THE STORY

This large Midwest utility is an electric and natural gas utility serving customers across central and eastern Missouri. As part of its long-term sustainability and grid reliability goals, the utility has focused on helping customers better manage energy use while maintaining high levels of satisfaction. After seeing success with historic marketplace programs, they partnered with Franklin Energy to develop a new approach that would take their marketplace to the next level, raising customer engagement and program performance.

THE GOAL

The utility’s existing online store lacked clear savings visibility, intuitive navigation, and the ability to effectively promote smart thermostats and other connected devices. Complicated pricing structures—particularly for products tied to demand response incentives—made it difficult for customers to understand final costs and program benefits. The utility sought Franklin Energy’s help to simplify the customer journey, increase product sales, clearly communicate demand response value, and encourage broader participation in energy-saving programs.

THE SOLUTION AND RESULTS

Franklin Energy collaborated with this utility to design their first-ever bundled marketplace offer, pairing smart thermostats with smart plugs at accessible price points. By stacking instant rebates with incentives tied to participation in their Peak Time Savings demand response program, the marketplace clearly communicated value while encouraging enrollment at checkout.

To support the offer, Franklin Energy executed a coordinated, multi-channel marketing strategy designed to meet customers where they were. The campaign combined email outreach, direct mail with QR codes, digital advertising, and targeted search placements, all driving traffic to landing pages within the utility’s store. This unified approach ensured a consistent experience from initial awareness through purchase and enrollment.

The results demonstrated the strength of the marketplace-led strategy. Thousands of customers enrolled in Peak Time Savings, store traffic surged, and customer satisfaction remained high. Program data provided valuable insights into customer demographics and behaviors, helping inform future program design. Together, the campaign showed how a well-designed marketplace offer—paired with clear incentives and coordinated outreach—can deliver strong enrollment, meaningful engagement, and lasting program value.