Five things we’ve achieved in 2020 at Energy Saving Trust

We delivered a 14-week digital campaign comprising of Google search advertising and targeted social media advertising – we used Experian’s ‘Mosaic’ segmentation data within Facebook/Instagram to focus our campaign on households with very low incomes who were likely to be in receipt of benefits.

We also ran radio activity over a 10-week period, including show sponsorship and ads featuring real customer testimonials.

We issued a customer email campaign targeting existing customers who looked like they might qualify. The advice centre network delivered localised promotional activity to complement and support the national campaign – to facilitate this we issued a stakeholder pack which was also sent to partners like local authorities.

Our campaign KPIs were based on the performance of last year’s campaign, so there was some uncertainty around what impact the pandemic would have on this year’s activity, especially given that call volumes were low. The campaign performed even better than expected, perhaps due to so many people experiencing difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Increased need for the service means it’s more important than ever to raise awareness. Here’s how the campaign performed:

• we hoped to generate 2,000 leads but, in the end,, we achieved 4,500 – just over 225% of our target
• we drove around 1,000 inbound enquiries (mostly calls) via the digital campaign achieving 160% of our target of 600
• we exceeded our goal of reaching 50,000 website visits during the campaign, with a healthy 59,000 (119% of target)
• we also topped our target of reaching 5 million households – the combined reach of our radio and social media activity delivered us 2.7 million in reach
• during the campaign period we monitored referral numbers for the Warmer Homes Scotland programme and saw an average 52% uplift on weekly referral figures over the 14-week campaign period

Mrs W, North East Scotland, said:

“I’m getting my boiler and front door replaced as the heating is on the verge of packing in and we have awful draughts, so looking forward to having a warm home this winter. Home Energy Scotland were so very helpful in every way. Their friendly staff advised me on saving energy and looking into other benefits that I don’t currently have. They sent me brochures to read too – they guided me through everything. Very quick response sending a surveyor out too.”

The funding round was promoted through Local Energy Scotland’s own channels, including an email newsletter, paid for and organic social media, and emails to contacts, as well as Energy Saving Trust’s newsletters and social media channels.

A total of 6,500 people were reached through Local Energy Scotland newsletter opens and social media alone. More than 50 stakeholder packs were also sent to partner organisations such as Changeworks and Zero Waste Scotland for third-party cross promotion. Packs were also sent to relevant contacts in all of Scotland’s local councils.

The latest round of funding received record levels of interest: more than 170 expressions of interest were received, many of whom had not engaged with CARES before. This resulted in 66 full applications – again, a record number. A total of 53 projects will share the £4.5 million funding pot.

The Design Challenge Grand Final was due to take place in London at the end of June, however Covid-19 restrictions forced us to move the event online. The final became a series of events; first, student teams pitched their project ideas to a panel of expert judges via video chat. Subsequently, they also had the opportunity to network with industry experts online.

A total of 120 participants from 33 countries attended the live event. The audience included participating students, academics and representatives from energy access organisations. The event included a video overview of the first year of the challenge, as well as a panel discussion about working within the off-grid industry. The event culminated in the awards ceremony, which announced the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge winning teams.

To announce the winning teams, we worked with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to create an overarching press release and created customised press releases to send to local journalists. We also created graphics and social media posts to announce the gold, silver and bronze winners on Twitter and Facebook and shared this with our industry partners and members of the Efficiency for Access Donor Coalition.

A total of 120 people from 33 countries attended the Grand Final, and we received coverage in numerous news publications, including ESI Africa, Next Billion, Sun Connect, KBC News, The New Times, New Vision and The Standard.

Jeffrey Prins, head of portfolio – renewable energy, IKEA Foundation, said:

“The IKEA Foundation is thrilled to celebrate the outstanding work of the winning teams in the inaugural year of the Efficiency for Access Design Challenge. If we are serious about delivering renewable energy access for all by 2030, we need innovative ideas from creative people today. These students have done just that.”