Over the past decade, government entities, utilities, and nonprofit power agencies have created an impressive array of incentives to help customers electrify their appliances, upgrade their home’s energy efficiency, and drive electric.
Unfortunately, customers aren’t finding out about them.
According to a 2023 Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative survey, around three-quarters of low-income customers have never seen rebates for energy-efficient appliances or heard of energy management programs they qualify for. Only half of the participants in a 2023 Consumer Reports survey were aware of tax rebates to purchase new electric vehicles, and even fewer—one in six!—knew about credits for used EVs.
Awareness isn’t the only barrier. Even the EV industry has called the federal government’s EV confusing, elaborate incentive guidelines “unnecessary hurdles to adoption.”
Customer confusion may become even more intense as political shifts alter or cancel federal and state electrification incentives. That’s why public utilities and consumer choice aggregates (CCAs) have a critical role to play in informing customers about the rebates and incentives they qualify for.
4 tips for driving consumer awareness about electrification incentives
Over the 13 years we’ve specialized in clean energy and EVs, REACH Strategies has field-tested these four tactics to effectively get out the word about incentive programs:
A picture is worth a thousand words. Create infographics to do the heavy lifting of explaining the cost savings each incentive provides, the program’s guidelines, and which kinds of appliances or vehicles qualify. Make the info easy to understand at a glance, because that’s how much time many customers have.
Look at your website from the viewpoint of your customers. We often see incentive sites written for lawyers. Time for a rewrite! Spell out the guidelines for customers who read at an eight-grade reading level. Create or link to online forms that make it easy for them to apply.
Rethink your email strategy. Be clear and consistent about getting the world out there about your incentives. Don’t bury announcements at the bottom of an email newsletter. Instead, dedicate targeted campaigns to each incentive.
Get out into the field. Don’t stop with emails. Diversify your messaging through paid ads—both social media and broadcast channels like radio and podcasts. Look for opportunities to directly engage with the public, finding events where you can talk to your customers, face to face.
The result of making sure your customers know about your electrification incentives? They save money—and you build trust and brand loyalty. The more customers rely on you for incentive information, the closer attention they’ll pay to all your other messages, too.
Want to talk more to us about our unique and proven approach? Reach out!
