We Make Energy Engaging
Consumers Energy
boosts event ROI
Consumers Energy boosts event ROI and customer satisfaction
scores by leveraging Questline’s Webinar Service.
Problem
Consumers Energy needed a cost-effective way to
communicate with their Commercial and Industrial customers.
Live events for residential customers were not as well attended
as they had hoped, and the return on investment was limited
to the number of customers that were willing or able to travel
to the selected location. The cost of bringing in employees,
renting a facility, catering and other ancillary expenses were
disproportionate to the number of customers they were able
to reach. Ultimately, the company felt it was going to be even
harder to reach their time-constrained business customers
utilizing this same method.
Solution
Consumers Energy at a Glance:
Consumers Energy has been partnering with Questline
in other capacities for a number of years. When the idea
of a webinar series was proposed as a way to meet the
company’s objectives, Dave Johnson, Director of Business
Customer Management at Consumers Energy, wasn’t sure
what to expect, but he was willing to test it out. “This wasn’t
just our first webinar with Questline, but the first that I know
of anywhere in the company.”
Consumers Energy is one of the nation’s largest combination utilities,
providing electric and natural gas service to nearly 6.8 million of
Michigan’s 10 million residents, in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.
Once Consumers Energy determined their goals and the
subject matter of the initial presentation, Questline began
developing the delivery strategy.
+ 2012 Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR® Partner
of the Year Award for helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
through energy efficiency
+ Founded in 1886
+ Total employees: 7,500
+ More than 100,000 miles of electric and natural gas lines
+ Recognized by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and the
American Gas Association (AGA) for helping restore service
after Hurricane Sandy
Go to www.consumersenergy.com for more information.
questline.com
We Make Energy Engaging
Result
The first webinar focused on energy-efficient lighting. Working
closely with Consumers Energy, Questline’s Marketing and
Content teams developed a comprehensive program including
the presentation, email invitations, registration pages, and other
communications—all tailored to the needs of the audience.
According to Dave Johnson, all of the preparation that was
completed by Questline made it easy on his company. “Talk
about a service that was packaged in a way that was very
easy on us—we could have taken it right off the shelf.”
With a total of 127 customers attending that first webinar in
2011, Consumers Energy recognized the potential for future
presentations and scheduled more. “It was touted as a
success within the company,” Johnson says.
In subsequent webinars, the number of participants grew
steadily. The January 2013 webinar on rebates and savings
attracted 253 participants. The following March, 204
Consumers Energy customers attended a webinar on variable
frequency drives. Johnson attributes the greater attendance
to Questline assisting with picking relevant topics, Questline
delivering the material through professional speakers – who
were well-versed on the topic, and customers who missed
previous webinars experiencing & hearing positive feedback
through Webinar follow-up materials and Newsletters.
When looking back at the early live events, he sees online
attendance as a better use of their customers’ time. “With
a webinar, it’s an hour of the customer’s time. It’s logging
on from your computer, and there you are. Afterward, the
customer can immediately go back to work, with no travel
time involved. You have to remember that a customer’s time is
valuable, and you’re asking for some of it.”
Since the series began, Consumers Energy has seen a direct
impact on their Customer Value Management (CVM) scores.
These scores, which measure customer satisfaction, are
the result of a survey taken by customers from 54 different
utilities. Before they began using webinars, Consumers
Energy ranked 49th out of the 54 utilities that participate in
the surveys. In 2012, they moved up the list to number 17. “I
think the customers see that we care when we spend time
educating on important topics. The webinar has been one tool
we use towards impacting that score in a positive manner,”
Johnson says.
Consumers Energy continues to work with Questline
developing new webinars, which will bring new ideas and
information to their customers. “The word that comes to
mind is value. We define value as what you get for what you
pay, and we are getting ‘good bang for our buck’ out of these
webinars,” Johnson says.
Lessons Learned from Consumers Energy on Creating a Webinar:
+ Choose a knowledgeable speaker and have an expert team at
hand to answer questions
50%
INCREASE
IN PARTICIPATION
+ Get involved in webinar development; tailoring it to your
particular audience
+ Relevant, up-to-date topics are essential
+ Be deliberate in naming your webinar—include a hook
+ Take advantage of the opportunity for Q&A
+ Leave the customer with a reason to come back
questline.com