Millennials are the most engaged energy customers revealsresearch by Yonder.
For people aged between 25 and 34 factors such as trustworthiness, business continuity, business stability, competitive pricing, clear and transparent bills, customer service, communications and environmental consciousness have all become more important since the start of the pandemic when it comes to the selection of an energy provider.
Millennials scored significantly higher in all these factors than any other age group surveyed.
Trustworthiness of energy supplier was the most important factor for Millennials (74 per cent), 15 percentage points higher than the average across all energy customers at 59 per cent.
The ability to offer uninterrupted service was the second most important factor at 64 per cent, five per cent above the average.
Customer service, competitive pricing and clear and transparent bills all scored 62 per cent, and were found to be 10 per cent, eight per cent and eight per cent higher than average respectively.
Customer communication was seven per cent more important to this cohort of customers than the average of 51 per cent and being environmentally conscious, despite scoring the lowest at 55 per cent, was found to be eight per cent more important to Millennials than the average score across age groups.
Interestingly, this engagement translates into a less risk averse attitude amongst Millennials, with this age group more likely to become a customer of an energy provider that they haven’t heard of (54 per cent versus an average of 36 per cent).
They were also found to be the happiest cohort to become a customer of a small supplier, despite the recent spate of bankruptcies amongst smaller firms, 50 per cent versus an average of 42 per cent.
Comments Manfred Abraham, co-CEO, Yonder:
“In 2020 Millennials surpassed Baby Boomers to become the largest demographic in the UK, with 14.26 million individuals making them an influential group of customers for energy providers. These findings provide energy companies with important insight when it comes to developing their brand proposition in the wake of the continuing energy crisis. Understanding what is important to customers is critical when it comes to customer acquisition and retention.”
The research was carried out amongst a representative sample of UK customers