Is energy efficiency still a top priority for consumers?®
Learn how to motivate consumers to buy energy-efficient products and services.
BUY NOWNow in its fifth year, Energy Pulse® 2009 unlocks consumer attitudes and motivations, identifies continuing trends and emerging issues and gains insight into the American consumer’s mindset on energy-efficient products and services.
Energy Pulse trends a number of energy consumption and conservation issues, seeking to:
- Profile U.S. households by demographics, energy conservation perceptions, motivations and activities
- Discover knowledge for renewable energy alternatives
- Determine participation and purchase potential for a variety of energy conservation products, from hybrid cars to compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Ascertain attitudes and purchase propensity for energy-efficient homes and home renovations
- Determine barriers to conservation and energy-efficient purchases
- Identify drivers and the persuasive messages that resonate best with consumers
- Discover what Americans expect their government to be doing to help meet the country's energy needs
Unlock the minds of your consumers. Here's a sneak peek at what you'll learn from Energy Pulse 2009.
When it comes to energy efficiency, we really do need a little less talk and a lot more action. Consumers tend to say one thing and do another. As a result, after years of tracking, we’re offering specific metrics around how to appropriately discount survey propensity numbers for energy-efficient products and conservation behaviors to help guide you as you develop energy efficiency programs to deliver success.
- Why aren’t we seeing higher penetration of energy efficiency measures?
- How can we make purchase intent become behavior?
Each year home energy audit intention scores approximately 20% or more since the study began in 2005, but the percentage of those who have actually gotten audits remains low, at around 10%. Only CFL bulbs have shown follow-through comparable to stated propensity; last year 47% said they'd purchased CFLs or other energy-efficient bulbs and an additional 29% said they were likely to do so in the future. This year, ownership has increased to 63%. So, what does this mean for your energy efficiency campaign? Energy Pulse holds the key.
Good intentions lead to where? Let’s hope that “h” word is “higher efficiency.” Last year, in the heat of the economic meltdown, the most likely home improvements (if given $10,000) were energy-efficient improvements. This year, the top two answers are:
- Refinish kitchen or bathroom 37% (compared to 26% last year)
- Replace carpet or add hardwood or tile 33% (compared to 25% last year)
Today, many Americans seem to have adjusted to the economic situation and energy-efficient upgrades are once again riding in the backseat. Plus, most are either unable to sell their homes or are spending more time at home. That means consumers are looking to increase their home’s comfort and aesthetic appeal.
- Has this confluence of recession, cocooning and home-improvement-thinking actually created a prime opportunity to persuade consumers to invest in energy efficiency?
- What messaging is best for your target audience?
Over 60% say they’ve adopted some energy-efficient habits already; and many consumers still have high purchase intent for energy efficiency measures, even for those with low current adoption rates. Plus, the tangible benefit of saving money is still the number one reason consumers will invest in energy efficiency measures. Find out how your strategy needs to change.
Great expectations: How energy efficiency marketing is hurting itself. Consumers said it would take their bills going up by an average of $129 a month to motivate them to invest in energy-efficient renovations. That would be over $4 a day—or $1500 a year—wasted by doing nothing. What happened to saving money? This year's Energy Pulse survey supported a common complaint we've heard in focus groups—after changing their behavior or installing efficiency measures, consumers aren’t seeing the savings they felt they were promised.
- How does this affect marketing strategies nationwide?
- How should utilities and product manufacturers position products/services to avoid unrealistic expectations? What influences consumers more—potential savings or potential waste?
Without some type of reward for behavior change, positive energy-efficient behaviors won’t become long-term habits and conservation goals won’t be met. And rewards are not optional. Energy Pulse provides three detailed recommendations to reward behavior change if bill reductions can’t be delivered.
The blame game: How awareness impacts energy usage. Most consumers aren’t aware that they use more energy now than they did five years ago, and many don’t understand the energy drain of most household appliances and electronics.
- Is further consumer education required if reduction goals are to be met?
- Are smart meters with two-way communication more critical to the success of energy efficiency programs than many utility companies currently realize?
Utility rates were lower last winter, overall, and while nearly a third (32%) reported their bills had remained stable or gone down, most people reported bill increases of up to 30%. That’s particularly worrisome since, as stated before, more than 60% reported they’ve adopted energy-efficient behaviors with the expectation of saving money.
For the first time in five years, consumers are primarily blaming increased demand for high energy prices. But they’re not interpreting that in a personal way; instead, they’re applying the larger laws of supply and demand economics. Ironically, some utility companies are operating to the inverse of that economic principle—raising prices when demand decreases. Energy Pulse offers solutions to help get your marketing back on the right track to see consumer results.
What you'll get.
This 300+ page report tells you:
- How consumers prioritize product categories
- Behavioral and attitudinal profiles of consumers
- Beliefs, misperceptions and actions taken by consumers
- Specific messaging that motivates them
- Media preferences
- Shopping preferences
- Market opportunities
Energy Pulse includes audience profiles and segmentation, cross-tabulations, charts and graphs for each question asked in the survey, targeting demographics for twenty-one energy-efficient products or programs, and strategies for marketing energy-efficient products and activities.