Energy

Industry snapshot: above average engagement, low frustration

Typically a pillar of the global economy, energy industry revenue is projected to fall by over $1 trillion due to COVID-19. While energy investments were expected to grow by 2% in 2020 before global lockdowns, it’s time organizations prioritize digital-first experiences to revive revenue streams. From individual consumers to small businesses and corporations, energy companies must commit to optimizing digital experiences as purchasing habits and behaviors shift online.

DIGITAL FRUSTRATION

Energy’s biggest user frustrations

With digital experiences carrying more weight than ever, it’s unsettling to see that just 48% of institutions have a well-designed user journey with clear and seamless interactions. For energy companies to bounce back and regain traction, delivering frictionless user experiences on websites and apps is fundamental for maximizing digital conversion, revenue, and retention.

With just 4.8% of page views containing instances of user frustration, energy generally performs well against the 6.7% average of other industries. It has a significantly low incidence of rapid scrolling per user session, which in certain contexts signals user frustration. However, it has a relatively high occurrence of bird’s nest behavior, which refers to when a user rapidly shakes their mouse in confusion, unresponsive multiclicks, which typically occur on broken links or buttons, and repeated device rotation, the result of content not fitting the screen.

3 ways to reduce frustration in energy

01

Streamline account access

Plenty of customers visit your site to pay bills, research services, or seek assistance. To retain these users, you’ll need to ensure login access plus account setup and usability is seamless and frustration-free.

02

Design intuitive navigation

With a wide range of services, energy sites and apps can’t afford to confuse users with an overly complex or effort-filled site navigation. Ensure menus are broken down categorically and practically with as few steps as possible between ‘Point A’ and ‘Point B.’

03

Prioritize site performance

A slow-loading account page or unresponsive element can infuriate users looking to make payments or add services – and even cause churn. Focusing on improving site performance, especially on high-traffic user journeys, is crucial for minimizing frustration.

Energy typically sees high engagement, with lots of reading behavior across the industry. Energy companies need to ensure this engagement translates to positive business outcomes by placing clear call to actions and next steps.

Seb Thakar | Global Team Lead of Insights Services, Decibel

Share this report

DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT

Energy’s biggest user engagements

Creating engagement is a lifeline for drawing in and retaining customers. In fact, companies with the strongest omni-channel engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, as compared to 33% for those with poor engagements.

With sessions having an average Engagement Score of 4.66/10, energy performs slightly better than the 4.6 average of other industries. It has a high incidence of reading behavior, which refers to users following content with their mouse, and an average occurrence of select and copy behavior. It has a low number of responsive multiclicks, which refers to users clicking through responsive page elements like product carousels.

3 ways to drive more engagement in energy

01

Create helpful content

From researching scalable renewable energy options to checking service interruption warnings, users actively seek content to self-educate. Focus on producing a wide range of resources, articles, forums, and videos to keep users informed and engaged.

02

Personalize web content

Whether a user is a homeowner or business owner, tailoring web content to users on the homepage and account logins is a major engagement driver. Leverage user history, account details, and short pop-up forms to ensure you deliver content they’ll engage with.

03

Use clear call-to-actions

Creating clear, obvious, and relevant call-to-actions is a sure-fire way to increase engagement and move user through the funnel. It’s best to put the most popular and helpful call-to-actions on your homepage or top menu for high visibility and low effort.

USER JOURNEYS

Energy’s user journey trends

Virtually every user journey differs, but those broadly most travelled require the most attention on your energy site. Tracking customer journeys in real time is key to delivering on customer expectations, but 2/3 of organizations lack this capability.

With an average Navigation Score of 9.3/10, energy performs slightly worse than the 9.4 average of other industries. However, per page view, the on-page refresh rate is just 4.6%, and the revisit rate of pages is just 17.7% against the 33.4% average of other industries – suggesting energy users are generally finding what they need on each page, without having to look twice or cover old ground.

EXPERIENCE & CONVERSION

Energy’s correlation between digital experience and conversion

Are perfect digital experiences the key to conversion success?

Data shows visit-to-lead conversions can be 400% higher on sites with remarkable user experiences. While it’s an encouraging sign for energy companies, to really convert users into loyal energy customers it takes a keen understanding of the relationship between digital experiences and conversions within the industry.

Generally, the goal conversion rate in energy is lower than in other industries, but its correlation to DXS® is slightly higher, which could mean tolerance for mediocre experiences is lower in energy than elsewhere – rendering the quality of the overall experience vitally important.

3 energy digital experience trends and tips to look out for in 2021

01

Translating engagement into results

There’s an opportunity for energy businesses to transform the on-site and in-app engagement they experience into more conversions and revenue with clear calls to action and offers.

02

Competition may increase

As demand shifts online, digital services offered by energy companies will be more widespread, so expect a rise in competition for eyeballs and loyalty.

03

Optimization will be crucial

With expectations for digital experiences always rising, investing in digital experience optimization has never been more crucial for energy companies looking to maximize sales and repeat business.