Normalising carbon-saving home retrofit
CLIENT: THE CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
The Centre for Sustainable Energy is a national climate change charity that exists to bring people together to transform the energy system and tackle the climate emergency. As a specialist communications consultancy for the energy transition, we worked with CSE to conduct a review of their home retrofit survey service ‘Futureproof’, to understand homeowners’ needs, and to increase uptake of the survey.
We conducted a review of the charity’s ‘Futureproof’ home retrofit survey service.
We spoke to potential customers, and identified a strategy to encourage more people to fit carbon-saving retrofit measures into their homes.
The context
CSE is a national climate change charity that exists to create a world where sustainability is second nature, carbon emissions have been cut to safe levels, and fuel poverty has been replaced by energy justice.
The charity is dedicated to a greener, smarter and fairer energy system where no one is left behind in this vital transition.
The challenge
One of CSE’s core products is their ‘Futureproof’ home retrofit survey, providing homeowners with a bespoke and comprehensive survey of their property, to identify suitable retrofit measures to save energy, cut emissions, reduce bills, and make homes efficient and cosy for the future.
The survey comes with a fee for homeowners, depending on location and grants available, and all income from sales of the survey is invested back into the charity’s work. However, the charity was increasingly seeing a reduction in sales of the survey and wanted to understand what could be done to change this.
Communications didn’t clearly position the value of the survey
Reduction in sales of the Futureproof home retrofit survey
Confusion by customers about how the survey would help them, and what was included
Complicated sales process causing barriers
Lack of clarity about who target customers were, and the aspects that would motivate them to enquire about the survey
What we did
We conducted a comprehensive review of the Futureproof survey, including gaining customer insights, identifying current barriers, conducting a peer review of similar products, creating a value proposition and messaging framework, marketing assets review, and developing a new customer journey from enquiry through to survey and beyond.
We reviewed sales of the Futureproof survey to date, audited existing marketing approaches, spoke to potential customers, looked at trends, and reviewed the service marketing and sales processes.
Conducted a peer review of similar products to find the unique positioning for Futureproof
Developed a product value proposition and messaging framework
Analysed existing research about target customers for retrofit, and their motivations
Conducted a survey with homeowners across the South West to understand awareness of the Futureproof service, and current perceptions about retrofit
Identified the current barriers to homeowners purchasing the survey, including misconceptions about the cost and inconvenience of retrofit
The difference we made
CSE now have an in-depth understanding of their customers’ needs, and a strategic plan to relaunch Futureproof with revised positioning and messaging aligned with what customers say is important to them.
Natasha Collins-Daniel, Head of Communications at the Centre for Sustainable Energy:
“We’ve been working with Sarah at Really Good Things to transform the marketing approach for our Futureproof service by stripping everything back to fundamentals and rebuilding with purpose. Sarah expertly guided us to understand our homeowners' genuine needs, rather than what we presumed they wanted.
Sarah spent time with our experts, making them feel valued and heard, while keeping sight of our charitable objectives and conversion goals. The marketing messaging she’s helped us develop speaks directly to homeowners across the South West in a way our previous approach simply failed to do.
Our website and user journey had evolved haphazardly over time, creating a disjointed experience. Sarah approached these challenges with methodical clarity, reimagining the customer pathway from initial awareness to conversion. She hasn't just helped us understand where we are now, but has given us the support to imagine what Futureproof could become.”
“We now have a clear understanding of our customers’ needs. Really Good Things approached it with methodical clarity and expertly guided us.”
CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Really Good Things is a specialist communications consultancy for the energy transition. Our clients include MCS, Centre for Sustainable Energy, MCS Charitable Foundation, Altrad, Balfour Beatty, and Network Rail. You might also like this CASE STUDY about our work with MCS, to create an impact-led campaign to influence policy for small-scale renewables.