Off Peak

January 15, 2001

Warm Mouse, Cold Feet

 

Is your website what's keeping browsers from signing up online?

Despite the industry's increasing focus on e-commerce, it appears that the websites of many energy service providers (ESPs) remain no more than slick marketing pieces, with little true customer interaction taking place. The problem might be as simple as the website's lack of a clear security statement, but it reveals volumes about the way ESPs are approaching competition.

A recent survey of European and U.S. households found that although 75 percent of respondents were interested in using the Internet to switch supplier online, 20 percent of energy site browsers ultimately chose to switch supplier offline. About half blamed their reluctance on an unwillingness to submit details online. Fifty percent of the U.S. respondents said they were unable to switch online at all because their supplier's website didn't have the capability, according to the survey by Datamonitor, a UK-based marketing analysis firm.

Fred Abrew, chairman of e-business consulting firm Energy E-Comm.com and former CEO of Equitable Resources, says that in the United States, the ESP's site capabilities usually reflect its business plan.