CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --- Large retail electric providers in the Texas market enjoy higher-than-average Brand Trust from their business customers, announced Market Strategies International. These retailers, which serve over half of the business market, also see strong loyalty from their customers, showing that investing in brand yields a return in customer retention.
Now in its third year, the 2018 Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Business, a Cogent Reports study by Market Strategies International, assesses Texas businesses’ experience with their retail electric providers and transmission and distribution utilities. The study provides key insights and performance trends for businesses’ brand trust, product experience and service satisfaction with their retailer and electric utility.
The study also shows a strong correlation between businesses’ level of brand trust in their retailer and their willingness to recommend their retailer, showing that not only are businesses with high trust much less likely to switch retailers, but that they’re also more likely to help retailers acquire new business through word of mouth. Some of the large providers that rank above average are Ambit Energy, CPL Retail Energy, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Reliant Energy and TXU Energy.
Brand Trust score |
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Would not switch to another |
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range |
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retail electric provider for any |
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Likelihood to recommend |
(0–10 scale) |
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cost savings |
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(mean, 0–10 scale) |
0–6 |
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13% |
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5.66 |
7–8 |
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20% |
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7.68 |
9–10 |
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33% |
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9.20 |
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“It’s clear from our findings that retail electric providers can create a competitive advantage by investing in creating strong brand connections with their business customers,” said Chris Oberle, senior vice president at Market Strategies International. “We know from our research that trusted brands create more loyal customers who want to use more retailer offerings. So, the larger electric providers are in a position to build financial value by tracking their Brand Trust performance.”