From 15,000 to 500,000 customers in 24 months

This case study chronicles a highly successful acquisition effort for FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), an alternative electric retail supplier. My team and I were responsible for the go-to-market strategy and day-to-day implementation of an acquisition marketing program in a newly competitive market. These markets are often filled with so much noise that customers find it difficult to compare options, leading to inertia and slow growth.

Despite these challenges and starting with a small customer base of approximately 15,000, we architected a program that leveraged proven marketing practices to drive significant growth.

The Challenge

The FES program faced several key hurdles in a highly competitive and complex market.

• • Customer Confusion & Inertia: In a “noisy” market, customers often find it difficult to understand and compare complex utility pricing plans, which can lead to inaction.

• • Complex Product and Pricing: The product itself was complicated, with geographically-driven pricing and varying local regulations that made a simple, “one-size-fits-all” message ineffective.

• • Aggressive Acquisition Goals with Limited Budget: We had defined enrollment goals but a limited budget for awareness-oriented communications. Every marketing touchpoint had to be efficient and contribute directly to both education and response.

• • Data and Attribution Gaps: While many users interact with multiple channels on their journey, we needed to move beyond a simplistic, single-channel attribution model to understand the full impact of our multi-channel approach.

The Outcome 

By implementing a data-driven strategy grounded in proven marketing principles, the program achieved significant growth:

• • Acquired approximately half a million new customers within the first 18 months.

• • The program’s acquisition engine successfully scaled, delivering sustained growth beyond initial expectations.

The Strategy 

The strategy was built on a foundation of proven marketing practices, tailored to the unique complexities of the utility industry:

• • Educational Messaging as a Priority:
    
    • • We understood that education is essential in low-involvement industries where competitive differences are not intuitive. Our messaging was designed to simplify complex utility pricing, using comparative rates and clear explanations to help prospects understand their options and overcome confusion.
    • • This educational content was developed using a combination of market research and in-market testing to ensure it directly addressed the key questions and insights of our target audience.

• • Cross Channel Contact Strategy with Response Triggers:
    
    • • We recognized the customer journey couldn’t be accomplished in a single touchpoint. Balanced our educational messages with clear calls-to-action and response triggers to drive immediate action.
    • • We used a multi-channel mix, with landing pages providing additional information that complemented the initial contact. Direct mail, for example, offered multiple response options to cater to different audience preferences.

• Optimized for Impact

• • Personalization:
    • Leveraged available data for tailoring, such as “estimated savings in your area,”. We incorporated the direct marketing best practice of repeating key messages within a single communication to ensure they were seen, even by those with short attention spans. This was applied to our creative, direct mail, and landing pages to appeal to customers who consume information differently.

• • Rigorous Testing  Offers & Versioning
    
    • • Successful acquisition programs feature a product with quantifiable value and an incentive to act. We tested a number of incentives, such as pricing discounts, that were compelling and timely for prospects to act before volatile electric prices changed.
    • • Versioning was used to increase relevancy, a known response driver. By using available data, we were able to provide prospects with tailored messaging, such as “estimated savings in your area,”.

• • Applying Cross-Channel Learnings
    
    • • Actively cross-pollinated test results across different segments (residential vs. small business) and various channels to ensure continuous improvement. For example, insights from paid search keyword analysis were used to optimize email subject lines, driving higher open and click-through rates.

Sheera Eby oversaw the agency team that created the acquisition strategy and execution.