BlastPoint Deep Dive Podcast

Reboarding for Utilities
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Anna: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Blast Point Deep Dive podcast.

Tom: Hi everyone.

Anna: This is the Blast Point Deep Dive podcast, uh, a collaboration between humans and AI exploring the power of data and AI driven solutions, and we're diving into one of those today. That's

Tom: right. I'm Tom.

Anna: And I'm Anna. So we recently came across this, um, really fascinating blog post on the BlastPoint site.

It, it kind of made me rethink how utilities engage with customers they already have.

Tom: Right. Not just the new ones.

Anna: Exactly. We, you know, we put so much effort into onboarding, but this post talks about a smarter way to connect with existing customers. They call it reboarding. Which I thought was pretty clever.

Tom: It's a great term. Captures it perfectly.

Anna: Yeah. So, uh, get comfortable everyone. Today we're learning how blast point's next best program that's NBP makes this whole rewarding idea, smarter, much more targeted and well, just more effective. I. Welcome to.[00:01:00]

Tom: It really is a, um, a fundamental shift, isn't it? Traditionally, the big push was always that initial setup. Get the customer signed up, give them the welcome kit. You know, the

Anna: basics.

Tom: The basics, but the energy world is changing so fast now. Think about, um, energy efficiency pushes all the new affordability programs popping up, smart home tech everywhere,

Anna: right?

That welcome packet from five years ago, probably pretty outdated now.

Tom: Totally outdated. It just can't cover everything a customer might need or become eligible for down the line.

Anna: And people's lives change too. That's the key thing, right? Income goes up or down. They buy an ev, maybe they install a smart thermostat.

Tom: Exactly.

Anna: And that's where this rewarding concept, uh. Really makes sense. It's about the utility proactively reaching back out when something becomes relevant [00:02:00] now for that customer.

Tom: You've got it. Onboarding is the, hello reward is checking in throughout the relationship, sort of nurturing it. Mm-hmm. It's about finding those folks who are maybe missing out.

They might qualify for something new, or maybe they just, you know, never heard about a program that actually fits their current lifestyle perfectly. The blog has some good examples.

Anna: Yeah, like the budget billing customer whose income changes, making them eligible for energy assistance. They were already a customer, but their situation shifted.

A classic

Tom: case

Anna: or uh, someone who got a smart thermostat last year, maybe time of use rates didn't make sense then, but now could save them real money.

Tom: Or the new EV owner, suddenly rebates. Mm-hmm. Special charging rates. Those are super relevant to them. An existing customer.

Anna: Yeah. And the big difference is that proactivity you mentioned, instead of just hoping customers discover these things,

Tom: which let's be honest, is pretty hit or miss.

Anna: Relies on them doing the digging. Rewarding means the utility actually steps up and says, Hey, based on what we [00:03:00] know, this might help you. It feels much more supportive.

Tom: Okay, so that's the why Now, how does Blast Point's next Best program, the MVP fit into this? Yep. The blog post positioned it as like. The engine making reboarding really work.

Anna: Exactly. Reboarding is a smart idea on its own, but NVP is what gives it, uh, real power. It uses all this real world data, machine learning, sophisticated stuff

Tom: to not just figure out who to talk to, but to actually predict and recommend the best program for that specific customer at that specific time. It turns a good idea into a, well, a seriously effective strategy.

Anna (2): Okay. Okay. Let's, uh, let's peek under the hood then. How does NVP actually do that? The post laid out six stages.

Tom: Yeah. It's a process. Yeah. First up is data collection. Pretty straightforward. Gathering everything, you know? Yeah. Customer usage, demographics, past interactions, website clicks. All of it.

Anna: All the puzzle pieces.

Tom: Exactly. Then comes feature engineering. Now this is where it gets, um, kind of cool. It's not just raw data, it's about [00:04:00] transforming it, finding the meaningful patterns.

Anna: So like combining things.

Tom: Yeah, combining things, creating new variables. Maybe looking at, say. Peak usage times in relation to their neighborhood's.

Typical solar adoption rates. You're creating richer signals from the basic data points.

Anna: Gotcha. Turning ingredients into a recipe, sort of,

Tom: that's a great way to put it. Uh, next is model training. This is the machine learning part. The system learns from past campaigns, what worked, what didn't, who signed up for what to understand the drivers of adoption,

Anna: learning from history

Tom: precisely, and that leads to propensity scoring.

Basically, every customer gets a score for different programs. How likely are they to sign up for, say, budget billing or an EV rebate or energy efficiency audit?

Anna: Okay, so you have these likelihood scores. Then what?

Tom: Then you move to segmentation and personalization, right? Based on those scores and other factors, you group customers.

This lets you tailor the message,

Anna: right? No more one size fits all emails,

Tom: definitely not. It's about sending the right message about the [00:05:00] right program to the right person. And finally, there's continuous learning. People change, markets change, so the models constantly update with new data to stay sharp and relevant.

Anna: Keeps getting smarter. Makes sense. So pulling this all together, reboarding philosophy plus NBP Tech, what are the big wins? The blah highlighted quite a few benefits.

Tom: Oh, absolutely. First off, higher program adoption makes sense, right? You talk to the right people about the right thing, more of 'em are gonna sign up.

Anna: Better conversion rates,

Tom: definitely second, a much better customer experience. Hmm. People feel like their utility actually understands them, supports them beyond just sending a bill. That builds loyalty.

Anna: Yeah. Feeling like they get you is huge. What else?

Tom: Well, more efficient marketing spend is a big one. You focus your budget on the high propensity folks, less waste on campaigns that won't land

Anna: smart spending.

Tom: Uhhuh and crucially improved equity and access. NDP can actively identify eligible customers in, say, underserved communities [00:06:00] who haven't enrolled in assistance programs yet. It helps bridge that gap. That's really important. It is. And finally, it all contributes to faster decarbonization progress, successfully promoting things like smart thermostats, EV programs, energy saving tools.

You're accelerating that shift.

Anna: The blog also talked about, um, visualizing program combinations. How does that help with reboarding strategy?

Tom: Yeah, that's super insightful by looking at what programs customers already use together. You learn a lot. NM VP can analyze these combos, like who has a both budget billing and an overdue payment plan, or who has paperless billing and uses the online portal frequently.

Anna: Okay, so you see common bundles.

Tom: Exactly. You see what naturally goes together for customers. Maybe folks with e-billing are really good candidates for autopay next.

Anna: Ah, finding the natural next step

Tom: precisely, or you spot combinations that aren't common, but should be. Maybe very few energy assistance recipients are also on budget billing.

That's a clear reward opportunity right there. [00:07:00] It reveals those customer journeys,

Anna: understanding the path they're already on. Or it could be on, what about analyzing participation counts? That was another point,

Tom: right? This is basically looking at how many programs each customer uses. Is it just one, two,

Anna: yeah.

Tom: Three or more. Zero.

Anna: Okay.

Tom: And very often utilities find a huge chunk of their customers are only in one program may just the basic electric service itself.

Anna: So a big untapped potential for deeper engagement.

Tom: Exactly. That group, the zero or one program customers, they become a key target for reboarding. You know, they could likely benefit from more.

And NBP helps pinpoint which specific program makes the most sense to offer them next. It helps you prioritize and cross promote effectively.

Anna: Okay. That paints a clear picture. So for a utility wanting to do this, how do they actually operationalize reboarding with NBP?

Tom: Mm.

Anna: The blog had some steps.

Tom: Yeah. It laid out a practical path.

It starts with identifying key moments. When does it make sense to reach out? Maybe after a move or seasonally or [00:08:00] after they've been in one program for a year. Trigger points. Trigger points, exactly. Then you integrate the MVP scoring into your systems. So at those key moments, you automatically know the best program to suggest for that specific customer

Anna: makes the recommendation relevant,

Tom: highly relevant.

Then it's about delivering personalized messaging. Using the channels they prefer email, SMS, maybe even mail with a message that speaks directly to their likely needs

Anna: tailored outreach.

Tom: Uhhuh. And the last step, super important is to monitor and refine. Yeah, track everything. Are they engaging? Signing up?

Are they satisfied? Use that data to constantly tweak and improve the campaigns.

Anna: Learn and adjust. Got it. The blog also shared a couple of real world examples, right? Utilities actually doing this.

Tom: It did, yeah. Really compelling ones. One was an electric utility in Western PA looking to boost energy efficiency program signups.

Anna: What did they do?

Tom: They used BlastPoint platform. Uh, leveraged the segmentation insights that provided to run targeted email campaigns.

Anna: [00:09:00] And the results

Tom: pretty impressive. They got 16% higher enrollment compared to the usual industry benchmarks and get this engagement rates over 300% higher.

Anna: Wow. That shows the targeting works.

Tom: It really does. The other example was Utility in the Northeast focused on e-billing adoption,

Anna: trying to get people to go paperless.

Tom: Exactly. They used blast point for targeted campaigns and saw a 35% improvement in paperless enrollment. And one specific campaign powered by BlastPoint that went to about 40,000 customers.

It saved them an extra $20,000 just in paper and postage costs.

Anna: Okay, so real tangible savings there too, not just better engagement.

Tom: Absolutely. It hits the bottom line as well.

Anna: Those examples really drive it home. It feels like, as the blog concluded, reboarding isn't just a tactic, it's um, a fundamental change in mindset.

Tom: It really is. It's recognizing customers aren't static. Yeah. Their needs change. Their lives change.

Anna: So the utilities relationship with them needs to evolve too

Tom: precisely. It needs to be ongoing, proactive, and when you pair that mindset [00:10:00] shift with the intelligence of something like MVP, utilities can actually meet those changing needs.

Personally, efficiently and proactively, it builds much stronger connections.

Anna: So ready to reboard your customers. Blast point's. AI powered platform helps utilities activate reboarding strategies that will clearly drive results.

Tom: And of course, if you enjoyed this deep dive into data and ai, make sure to subscribe to the BlastPoint Deep Dive Podcast for more amazing stories from the cutting edge of technology.

We'll be back soon with another episode exploring how data and AI are shaping the world around us.

Anna: Until then, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible. We'll be here to guide you every step of the way.

Tom: Thanks for joining us.