March 2019
Member Spotlight
In 2019, SECC will be recognizing a member each month, providing an organizational profile and highlighting the member's accomplishments and output in the smart energy space.
About Questline
Questline is the innovative digital communications agency dedicated solely to the energy utility industry. The company is comprised of strategists, creators and problem-solvers for over 480 energy utilities across all 50 states.
Questline’s mission is to provide unparalleled customer experience through communications that engage, educate and inspire action.
Content and Email Marketing
Building long-term customer relationships and improving customer satisfaction begins with regular communications. Questline’s staff of copywriters, designers and producers help eliminate the resource-intensive, time-consuming task of creating high-quality, original content that many energy utilities find challenging.
Questline provides access to an extensive catalog of over 2,000 digital content assets developed exclusively for energy utility customers. The content is segmented by residential and business audience types and covers a wide variety of topics, including energy efficiency, safety, lighting and LEDs, home improvement, electric vehicles and more. Questline’s sharable content takes many engaging formats, from articles and infographics to slideshows, quizzes and videos.
The latest addition to Questline’s content product is Pathfinder: Solar IQ. Created in partnership with Distributed Energy Financial Group, Solar IQ is an innovative package of solar research and educational content for energy utilities and their customers.
DEFG’s research features four distinct tracks: Customer Insights, Trend Analysis, Case Studies and Best Practices, and Regulatory and Risk.
Questline then brings the Solar Power Customer Journey to life via engaging, customer-facing educational content.
With 75 percent of customers surveyed wishing they had more (and better) information before adding solar, utilities have an opportunity to become an important proactive, trusted resource. Get details on Pathfinder: Solar IQ here.
Creative and Campaign Strategy
Beyond its content offering, Questline also features an in-house Creative Studio, responsible for multi-channel campaign strategy and creative production.
Within the Creative Studio, Questline’s copywriters, art directors, graphic designers and developers bring to life custom-created videos, microsites, paperless billing campaigns, outage preparation communications, reengagement and personalized URL campaigns, social media, direct mail, bill inserts, signage and more for Questline’s energy utilities.
SECC partnered with Questline’s creative team last year to produce the educational “Evolving World of Energy” videos and companion infographic around the topics of energy efficiency and electric vehicles. View the resources here and here.
Most recently, Questline’s Creative Studio was awarded an American Marketing Association Silver AIM award for the creation of AEP Ohio’s new bi-annual @Community eMagazine. The publication supports AEP Ohio’s energy efficiency initiatives with messaging and resources for its residential customers. Aptly named “@Community,” the project features stories about AEP Ohio employees, their customers and the community. Explore the publication here.
Digital Channel Deployment, Analytics & Reporting
Behind every email campaign open and click is an energy utility customer with unique needs and preferences. This year, Questline has gone beyond the numbers to explore the human stories often hidden within the numbers.
Utilizing emails sent by 480+ utility companies across all 50 states, Questline analyzed an all-time high volume of over 451 million emails sent in 2018.
“This report’s unique because it gives energy utilities an opportunity to evaluate their email metrics with other similar utility communications. We see it as our responsibility to share our metrics findings accurately and we’re proud that the report is a true industry performance comparison that our clients eagerly await,” said Dave Reim, President of Questline.
This year, leveraging nearly 30 years of industry expertise, Questline has developed distinct personas that shed light on customer needs and behaviors. The new report is packed with a combination of benchmarks data and human application to guide energy utilities through the report stats and best practice insights.
Questline’s 2018 Energy Utility Email Benchmarks Report is now available for free download at questline.com/benchmarks using SECC member access code SMART2019.
