The Scottish Government's mail reached the hard to reach
Background:
The Energy Assistance Package (EAP) was one of The Scottish Government's flagship schemes for tackling fuel poverty. It provided free central heating, boiler or insulation installation to those who meet a very detailed set of checks and inspection criteria.
The core fuel poverty audience had proved immune to past marketing campaigns by Home Energy Scotland, the Energy Savings Trust (Scotland) and energy suppliers. And EAP response rates had almost halved since inception (6% in 2009 to 3.2% in 2011).
The net effect was those most predisposed to seek assistance had already done so, leaving a disadvantaged core in desperate need but stubbornly immune to marketing.
Also, conventional wisdom held that autumn/winter was the optimal campaigning period. But in 2012 the ambition was to implement installations in advance of winter which meant the campaign had to land in summer – a time when energy bills were the last thing on people’s minds.
The Scottish Government had to take a fresh approach if they were going to overcome the cynicism, self-exclusion and low confidence of their target audience.
Solution:
The Scottish Government’s first step was to re-profile the targeting model based on: age/presence of children; housing tenure; property type; benefits and income profile; and 'Lookalike' profiling of past EAP qualifiers.
A core prospect pool of the 210,000 most-in-need households was identified.
Next a mailing – using a warm, approachable tone - was sent to the highly targeted prospect list. Personally addressed, it would be difficult for this cynical audience to ignore.
Further steps were then taken to overcome a series of deeply entrenched barriers.
Knowing their audiences were wary of those 'trying to sell you something' and were generally untrusting of companies, made clear that the communication was from The Scottish Government/Natural Scotland branding to inspire confidence and communicate that this was more than a marketing piece, it carried important information.
To overcome the high level of cynicism – this audience believed that offers were usually too good to be true – the message was communicated using straightforward language and avoiding any hyperbole.
Self-exclusion was tackled with an inclusive/exclusive tick-box device and by citing the number of households already assisted, plus the fullest range of reply options for easy response.
Finally, to overcome the unusual timing of the campaign, The Scottish Government cleverly used the quirky image of a snowman on the beach and made a virtue out of an unseasonable message. The line on the envelope - 'Make your winter feel like summer' - chimed with the image to create intrigue and ensured this resistant audience picked it up off the doormat.
Results:
The campaign managed to penetrate people’s immunity to marketing and successfully reverse declining response rates.
The 9,264 responses equated to a 4.4% response rate: a 47% rise on the 3% target. Most importantly, 1,617 households passed the full eligibility criteria for EAP assistance.
The remaining enquirers benefited from advice on energy efficiency and access to other schemes.
The Scottish Government estimated average annual savings at £669 per household (or £1,081,773 across all 1,617): a massive amount to people for whom every penny matters.
Source: DMA Award Winner Silver
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