Webinars

Apogee Institute Webinars

Apogee Institute Webinars are hosted for Apogee clients and invited guests to help advance their knowledge and skills base in this Web-centric, energy-focused world. We believe in the benefit of gathering industry peers together online to learn the latest trends and share real-world practices. Please contact us if you have additional training needs.

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Explore Past Webinars

Making Customer Distributed Technologies Work for You

Presented December 13, 2023

Your customers’ distributed technologies can help utilities increase efficiency, improve grid resilience, and integrate renewable energy sources, and much more. They can also present many challenges—and a successful customer program requires careful planning and effective communication.

Join AIQUEOUS CSO, Jonathan Kleinman for a one-hour presentation where he’ll share how your utility can maximize the benefits of customer distributed technologies.

Learn how you can easily:

  • Streamline your program management and reporting.
  • Effectively manage and track your customer relationships.
  • Support your customers through your DER programs
  • Educate your customers with relevant and personalized information.
  • Enable seamless two-way communication

Nurturing Relationships at Every Step of the Customer Journey

Presented October 31, 2023

Does your utility need to enhance the customer experience, increase customer satisfaction and improve program participation without increasing workload or staffing levels? Join Jim Malcom, COO, Apogee Interactive for a 30 minute webinar to learn how utilities like yours are developing a meaningful two-way dialogue with customers using personalized automated nurture marketing campaigns to cost effectively meet their goals.

See utility examples and understand how to use a proven digital marketing strategy, from customer onboarding and throughout the customer journey, to:

  • segment customers
  • personalize content
  • achieve sustained engagement

Discover more cost-effective customer satisfaction and achieve program goals.

Speaker Bio

Creative Ways to Digitally Engage Customers and Maximize the Rewards

Presented August 31, 2023

Join Apogee’s Major Account Manager, Eric Clausen and Sr. Account Manager, Danny Watkins for a 30 minute discussion about successful digital engagement techniques that are delivering as much as 70% open rates and 10% CTRs for these innovative utilities.

We’ll discuss:

The value of onboarding new residential customers
Results from a variety of digital communication channels
Effective methods to encourage sustain digital engagement.

Learn how your utility can effectively and efficiently engage customers and sustain that engagement while fostering a positive relationship that reaps benefits in customer satisfaction and positive brand perception.

Digital Strategies to Communicate Rising Energy Costs

Presented August 3, 2023

The rising cost of living along with summer heat and, in some cases, increased energy rates, has utility customers experiencing sticker shock. As a result, utilities see an increase in high bill calls, delinquent accounts, and unhappy customers.

In May 2023, the National Energy Assistance Directors Association reported nearly 20 million households were behind on their electric bills and 13 million behind on their natural gas bills.

How can utilities help customers manage high bills, increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs to serve?

Join Apogee’s Manager, Major Account & Client Success Team, Lynn Morris, and Director of Customer Solutions, Steve Bell for a 30 minute presentation to learn how utilities are using digital strategies to improve customer relationships during trying times.

You will learn:
• Ways to avoid lower satisfaction when high bills hit (or rates increase).
• About digital communications to improve customer experience and utility perception.
• How to increase staff productivity.
• Exactly how utilities like yours got results.

Good Enough Isn’t!

Presented May 23, 2023

You often hear the phrase “Well, it’s good enough” to simply check the box that you are finished with something.  The idea here is that cost-cutting and cheap solutions are the preferred approach and acceptable.  If you believe that, please think again. If you believe striving for excellence results in loyalty and lower costs of service, please join us for this thought-provoking talk by our founder, Joel Gilbert.  He will share some real-world examples from his experience working with most all the major energy utilities in the US focused on building customer trust.

Take a few minutes from your otherwise busy day to consider the customer engagement game from an excellence perspective.  Joel will offer several examples of how and why thinking something is just good enough is short sighted and dangerous to your customer relationships.  Worse yet, it results in lower acceptable rates of return in regulated environments and lost revenue opportunities everywhere.  Good enough simply isn’t!

Artificial Intelligence: How will it Impact Customer Engagement?

Presented April 20, 2023

ChatGBT, Bard, and the other artificial intelligence algorithms have been all the rage in the recent media.  Can they replace call center agents?  Will these plus the other machine learning algorithms revolutionize customer service in the energy industry?

Join Joel Gilbert, Chief Software Architect, Apogee Interactive, for a one-hour  presentation that will sort fact from fiction. It will also explain, in plain English, how these advanced analytics methods work and when and how they can produce truly remarkable insights in customer value within the energy industry.

Attendees Can Expect These Take Aways:

  • What AI methods produce real value and how to use them today.
  • Warnings about smart grid data and realistic disaggregation opportunities.
  • How noisy data can be “filtered” so that it is meaningful and useful.

Are you Prepared for a future that includes Electric Vehicles?

Presented April 4, 2023

 Is there an EV in your future?  The future is here today… the time is fast approaching when widespread adoption of EVs is the norm. Opportunities abound but in order to successfully reap the rewards of seamless rate adoption and beneficial electrification utilities need to be prepared. Join Apogee and GreatBlue Research for a 30 minute session that will reveal customers’ perceptions of Electric Vehicle adoption and how forward thinking utilities are addressing the challenges and embracing the opportunities presented by supporting the Electric Vehicle infrastructure.

Our Agenda Includes:

  • Customers’ Perceptions Revealed by GreatBlue Research
  • Utility Challenges
    • Educating Customers with Relevant and Reliable Information
    • Onboarding New and Current EV Owners
    • EV Rate Adoption
  • How to provide Continued Engagement Throughout Customers’ EV Journey

Our Presenters

Customer Communications Amid Rising Inflation & Increasing Rates

Presented February 14, 2023

The combination of rising inflation and utility rates, some as much as 15 to 20% or more, means utilities need to explain higher bills and offer ways for customers to save. Effective customer engagement is critical for educating customers about their rate options, introducing special TOU, EV or other rates and payment options.


Join Hometown Connections’, Director of Marketing, Mike Mozingo, Fayetteville PWC’s, Communications and Community Relations Officer, Carolyn Justice-Hinson, and Apogee’s, Key Accounts Manager, Kim Johnson, for a 30-minute webinar to learn how a “digital first” communication strategy better meets customers’ expectations and helps utilities exceed their goals.

This webinar will focus on best practices for “digital first” communication related to bills and rate options. You will learn how educating customers can help them manage their energy costs, reduce call volume and increase customer satisfaction, in spite of the dramatic economic changes we are all facing.

Our agenda includes:
• Industry Pricing Trends
• Fayetteville PWC’s Goals, Strategy and Results
• How Utilities are Educating Customers and Managing Expectations
• Review a digital platform that provides personalized and consistent messaging.

Speaker Bios

Keeping the Natural Gas Option

Presented January 31, 2023

Having a robust and balanced supply and demand side portfolio seems to have gone out of style.  All we hear about now is that natural gas is the problem, even in the short run.  While long run goals are to decarbonize the grid, the interim situation is clearly that incremental electric loads such as EVs and the banning of natural gas in new construction is going to increase carbon dioxide in almost all cases.

Join us for a thought provoking, one-hour look at the concept of Beneficial Gasification where our founder, Joel Gilbert P.E., will discuss the transportation portfolio, which rightfully includes both electric and natural gas vehicles.  Joel has an extensive background in energy portfolio planning and has driven a Tesla Model S for almost a decade.  Commissioner Tim Echols will also join us to share his perspective on these issues.  He drives a natural gas fueled truck.  Plus, we will be joined by Carl Garofalo, Director of Sustainability and Renewable Gas Solutions for Southern Gas who will address the National Accounts perspective and their goal to reduce carbon footprints with renewable natural gas while keeping their cost goals in clear view.

Carl’s perspective will illustrate why banning natural gas in some parts of the country, in commercial kitchens, and for water heating simply makes no sense in the near term.  There are end-uses where electricity is the better choice … and areas where natural gas is better.  If we are going to use the Beneficial Electrification banner, it should be placed alongside the Beneficial Gasification one.  There are areas where electricity is the better technology in the short run, but the categorical elimination of natural gas at this time makes no sense.

Our Presenters

Marketing Resources – Successful Online Initiatives

Presented December 13, 2022

Join Apogee for a quick overview of marketing services available Apogee’s clients.

We’ll review:
* Why outreach and awareness is important for successful online initiatives
* Successful marketing tactics used by utilities
* Overview of materials available to Apogee clients

J.D. Power Presents How Customer Satisfaction Drives Return On Equity for Regulated Utilities

Presented November 17, 2022

Join J.D. Power’s Utilities Director, Mark Spalinger and Apogee Interactive’s COO, Jim Malcom, for an insightful one-hour review of his latest report, “How Customer Satisfaction Drives Return on Equity for Regulated Utilities.”

 

We’ll take a deep dive into how higher customer satisfaction:

  • Increases return on equity
  • Impacts financials
  • Impacts regulatory rate process

 

In addition, Jim Malcom will discuss digital communication strategies aligned with J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction criteria that are proven to raise customer satisfaction among utilities.

Our Speakers

Countering the Impending Communication Crisis

Presented August 30, 2022

Join Apogee’s CEO and Co-Founder Susan Gilbert for a 30-minute session where she will share the proven methods winning utilities are using to build lasting and meaningful relationships with their customers. Attendees will learn how various effective engagement strategies are reaping rewards for hundreds of Apogee-client utilities and their millions of customers.

These methods are helping utilities by delivering higher customer satisfaction scores, empowering employees, and establishing trust with customers.

We’ll Discuss:

  • Top Digital Engagement Techniques
  • Utility Case Studies
  • Monetizing Effectiveness

 

Managing Customer Expectations in the Face of Rising Bills.

Presented July 21, 2022

Throughout the pandemic, households across the country have faced various hardships, which in many cases, have continued to impact financial health today. Now, rising electric and gas rates pose additional challenges. So how can utilities help their customers rather than just being seen as profit-driven corporations?

Join JD Power’s Director of Utility Intelligence, Adrian Chung, and Apogee’s COO and Executive VP, Jim Malcom. for this one-hour special event. We’ll discuss the most recent findings from JD Power and review proven digital strategies that align directly with the criteria used in the JD Power Residential Customer Satisfaction survey.

Talking Points Include:

  • High bills don’t guarantee low satisfaction
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate… tell your own story
  • Increased customer engagement can help change utility perceptions and drive satisfaction
  • Proactive digital strategies that address customer’s expectations and increase customer satisfaction

Speaker Bios

Customer Engagement 2.0

Presented June 28, 2022

We all know customers are being bombarded with messages and getting them to pay attention is harder and harder each year.  Please join Joel Gilbert, our President and Chief Software Architect, and Jason McGrade, Deputy Director of the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative for a 45 minute discussion about their research that identifies key themes for utilities to connect with their customers. Jason will also talk about their upcoming research study that will help utilities craft their strategies for developing new rate structures and outreach efforts.

We’ll Discuss:

  • What are the best practices in relevant messaging?
  • How do customer values play a role in specific messages consumers respond to and why?
  • How do you answer the “monetization” question that always comes up?
  • Does messaging reduce calls to the call center and improve first call resolution if they do?

Join us for this informative session.   Speaker Bios 

Prepare Now – High Bill Season Approaches!

Presented May 19, 2022

Are you dreading the upcoming influx of high bill complaints that comes with higher summer bills? Are high bill complaints driving up call center costs and negatively impacting customer satisfaction?

Join us for a one-hour presentation to learn how leading utilities are reducing the impact of high bill complaints by being proactive.

You’ll learn:

  • How a preemptive digital communications strategy reduces calls
  • How CSR tools and training increase first call resolution
  • How to arm representatives with confidence-building answers that build credibility
  • About real results from utilities like yours.

Isn’t it time to take control of high bill complaints?

Enhancing the Overall Customer Experience Through Outbound EE Program Promotion

Presented April 12, 2022

Join Duquesne Light Company, Senior Manager of Customer Programs, Dave Defide and Kim Johnson, Apogee Key Account Manager for a 30 minute discussion about how Duquesne developed an outbound communications strategy which included delivering Personalized Video Bill Explanations to customers to explain changes in their bills and to promote EE programs.

They will talk about how the engagement with those videos not only drove more customers to Duquesne EE programs, but through survey results also showed a high level of satisfaction with Duquesne as a whole.

 

The Future of Regulatory Horse Trading

Presented March 29, 2022

Our founder, Joel Gilbert, has a reputation for humorous, forward-looking, and provocative thinking. His webinars over the past two years have illustrated where some of the customer energy engagement opportunities have transitioned from energy efficiency to the deeper customer needs of choice, comfort, and control. He has pointed out that carbon is emerging alongside traditional energy and demand response objectives. Clearly this is a complex and diverse portfolio of customer engagement agendas and engagement messaging.

Next month Joel will host a dialogue with Georgia Commissioner Tim Echols about how the process of least cost planning has worked here in Georgia and how the traditional concept of externalities has become an increasing element in the process of energy regulation. While the situation here in Georgia may not reflect those elsewhere, the elements are all here. We have a nuclear plant that is going to cost more than market values but is critical to a low carbon future. We have significant electric vehicle penetration but the desire to reduce energy burden on lower income citizens also needs to be a part of any regional plan. How do we manage this portfolio in the near and longer term?

Please set aside the time to listen to this lighthearted conversation. They will review this from what we have learned about the horse trading that got us here, and how it is likely to be best navigated in the future.

Meeting Goals by Leveraging Partner Relationships

Presented January 27, 2022

In pursuit of New York State’s low-carbon goals and continuance of Orange & Rockland’s role as the trusted energy advisor to its customers, O&R sought to raise awareness of NYS’s “Clean Heat” program and empower customers with basic education required to explore different HVAC solutions. This required O&R to quantify costs and benefits, focusing on electric heat pumps. O&R developed a new tool to communicate this foundational information to its customers. Join Andrew Farrell, Project Specialist, Electrification, and Kim Johnson, Apogee’s Key Account Manager for a 30 minute discussion about modifications made to O&R’s Heating Comparison Calculator and the results of how O&R was better able to promote the program to its customers.

The attendee will come away from this webinar with a good understanding of how O&R combined the forces of their Utilities of the Future and Customer Energy Solutions teams, to come up with the specifications for a calculator tool to meet the needs the company was tasked with, and how using a trusted partner aided in meeting those requirements. Andrew will discuss how working with Apogee helped them be more efficient, and allowed them to bring a new educational tool to customers much quicker.  Learn more about our speakers. 

Extraordinary Experiences Deliver Sustained Engagement

Presented December 16, 2021

Horry Electric Cooperative is one of the fastest growing co-ops in South Carolina, currently serving almost 72,000 members with 87,000 active accounts. This rapidly changing service territory has called for proactive solutions to help engage their growing member base.

Join Apogee and Horry Electric’s Accounts Receivable/Energy Services Program Supervisor, Gordon Lay, and Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator Jennifer Cummings, for a 30-minute open discussion about Horry Electric’s engagement strategy. Learn why their engagement statistics continue to exceed their peers year over year.

Our topics include:

  • Communications strategies that enable long-term engagement
  • Improving member satisfaction
  • Boost operational efficiency
  • Best practices and next steps

Speaker Bios

Solar Shenanigans

Presented October 5, 2021

Windows that pay for themselves?  Free solar for your home?  Get even with the power company?

Shams and scams have been with us for decades, but the most interesting thing is how sophisticated they have become.

Perhaps we lower our guard because we have become suspicious of big business, but the latest games being played by solar installers really take the cake.

How do they spin straw into gold?  Very simply, they use some of the age old tricks along with some very clever sleight of hand.

Please join us for a quick review of their tricks and traps lead by Joel Gilbert who uncovered these many times in the past when he confronted cogeneration, peak shaving, gas cooling, and many other deals that seemed just too good to be true.

Plus, if you face these or similar issues you may want to join Apogee’s working group on a Solar Analysis Toolkit that complements Apogee’s online Energy Advisor that currently includes solar panel performance comparisons

 

Successful Engagement under Blue Skies or Gray

Presented September 28, 2021

Join Apogee, Kyle Allwine, Manager Public Relations, for Northern Neck Electric Cooperative and ODEC’s Erin Puryear, Manager-Member Services & Energy Innovation Planning, for a 30 minute session highlighting successful techniques that are helping them streamline their efforts to increase engagement in peak demand response events during hot weather, be proactive with storm communications, and get ahead of high bill calls with educational pre-cooling or pre-heating communications.

We’ll discuss:

  • Proactive preparedness
  • Freeing up staff during crisis events
  • Getting clients engaged before the crisis occurs

Speaker Bios

Innovations in Optimizing Your EV Program

Presented July 29, 2021

As EVs surge in popularity, utilities have new opportunities to partner with customers in creative and beneficial ways.  One of the most exciting is engaging customers to charge their cars in concert with utility rates and system peak loads, all with no new hardware to install in the vehicle or in the home!

On this webinar:

Brian Greenfield, Regulatory Analyst, Energy Efficiency, Eversource will discuss the importance of understanding EV charging patterns, educating customers about EV charging, and ultimately managing EV demand on the grid.

Scott Dimetrosky, President, Rolling Energy Resources will share how they are monitoring EV battery state-of charge, charging location, and time, to enhance customer education and economics while coordinating this resource to the dynamic load conditions on the local grid.

Kim Johnson, Key Account Manager, Apogee will demonstrate how using video messaging, and artificial intelligence to target homes with EVs, creates a personalized, proactive, and positive experience, that has proven to be highly impactful to customers and increases program participation.

Join us for a one-hour whirlwind tour of how marrying cutting-edge communication techniques with monitoring and charge control can up the game of any utility EV program.

 

First Impressions Count – Jones Onslow’s Welcome Series

Presented July 20, 2021

Making a positive first impression is crucial in any business transaction. It sets the tone for continued engagement and will impact relationships moving forward. So, when Jones Onslow EMC added a strategic, automated onboarding process to their communications plan the rewards were inevitable.

Join Apogee and Stephen Goodson, Vice President of Energy Services and Corporate Communication, at Jones Onslow EMC, and for a 30-minute discussion and learn how Goodson implemented a communications strategy that:

  • Increased program participation by more than 10%
  • Improved staff productivity
  • Reduced high bill calls

 

Carbon Accountability Today, Tomorrow, and Into the Future

Presented April 22, 2021

 

Carbon Accountability Today, Tomorrow, and Into the Future

 

Most of the conversation about decarbonization has been about energy sources (wind, solar, etc.) utilities can use. However, it is also clear that end use customer choices are important as well. Customers want to know how these choices impact their carbon footprint and costs. Come join us for a strategic overview about how carbon accountability will likely emerge at the consumer engagement interface. Amanda Levin from the Natural Resource Defense Council will join us for a conversation about her landmark research supporting these questions.

Customers are going to want to know what they can do about their energy use choices to help reduce carbon and possibly save money. While EVs are certainly in this list, how would charging them at different times of the day make a difference? Some customers might be willing to accept higher costs that reduce carbon as well. Would changing from natural gas for space and water heating to heat pumps save money and carbon? How might comparisons like this change as natural gas lowers its carbon content? What is really going to be needed in successfully engage consumers, offer choice optionality, and perhaps most importantly require carbon measurement today, tomorrow and into the future?  Speaker Bios

The Rates…They are a changin’

Presented March 25, 2021

Join Apogee’s Joel Gilbert, P.E. and The Brattle Group’s Ahmad Faruqui, Ph.D. Economics for anexclusive one-hour webinar on “the wild side” and the “must do” in the frontier of electric and natural gas rate design.  Is a demand rate realistic?  Does cost-of-service still dictate rate design?  Is this even about customer choice any longer or is it more about financial stability?  Where are we going in actual practice? And how do we bring customers along with us?

Our agenda includes:

  • What is the Efficient Pricing Frontier and why it is the basis for decisions today?
  • Why customer engagement and loyalty has to reflect the Power of Customer Choice?
  • What can we learn from today’s Forward Thinking Utilities?
  • How can you communicate price changes effectively in the rate design process and even before they are approved?

This is an event you won’t want to miss.

Speaker Bios

2021 Trends in Customer Engagement

Presented February 25, 2021

Wow, have you read the forecasts from Black and Veatch, Parks Associates, Accenture and others about the energy future?  While they all point to an emphasis on carbon reduction and energy stewardship, they are also pretty vague about how this will translate down to consumer engagement.

Please join us for an action packed dialogue about what matters right now and in the coming months and years to consumers and how you can continue to enrich your relationships as their trusted energy provider.  While the future may be cloudy on details about some things, the path forward is crystal clear about  what you must do right now to fully engage your customers and maintain your leadership position with them.

Speaker Bios

Making the Smart Grid Relevant to Mainstream

Presented January 28, 2021

COVID 19 has made us acutely aware of a “digital divide” that disabled distance learning for many.  This is just one more example of the challenges we face in our energy and carbon reduction transitions.  Please join us to hear Chris King, SVP – eMobility Strategic Partnerships from Siemens and Joel Gilbert from Apogee discuss why personalized customer engagement is going to be critical to our widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

Key points to be discussed will include:

  • The economic equity benefits of EVs to non-EV owners, i.e., all ratepayers
  • The policy imperative for smart chargers to protect grid reliability and avoid unnecessary costs of grid reinforcement
  • How dynamic pricing promotes off-peak charging and EV adoption
  • Details about two successful utility case studies

Speaker Bios

Post COVID-19 Pivotal Strategies to Enable Payments

Presented December 8, 2020

Webinar: Post COVID-19 Pivotal Strategies to Enable Payments

 

Join Apogee Interactive’s, Key Account Manager, Rob Piatkowski, and Fiserv’s Senior Advisor, Global Sales, Jacqueline Martine for a one-hour event where we will discuss how utilities are helping customers cope with the financial impacts of COVID-19. Fiserv will highlight the importance of making it easy for utility customers to pay their bills. Attendees will also learn what billing and payment functionality consumers say is most important to them, how well billers are meeting their expectations, and how important it is to communicate these issues clearly with your customers.  Speaker Bios

JD Power’s 2020 Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study

Presented November 12, 2020

 

Webinar: JD Power’s 2020 Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study

Join Apogee Interactive’s Executive VP, Jim Malcom, and J.D Power’s, Managing Director, John Hazen, for a one-hour, in-depth look at the new 2020 Utility Customer Satisfaction Study highlighting the residential utility customer’s experience and the impacts made by COVID-19. The 2020 study measures residential customer satisfaction with large and midsize electric utility companies in four US regions: East, Midwest, South, and West. During this one-hour presentation, we will examine satisfaction across six factors: Power Quality and Reliability; Price; Billing and Payment; Communications; Corporate Citizenship; and Customer Care. The study also analyzes residential customer perceptions of the utility’s presence and its impacts on utility Net Promoter Scores. We will also discuss best practices and analyses of high-performing electric utilities.

Speaker Bios

The Challenge of Communicating Rate Change

Presented October 27, 2020

The future of electricity pricing clearly points to rates that move away from traditional volumetric pricing (total kWh) to some form of a time-based method such as TOU and demand. The forces driving this change are the increased use of solar, opportunities with customer-owned batteries and EVs, as well as the increasing costs of preserving grid reliability, especially in the face of declining kWh sales.

Changes in pricing methodology of course create winners and losers. This is a terrible term, but losers accurately depict those who disbenefit from price changes without behavior changes. And, even though some can achieve lower prices with behavior changes, losers tend to complain loudly and vehemently. Their anger can swamp the call center, drag down customer satisfaction, and derail regulatory progress. Therefore, it is natural for utilities to try to put this off as long as possible. Nevertheless, it may be wise to begin educating customers even before an anticipating pricing change so they understand the business and societal logic behind it and so they understand how to save money on the new rate.

Join us for a thought-provoking look at these challenges along with some creative approaches to rate communications. Joel Gilbert, Apogee’s founder, and industry visionary will present a structured approach to confronting this communication challenge. Joel will show, with his usual entertaining style, that the natural reaction of not wanting to communicate “bad news” actually backfires.

Utilities fare far better by sharing the facts early. Knowing who the “losers” will be on any rate gives utilities the upper hand in this transition. Joel will illustrate how energy companies can present rate changes as a choice rather than cost recovery and why and when grandfathering to an existing rate is recommended.

Our agenda includes:

  • Why Rate Transition is Necessary
  • Identifying Winners and Losers
  • Crafting the Communication Strategy
  • Success Stories & Lessons Learned
  • Situations Requiring Grandfathering.

 

Speaker Bio

Effective Customer Engagement for Energy Customers

Presented October 13, 2020

Are you effectively engaging your customers and maximizing the benefits of new digital technologies available to you? Join Apogee’s Engagement Manager, Elizabeth Burroughs and Founder and President of Denim Marketing, Carol Morgan who will show you how to broaden your marketing reach without adding to your workload or needing additional staff.

We’ll discuss:

• Why Personalization is important

• Social Media Best Practices

• Email Marketing – Personalized Automated Marketing

• Use of Video – Personalized Video Messages

• Contests & Promotions Register Today!

 

What’s After Home Energy Reports?

Presented August 27, 2020

Home Energy Reports have served their purpose, but after more than 10 years in use, utilities and customers are wondering, “What’s Next?”. How many times can you receive that “same old” paper report comparing your energy use with some statistical norm and expect to have it truly influence behavior?

New fonts and graphics won’t make much difference. Your customers are increasingly comparing you to Amazon, American Express, and their favorite online retailer, airline, etc. These companies are all building strong, ongoing, digital relationships with customers built on convenience, trust, and providing relevant, valuable, and timely information and services.

We’ll focus on:

Relevance is key… answering the “what’s in it for me” question
Take-aways from the best in breed companies that are proving successful
What information do customers really value from their energy provider
Making messages Personal using Disaggregation, Artificial Intelligence, and Targeting
Using a multi-channeled approach that gives customers the power to choose how they receive information

Engaging Low Income Customers in Times of Crisis

Presented July 23, 2020

Join Apogee for a one-hour webinar that will focus on engaging and bringing value to the income-qualified segment. Apogee’s Executive VP, Jim Malcom, and his guests, OPPD’s Sr. Product Specialist – Customer Advocacy Programs, Britton Gabel, and Wells Fargo’s Sr. Financial Advisor Bob Evely will review the impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. economy, utilities, and low-income consumers. The presentation will also reveal proven strategies utilities are currently taking to lessen these burdens.

Our agenda includes:

  • OPPD’s Low Income Program and Results
  • Reaching Low-Income Customers with Energy Assistance
  • Economic Impacts on the Low-Income Segment
  • Supplemental Funding for Income Qualified Customers
  • Improving cost to serve, Reducing Bad Debt, and Decreasing Call Volume
  • Engaging and Increasing Awareness of Programs

Facing The Perfect Storm

Presented June 4, 2020

We can all see the storm clouds gathering. Like many other industries, energy providers are facing a crisis, customers have been sheltered-in-place at home and will incur higher bills from using more energy. In addition, summer heat will drive up the already higher bills. Many customers have lost their jobs and all or part of their income. This combination is likely to lower customer satisfaction in general plus cause them to delay bill payment or seek help.

Join Joel and Susan Gilbert for a one-hour session to discuss some solutions that have proven effective for utilities now facing this perfect storm.

What are your options? Your company has a choice: be proactive and supportive showing customers you understand their situations and are there to help. Or, by your silence, you will be perceived as cold and without compassion.

This timely webinar will feature 5 highly cost-effective techniques any utility can deploy now to lessen the blow these inevitable forces will inflict:

  1. Simple methods of showing customers you care about keeping them safe.
  2. Innovative ways of communicating payment options.
  3. Proactive, proven, pre-emptive techniques that reduce high bill calls.
  4. Helping customers help themselves in reducing their bills.
  5. Applications that help CSRs.

Speaker Bios

How COVID-19 is Impacting the Utility Industry?

Presented May 12, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly impacting the utility industry and customers nationwide. There are many concerns about finances, the ability to pay bills, increases in energy consumption, and essential resources needed for support. Join Apogee Interactive and GreatBlue Research for a one-hour event where we will present data, findings, and solutions that are helping utilities and customers cope during this unprecedented time.

GreatBlue’s latest research will help you understand the thoughts and opinions of customers. In addition, Apogee will showcase actionable steps utilities are taking to proactively engage customers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Our agenda includes:

  • Case studies highlighting proactive engagement related to COVID-19
  • Messaging strategies utilities are using during COVID-19
  • Overall customer satisfaction with the industry’s response to the pandemic
  • COVID-19’s financial impact
  • Preferred communication methods
  • Shifts in energy consumption
  • Rate offerings to help customers save money

Realistic, Cost Effective, and Useful AI for the Energy Industry

Presented April 28, 2020

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a hot topic these days, back in vogue after two decades in the shadows.  Many experts and industry analysts believe that AI or “machine learning” is the future,but look around, it’s here today.  We are all the beneficiaries of various forms of AI: Siri’s voice recognition, Alexa’s notifications, navigational aids, and face recognition to name just a few.

AI is not limited to just IT or the technology industry. It is used extensively in areas such as medicine, business, education, law, and manufacturing. Granted, the technology is still in the “early adoption phase.”  But, more and more companies are investing resources in machine learning, suggesting a robust growth in AI products and apps to come.

So, where is all this technology benefiting energy companies?  Can these methods “see patterns” in smart grid data that can be used to benefit both the utility and customer?  When is that possible and when is it not?  Under what circumstances can we have confidence in the results and when might uncertainty be too great?  AMI clearly provides more granularity than monthly bills, but what is the best data source for personalized communications to consumers, and how can AI bring value to the messaging?

Register for our webinar and learn the answers to these questions and more.

Speaker Bios 

Are Field Audits Dead?

Presented April 16, 2020

Perhaps it is a sign of the times. Right now, with social distancing and fears of contagion, people don’t want strangers in their homes. Add to that health and safety risks from people driving to the site, climbing through hot attics, and possibly crashing through ceilings.

The clencher in the demise of field audits may well be cost-effectiveness. Considering the “all-in” cost of an onsite energy audit including scheduling, travel, labor, overhead, equipment, report preparation and delivery, field energy audits typically costs $150 to $300 and higher if travel to the site and any blower door or duct blaster equipment is involved.

The smart home is also accelerating the shift away from field audits. Here advances in technology and new communication channels have made alternatives to onsite audits far superior and more insightful in delivering results, slashing costs, and delighting customers.

So, where are we in all this? Set aside an hour to listen to Susan and Joel Gilbert review the history of the field audit process, the best practices in the old model, and how modern energy utilities offer customers the ability to perform an online self-help audit. Hear how some utilities are using phone reps assist customers to complete questions they would otherwise have trouble answering.

Our industry is evolving. Like the dodo birds, field energy audits may be headed for extinction, but utilities helping customers make wise energy decisions will never go out of vogue. Join us for a one-hour fun look back at how we got here and an intriguing view into what is to come.

Moving from Segmentation to Personalization

Presented March 31, 2020

In year’s past, segmentation has been the standard practice marketers used to help companies predict behavior and match customer’s needs. Today, in the digital age, using data to provide a relevant and personalized customer experience is easy, effective, and expected by customers. Join Apogee Interactive and Milepost Consulting for a one-hour session where you will learn how utilities are using personalization and digital engagement techniques to change behavior, encourage program participation, and launch successful initiatives like rate adoption, electrification, and other critical issues at hand.

We will discuss:

  • Retail Customer Trends – What can utilities learn from retailers?
  • Utility Focus Group Insights
  • Using Digital and Automation Strategies to Achieve Impressive Results
  • Return on Engagement (ROE) – Findings from utility case studies

Our Speaker Bios:

Luke Gebhard, Sr. Project Manager, Milepost Consulting

Elizabeth Burroughs, Engagement Manager, Apogee Interactive

Kate Panaousis, Marketing Analyst, Apogee Interactive

New Technology Trends for Utilities

Presented February 20, 2020

Today’s customers are driving the need for businesses to engage with new technologies. Utilities are being evaluated based on how they leverage these technologies. Utilities that ignore this fact will miss opportunities to reduce costs, increase revenue, and secure the customer relationship. Join Apogee’s Karen Morris and Brenda Guthrie for a look at emerging trends in digital technology and strategies that you can use to make building personal and engaging relationships with your customers easier and more profitable.

Our agenda includes:
• Emerging Trends in Technology
• Driving Program Success
• Effective Communication Strategies

Using Data to Make Strategic, Customer Focused Decisions

Presented January 30, 2020

Join Apogee’s Stephanie Knight and Jordan Reeves along with special guest Michael Vigeant, CEO, GreatBlue Research, as we explore how utilities can use customer feedback and data to drive proactive, personalized communications strategies designed to improve customer engagement.

Our agenda will highlight topics including:

  • Electric Vehicles
  • Solar Energy
  • Time of Use Rates
  • Smart Home Devices
  • Advanced Metering

The presenters will prove the importance of adopting innovative technologies while guided by data analysis to keep pace with current trends and the evolving demands of customer’s expectations.

Speaker Bios

AESP Webinar: Achieving Cost-Effectiveness Amid Increasing Challenges

Presented November 14, 2019

The next generation of EE, DR and iDER portfolios of programs is facing increasing challenges in meeting cost-effectiveness criteria. These challenges stem from declining avoided costs and limits on the savings from recent program mainstays, i.e., lighting programs, home and small business energy reports, and smart thermostats.  Now, new cost-effectiveness issues involve benefit streams from integrated/stacked programs, locational avoided-costs, and benefits not now fully captured, e.g., resiliency and hedge benefits.

The next generation of programs will need new designs and rationales to meet cost-effectiveness criteria, and the very way cost-effectiveness is analyzed will undergo substantive changes.

This webinar addresses needed changes going forward, both in the regulatory setting and in program design, as well as how current changes in best practice cost-effectiveness assessment can address critical near-term issues.

The speakers include experts in evaluation and regulatory issues, a utility DER planner, and a next generation program designer.

Dan Violette, Director – Lumina Decision Systems

Dan Violette is a recognized industry leader in the areas of demand-side management and distributed energy resources.  He has led integrated supply-side/demand-side resource planning assignments for utilities and collaborative processes. Dr. Violette has managed projects on innovative pricing, customer end-use technologies, monitoring and verification for demand-side activities, and he has provided regulatory support on these topics including testimony in over a dozen jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Violette served three elected terms as the Chair of the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP), two terms as the Vice Chair of the Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA), and was a member of the DER Advisory Council at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).  He received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Energy Program Evaluation Conference (IEPEC), and the 2018 “Industry Leader” award from Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP).  He has over 100 papers in journals, books, and conference proceedings and has been a keynote speaker at industry events.

Dr. Violette was a founder and CEO of Summit Blue Consulting prior to its acquisition by Navigant Consulting.  After the acquisition, he served as a Managing Director in Navigant’s Energy Practice for 10 years. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Colorado where he was awarded honors in the fields of econometrics and industrial organization.

 

Michael Goldman, Director, Energy Efficiency – Regulatory, Planning, & Evaluation, Eversource

Michael Goldman is a Director on the Energy Efficiency team for Eversource Energy, the largest energy delivery company in New England.  At Eversource, Mr. Goldman has two main responsibilities – his team of research analysts is responsible for overseeing all energy efficiency evaluation, measurement, and verification activities. He is also responsible for the development of behind the meter peak load mitigation programs, from program conception to execution. Prior to his role at Eversource, Michael worked as a strategy and operations consultant in Deloitte Consulting’s energy and resource practice area. He received a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MA in economics and energy policy from the Johns Hopkins University.

 

 

 

Susan Gilbert, CEO Apogee Interactive, Inc.

Susan Gilbert is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of APOGEE Interactive, Inc.  Apogee provides the energy industry’s most comprehensive and well-established customer engagement platform and omnichannel personalized messaging service.  Through her leadership, Apogee has honed its wide-ranging applications to achieve undisputed analytical superiority, extraordinary innovation, and performance excellence.  Susan leads the company’s marketing and strategic direction helping hundreds of North American utilities cost-effectively achieve project goals.  She earned her Bachelor of Science in physics, and her MS in curriculum and instruction, at the University of Kentucky.

Creating an Email Communications Plan that Works

Presented November 7, 2019

Join Apogee’s Marketing Analyst, Kate Panaousis, and Marketing Manager, Karen Morris for this one hour webinar where will give an overview of the latest technology in digital communications and share what is working among Apogee’s more than 600 utility clients.

Our Agenda Includes:

  • Creating a Communications Plan
  • Using Email as part of it
  • Improve your Email Campaign Performance
  • Apogee’s Turnkey Approach to Digital Marketing
  • Automated Marketing
  • The Future of Email Marketing

The Changing Customer Relationship

Presented September 25, 2019

Our founder, Joel Gilbert, has watched and analyzed the energy industry for over 40 years and has concluded that we just had a seismic shift in perceptions and attitudes over the past few months.

Some of this is because of new political maneuvering to capture potential voter enthusiasm. Some, of course, is just the usual media hype. But, something else has fundamentally changed.

Come and hear what he sees as both opportunities and challenges with what he calls the shift in media style and emphasis and what it appears to have already done in consumer attitudes.

Simple Strategies to Keep Customers Digitally Engaged

Presented August 27, 2019

Join Apogee’s Sr. Account Manager, Cindy Smallwood, Marketing Analyst, Kate Panaousis, and Matt Robertson, NOVEC’s Communications Supervisor for a one hour interview and learn how he has consistently ranked highest in analytics among all of Apogee’s utility clients.

Our Agenda Includes:

  • Customer Engagement
  • Utility Digital Customer Experience
  • Framework of DCX
  • NOVEC Case Study

Tampa Electric’s Social Media Lamb Cam Shines a Light on Solar

Presented August 13, 2019

 

Tampa Electric is on a mission to become the state’s top producer of solar energy by 2021. This spring their team found creative ways to gain brand recognition and generate some buzz on social media during lamb season. TECO’s Lamb Cam kept a watchful eye on their new workforce: a herd of Katahdin sheep grazing beneath the solar panels.

Join Apogee’s Ann Fracas and Tampa Electric’s,Creative Services Manager Niki Paksoy, and Sr. Manager, Solar Operations, Paul Warren, for a lighthearted presentation showcasing TECO’s social media success driving awareness around their Big Bend community solar project. This 30 minute presentation is one Ewe won’t want to miss!

Accelerating EV Adoption: The Role Utilities Play in Providing Real Value

Presented July 11, 2019

Join Apogee Interactive’s Engagement Manager, Elizabeth Burroughs and special guest Dave Treston, Sr. Account Planner at KSV as he reveals KSV’s latest research on Electric Vehicles and learn how utilities can help boost EV adoption while providing real value to customers.

Our agenda includes:

  • A snapshot of the current and forecasted EV market
  • Customer motivators and barriers to adopting EVs
  • Opportunities for utilities to build trust with customers throughout their EV buying journey
  • EV buyer personas
  • Engaging Customers with Outbound Communication

Customer Engagement… Who Cares?

Presented May 23, 2019

JD Power’s 2019 Digital Experience Study revealed that utilities offer one of the worst digital experiences when compared to other customer facing industries. If your company is not focused on a relevant personalized message, then you are missing an outstanding opportunity for improving operational efficiency and reducing costs.

Now is the time to face the future. Utilities not meeting customers’ expectations with a gratifying digital experience will fall by the wayside as our industry transforms and business models change increasing the need for interactivity with the customer.

Learn how utilities are getting ahead of the game by using digital strategies to transform rate payers into energy partners.

Are you ready to deliver relevant and personalized topics? 

  • Rate Choices
  • Bill Explanations
  • Energy Management for Homes and Businesses
  • Demand/Price Response Programs
  • Integrating WIFI thermostats, EVs/PVs and other emerging technologies
  • Storms
  • Seasonal Topics

Customer Driven Rate Design – The Wave of the Future

Presented April 25, 2019

Join Apogee’s Dave Wells and The Brattle Group’s Ahmad Faruqui, Ph.D. Economics for an exclusive one-hour webinar presentation where Dr. Faruqui will guide us on a walk down the frontier of rate design and discuss utility rate design of the future and how a few utilities are using “design thinking” to offer customers innovative rate choices.

Our agenda includes:

  • The Efficient Pricing Frontier
  • The Power of Customer Choice
  • Progress at Forward Thinking Utilities
  • Communicating Rates Effectively

This is an event you won’t want to miss.

Special Guest:

Ahmad Faruqui, Ph. D., Principal, The Brattle Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Wells, Apogee Interactive

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Utilities Beyond Engagement Toward Empowerment

Presented April 16, 2019

Join Apogee’s Brenda Guthrie and Milepost Consulting’s CEO, Sabrina Cowden, for a look at engagement strategies that deliver impressive results. We’ll share how utilities facing daunting challenges like rate transformation and brand perception can improve by nurturing strong relationships with their customers. You will learn how behavioral science, and messaging framework combined with a powerful outbound messaging and data modeling platform can help utilities meet their objectives.

We’ll discuss proven methods that:
• Increase Program Participation
• Communicate Rates Effectively
• Drive Revenue Enhancement
• Improve Operational Efficiency
• Raise Customer Satisfaction
• Encourage Self-Service

Is your utility embracing the role of the trusted energy advisor? Are you answering your customers energy concerns? Register today and learn about all the possibilities!

The Times They are a Changin’

Presented February 20, 2019

Bob Dylan nailed it with this classic line. It certainly applies to what the energy industry is experiencing now. How can we prioritize what we should be doing to serve customers and benefit our companies when change is coming faster than at any time in the past 4 decades.

Joel Gilbert, Apogee’s Chief Software Architect and well-known industry visionary, will offer a humorous, pithy, thought-provoking prediction of how next few years will play out. Topics include the critical importance of customer engagement, the value of having real influence, and how energy companies can produce and deliver solid business results.

While we all know prognosticators who are not always right, but never in doubt, Joel has been the industry’s stalwart and accurate forecaster of what is coming down the pike for much of his career. Those who know him say he is the most accurate in our industry at seeing over the next hill and around blind corners.

We hope you can join us for some lessons and laughs about what is likely to be our next chapter in the energy business.

Customer Satisfaction Pays…How Can Utilities Maximize the Benefits?

Presented January 31, 2019

Join this one hour session where Apogee’s CFO, Jim Malcom and Analyst, Kate Panaousis will share their research on how customer satisfaction affects your utilities bottom line. We will discuss customer satisfaction trends in the industry and how utilities compare to other segments.

Our agenda includes:

  • Customer Satisfaction and Operating Margin
  • Benefits of Customer Satisfaction
  • Customer Satisfaction and Revenue Growth
  • Understanding Net Promoter Score and How to Drive Results

Apogee will also offer strategies, solutions, and examples drawn from our 25 years of experience in the energy industry.

 

Example of Personal Video Messaging 

4 County’s EPIC Low-Income Journey

Presented August 28, 2018

As the summer slowly turns into fall, the impending colder weather means higher energy bills with many families struggling to pay them. Now is the time to turn our attention to communications strategies for our income qualified assistance programs before those bills start piling up.

Join Apogee and 4 County EPA’s Manager of Marketing and Public Relations, Jon Turner, for a one-hour webinar where we will discuss his success and lessons learned in implementing a digital communications campaign for his low-income members. Speaker Bios

Our Agenda Includes:

  • Program Overview
  • Pilot Objectives
  • Results of the Pilot
  • Results of the Customer Survey & Metrics
  • Lessons Learned

Energy Strategies for the Connected Home

Presented July 31, 2018

Join Apogee’s Chief Software Architect, Joel Gilbert for a one hour session where he will share decades of energy industry experience studying the issue of the connected home. His experience begins long before the Internet of Things (IoT) and the concept of learning thermostats were possible. His research has uncovered some stunning insights into why the technologies over the past few years have had so much difficulty.

During his presentation we’ll take a humorous, thoughtful, and eye opening look at what you can do right now to launch a connected home strategy without worrying about all the details within the home itself.

JD Power 2018 Utility Digital Engagement Study

Presented June 5, 2018

Join Apogee Interactive and J.D Power’s Sr. Dir. of Utility Practice, Andrew Heath, for an in-depth look at the new 2018 Utility Digital Experience Study study highlighting the utility customer’s digital experience.  It  provides an analysis of customer perceptions of utility’s digital presence. It explores the correlation between website and mobile app engagement and user experience. Additionally, it provides an overall digital proficiency rating assessed by J.D. Power’s strategic partner, Centric Digital.

Speaker Bio

 

7 Critical Points in the Lifecycle Where You Must Engage Customers!

Presented May 17, 2018

Join Apogee’s Karen Morris and special guest DMA Hall of Famer, Ernan Roman, president of ERDM Corp., for a one hour webinar where he will share powerful guidelines for deepening customer experiences at 7 essential points in the customer lifecycle. These are the critical points where B2C and B2B decision makers expect personalized value and support from service providers.

Also, learn why today’s CX, personalization and personas are not effective, yet, in spite of privacy concerns, customers are willing to provide deep explicit preference data in exchange for “smart and authentic” personalization and CX.

These insights and guidelines have emerged from thousands of hours of specialized Voice of Customer (VoC) research interviews his firm conducts for brands such as IBM, MassMutual, Microsoft, Gilt and QVC.

Ernan will also provide examples of how improving CX, personalization and customer engagement increases revenue.

Webinar: Customer Engagement and The Segment of One

Presented April 23, 2018

 

Join Apogee’s Karen Morris and Milepost Consulting’s Ashley England for a live video interview. Energy companies have access to billions of data points, but with big data comes big responsibility.  Is your utility missing an opportunity to increase revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer engagement? Learn what’s working and what’s not for energy companies investing in their engagement strategy.

 

This 45 minute conversation will include:

  • Customer Expectations and The Segment of One
  • Customer Engagement Goals and KPIs
  • Tools and Processes for Proven Success
  • Best Practices that Ensure on Target Messaging
  • What’s at Stake if you Don’t Engage Customers

Presentation Available for Download Here

Top Digital Engagement Strategies for Utilities

Presented February 8, 2018

Join Apogee’s Ann Fracas, for a fast paced session that will bring you up to speed on Apogee’s full suite of digital engagement solutions for utilities. These proven strategies are designed to help utilities effectively increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

Our agenda includes:

  • Energy & Bill Analysis for CSRs & Customers
  • Outbound Communications Strategies
  • Making Complicated Topics Easy to Understand
  • Low Income Solutions

Proven Strategies for Growing Email and Phone Number Lists

Presented January 25, 2018

The need to be digitally connected with customers is becoming a priority with utilities. This requires obtaining and maintaining customer email addresses and mobile numbers while managing outbound communication campaigns. Benefits of digital engagement include lower cost to serve, improved customer satisfaction, higher program involvement and greater loyalty. Some utilities are on the cutting edge, while others are just getting started.

Join us for a one hour, discussion sharing how some utilities have gone from having no customer email addresses to having more than 80% of their customers’ contact information. Leading investor-owned utilities including Duke Energy, and PPL Electric Utilities along with two of the nation’s largest cooperatives, LCEC, and Jackson EMC, will share techniques, what worked, what didn’t, tips and lessons learned along the path to achieving high levels of digital engagement with customers. Researchers from E Source will share insights, benchmarks, and data points from their vast repertoire of studies for hundreds of utilities. Apogee will share from the front-lines of digital customer engagement what entices customers into building valuable relationships.

Finding Value in the Sea of Analytics

Presented October 19, 2017

We are bombarded with messages using analytics at the root. You can’t escape the impacts: look at something on Amazon and it haunts you no matter where else you look with a browser. Facebook, Google, and a host of other companies are worth billions because of what they know about us.

Is there are a parallel universe the energy utilities can use based upon what we know about our customers? Join Joel Gilbert, Apogee’s President and industry visionary for a one-hour webinar where he will lay out some very safe value streams every utility can rightfully use based upon billing histories and smart meter data if available.

Joel will illustrate how much information is locked up in this data and how it can be monetized to customers, trade allies, and the usual EE and DR partners to the industry. After all, the utility has the billing history for all consumers, knows where they are, and of course knows their payment history on those bills.

 

* Which homes are natural candidates for HVAC upgrades?
* Who might be interested in a performance contracted home retrofit?
* Which homes make the best DR candidates?
* Who might be willing to pay extra for home monitoring services?
*How can these analytics be used to routinely engage these consumers?

EPIC Journey from Transaction to Relationship

Presented October 12, 2017

Join Apogee’s Jim Malcom, Executive V.P., and special guest Aida Hakirevic, Associate Director, Navigant Energy on this one-hour webinar as we explore the low-income customer’s journey. We’ll discuss techniques utilities are using to engage customers and the challenges they face. In turn, we will offer solutions to help improve the relationship between utilities and their low-income customers that will cut costs, increase engagement and customer satisfaction.

 Our Agenda Includes:

  • Findings from Navigant Research “Utilities and the Customer Capabilities Gap”
  • Navigant Case Study: DTE Energy Efficiency Assistance Program Journey Mapping
  • The Low-Income Customer Journey
  • The Energy Burden
  • Digital Strategies Designed for Low-Income Customers
  • And much more

Speaker Bios

Bringing Value to Low Income Customers

Presented August 10, 2017

How effective are your low-income programs at helping people use their resources more efficiently? Are you bringing value to your community? Are your implementers using quality products? Are you providing the right solutions to the right customers to achieve the desired results?  Or are you struggling to engage multi-family dwellers, renters, and low-income customers?

Increasing participation in low-income programs can be challenging. However, with thorough planning, personalization, and the right communications strategies, utilities can increase customer satisfaction while bringing true value to these communities.

Join Apogee Interactive’s Jim Malcom and AM Conservation Group’s Brian McKee for a one hour presentation on how you can:

  • Increase Awareness of Programs
  • Engage Your Target Audience
  • Provide the Best Quality Products to Customers
  • Better Control Inventory Levels
  • Improve Customer Satisfaction
  • Drive Revenue
  • Reduce Bad Debt and Call Volume

Learn how you can meet your goals and make a difference in your community!

Webinar: EPIC Connections with Hard to Serve Customers

Presented May 24, 2017

In this presentation Apogee’s Executive V.P., Jim Malcom, will demonstrate our latest software package, (EPIC) Energy Platform for Information and Communication. This software package is designed to communication actionable ways to manage energy to low income customers, renters and customers who live in multi-family dwellings.

You will learn:

  • How to deliver timely information that is immediately actionable
  • Engage this hard to serve customers segment and increase customer satisfaction
  • Decrease delinquency and bad dept

 

Managing Pre-Pay Customers | 5 Lessons Utilities can Learn from Telecom

Presented May 4, 2017

EE: Sell them what they want!

Presented April 11, 2017

Webinar: EE: Sell them what they want!

Well, the results are in and they are not good:  Americans show a declining interest in energy efficiency.  According to Shelton Group’s ongoing polling, interest in EE home improvements are in a 4-year decline. This trend is confirmed by Apogee’s online energy analysis usage. So, what do they care about?

Comfort … Control … Resale value … and a host of other interests and emotional drivers. As customers are increasingly filtering out irrelevant messages, it’s important for marketers to hone in on the right message to engage consumers around EE.

Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO of Shelton Group, the nation’s leading marketing communications agency focused exclusively on energy and the environment will share how to segment your customers and serve up the right message, with right language to the right customers, at the right time to spur action – that’s how you increase program participation.

Suzanne will team with engagement technology leader Apogee Interactive’s co-founder and CEO, Susan Gilbert, to demonstrate real-world examples of what leading utilities are doing now to effectively connect with customers using proactive, relevant, personalized messaging.  Learn more about our speakers.

Listeners will learn:

  • Who are the types of customers you’ll most likely engage?
  • What are utilities doing to engage customers that actually works?
  • What do they care about – what emotional drivers can you speak to and what are the right offers?
  • What tools do they want?
  • What are the proven customer satisfaction impacts?
  • How can messaging be personalized on a mass scale to millions of customers?

Making the Smart Grid Relevant to Most People

Presented March 30, 2017

The energy industry has now made significant investments in advanced meters and have proven they can be valuable in behavioral demand response and to support pricing strategies reflecting cost differences in the time varying nature to electricity.  We also we now have compelling proof that customers do respond to this information where prepaid electricity has been offered and phone-based smart grid feedback is available, such as through PayGo and others.

With all this progress, getting customers in the mainstream to pay attention to smart grid data has been elusive.  This is a critical failure, as today’s energy executives seek to move beyond EE and DR in the customer engagement portfolio to offer energy marketplaces and enhanced energy services.  For example, some are offering automated filter replacements.  Others are offering HVAC warrantee, and even whole home energy affordability guarantees.

Are we still trying to sell death insurance?  That is what life insurance was originally called … and as a result they couldn’t sell it.  Do we need to recast smart grid engagement strategies in things that are not precisely correct but are precisely what customers are looking for?  Are we on the right track, or are we missing the key point?  How do we get to mainstream?

Join us as trusted industry visionary, Joel Gilbert shares what we have learned and where this is all going as the IoT and utility information platforms expand to include this information.

Plus, those of you who have not yet made a smart-meter investment will hear several ways to create surrogate smart grid engagement platforms … engaging customers with alternative, possibly better, and certainly less expensive informational platform methods.

 

Efficient Energy Audits Made Easy

Presented December 15, 2016

 

Join Apogee’s Justin West, for a 30 minute webinar and discover how forward thinking utilities and Apogee Interactive have pioneered an easier more efficient way to deliver accurate and engaging home energy audits. We will give an overview of the application and learn about the user experience in the field.

We’ll discuss:

  • The improved customer experience, greater accuracy, and presentation
  • Increased efficiency of the in-home audit process
  • Expanded customer engagement and understanding of audit results

Adding Relevance to the Customer Experience

Presented September 22, 2016

Our Chief Software Architect, Joel Gilbert, P.E., and his R&D team have been testing ways of getting true customer engagement.

Every survey indicates that most customers simply want to be left alone.  They are only interested in their energy use when they get a high bill or when the lights go out.

How can we get their attention outside of those conditions?

Joel will explain what he calls The Big ADD to the current engagement approach.  When you hear ADD you probably think of Attention Deficit Disorder … which may actually be too close to what customers have for their utility.

Joel redefines ADD to be an “Automated Digital Dialogue” that moves us into an ongoing, relevant, and meaningful customer interaction.

Join us to see the latest and greatest in customer engagement, leaping far beyond offering personalized tips or even mid-cycle bill alerts.

Learn how you can ADD to the customer experience … pun intended!!

Keys to Successful Digital Engagement Strategies with Outbound Communication

Presented July 21, 2016

Join Apogee Interactive and AcceptEmail for a webinar sharing best practices for utility electronic bill presentment and payment. Speakers will explore ways digital engagement at this vital point of purchase can improve customer satisfaction.

During the discussion, attendees will learn how new approaches to outbound communication can reduce calls to the call center, encourage paperless billing, lessen arrears billing, deliver significant cost savings and promote greater customer engagement.

Successful Digital Engagement Strategies

Presented June 30, 2016

Digital marketing is changing the way we interact with customers. How do utilities deliver an excellent customer experience through new web and mobile channels?  Join Apogee’s Karen Morris and Jim Malcom and learn how to improve digital engagement for your utility and why doing so will reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction.

Our agenda includes:

  • The Business Case for Digital
  • Opportunities for Digital Engagement
  • Personalized, Outbound, Proactive Messaging
  • Case Studies and Proven Results

Unlocking the Value of Customer Engagement

Presented June 7, 2016

Learn how to provide an effortless customer experience with a personalized, outbound, and proactive digital engagement platform. Apogee’s Susan Gilbert and Justin West will explain how utilities are increasing program yield and customer satisfaction with the right digital engagement  platform designed for auditors in the field, self-service at home, or for CSRs in the call center.

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