Members of New England Women in Energy and the Environment shone bright at last week’s annual ENERGY STAR Partner Meeting in Charlotte, NC, which brought together energy efficiency leaders from across the nation in a shared mission to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the risks associated with climate change.

ENERGY STAR Products Communication Director, Jill Vohr moderated a panel titled “Look to the Stars, Lessons from Leaders in Energy Efficiency Marketing,” where several NEWIEE members discussed best practices and new approaches in marketing energy efficiency to consumers.

Jennifer Gray, Manager of Energy Efficiency Marketing and Amy Findlay, Supervisor of Customer Engagement Strategy at Eversource, described the utility’s unique approach to marketing. As the nation’s top provider of utility-based energy efficiency, Eversource layers traditional mass-market tactics with business intelligence to generate insights about customer motivations. Ms. Findlay described how the Eversource team uses these customer insights to personalize customer communications, integrating topics such as solar, EV, and demand response into a broader customer engagement strategy that encourages energy saving behaviors, drives participation in energy efficiency programs, and improves overall customer satisfaction. The top insight was the importance of the ENERGY STAR label itself, Ms. Gray said. Eversource recently found that 99% of customers surveyed are familiar with the ENERGY STAR label, and that the brand has significant influences on customer purchase decisions. What’s more, 72% of Eversource customers reported a better perception of their utility once they understood that the company is an ENERGY STAR partner award winner.

C+C General Manager and NEWIEE Board Member Cindy Jolicoeur discussed the value of ENERGY STAR as an “ingredient brand” for its partners. Made popular by Intel’s “Intel Inside” campaign in the early 1990s, ingredient brands add value, trust and credibility by branding one particular component or attribute to make an overall product more appealing/valuable to consumer. As the voluntary program that develops efficiency specifications for homes, products, buildings and plants, ENERGY STAR is one of the nation’s most high-profile ingredient brands, enjoying more than 90% brand awareness and a high degree of brand influence.

For consumers, the ENERGY STAR is a mark of trust that represents proven energy efficiency and product quality. A recent Good Housekeeping survey found that ENERGY STAR is the leading mark influencing product purchase. A 2017 study found partners’ JD Power Customer Satisfaction indexes for ENERGY STAR partners increased significantly over time compared to non-partners, particularly in the areas of Corporate Citizenship, Communications, and Customer Service.

Ms. Jolicoeur was joined by C+C Market Insights Director Corrine McCarthy, who shared some of the latest market research methodologies to uncover attitudes and behaviors toward energy efficiency and specific brands. One study looked at the impact of the ENERGY STAR label on high efficiency clothes dryers, and found that consumers believe that ENERGY STAR not only stands for energy efficiency, but also provides evidence of overall quality, thereby providing consumers with confidence that product claims about efficiency are true.

The ENERGY STAR Partner meeting is an annual gathering of utilities, energy efficiency program sponsors, manufacturers, utilities, NGO’s and consultants, working together to protect the environment by lowering carbon emissions and mitigating the risks associated with climate change. For more information, please visit http://energystar.gov.