigns, increase campaigns effectiviness by spotting targeted markets and restrict redundant promotional actions.
DiG has already been deployed in US and European markets as a pilot, with results confirming higher customer engagement and satisfaction. What comes next for DiG is to prove its scalability potentials for large rollouts.
Taken all together, DiG is the perfect solution for utilities that seek to train their customers on energy efficiency best practices using an innovative and fun means, engage their customers more and improve their campaigns effectiveness by adopting data-driven marketing.