www.OPOWER.com

Two years ago, Cheetah Power realized that motivating the individual is absolutely necessary to reach our goal of energy self-sufficiency for all.  We’ve stumbled upon likeminded efforts along this journey, one of which is OPOWER. 

OPOWER is an industry leader in Energy Efficiency and a stellar example in achieving the same goal set forth by Cheetah Power – energy awareness within millions of people.

They employ an effective way to get people to pay attention to this energy conservation / energy independence message and respond favorably. Their approach is awesome!  The power of “normative messaging” is essentially tapping that old familiar emotion of not being left behind or made to feel less efficient. Yes, keeping up with the Jones’ is still a motivator toward action. 

Experts in energy efficiency already know that motivating customers to take energy conservation action is a big challenge because making an impact requires large scale citizen participation. OPOWER’s approach includes a colorful and friendly energy report that is sent directly to utility customers. Their new utility bills offer clear visibility into how energy is being used right in their neighborhood and compares neighbor’s efficiency.  Internally, people aspire to do their very best, as good as or better than the neighbor – someone who is watching. The neighborhood is the targeted attention grabber. Marketing professionals know that if information is not relevant, people won’t pay attention. While the OPOWER utility bill has the customer’s attention, the report makes it easy to take action by suggestion sensible steps that anyone can perform at minimal cost and effort: adjusting thermostat at night, use of large appliances during off-peak hours, or changing air filters, etc. Officials at OPOWER believe that motivating one million households to make simple adjustments in their daily energy consumption will save enough energy to power 25,000 homes!

OPOWER is engaging the customer and using customer data analytics to leveraging behavioral science.  Change happens when people really want to change. How can we continue their success?