Including, retaining, and satisfying customers is crucial to building a resilient grid and accelerating the clean energy transition. One tool that many utilities employ are energy Marketplaces that sell energy efficiency and energy saving products, incorporating rebates and other incentives at checkout. Customers have become accustomed to Amazon and other retailers offering free shipping, so Uplight wanted to know if free shopping would boost Marketplace performance.  After launching a free shipping promotion for eight utility Marketplaces at the end of 2024, Uplight saw significant improvement in energy-saving product sales, customer satisfaction, and customer savings.  

Marketplace Free Shipping Results

While we hypothesized that free shipping would boost sales savings, and customer satisfaction, here is what we saw. 

The promotion generated over 9,000 qualifying orders and delivered over 32,000 energy-efficient products to customers’ homes, resulting in $82,000 in customer savings. Despite economic tailwinds, half of Marketplaces that offered free shipping surpassed their 2023 sales. 

While non-participating Marketplaces saw a decrease in single-item purchases under $49 from 2023 to 2024, participating Marketplaces experienced a 4% increase. Product categories including air quality products, lighting solutions, and advanced power strips saw particularly strong sales increases. 

In addition, customer satisfaction improved significantly for utilities following the promotion, with participating Marketplaces experiencing a 42% increase in CSAT scores— from 51% in 2023 to 73% in 2024. This far outpaced the improvements  seen in non-participating marketplaces. 

Uplight identified two factors that drove additional success for the promotion:

• Integration with utility-led marketing: Marketplaces that did their own marketing alongside Uplight’s marketing achieved 112% of their sales forecast compared to 61% for those without coordinated marketing. 
• Rebate programs: utilities providing rebates, particularly for smart thermostats, saw improved overall performance. 

For utility program managers, the data suggests implementing free shipping during peak sales periods such as Earth Day, Summer Prime Day, and Black Friday/Cyber Monday and coordinating these promotions with their own marketing campaigns and rebate programs can maximize increases in sales, savings, and customer satisfaction As utilities continue seeking ways to increase energy-efficient product adoption, free shipping promotions represent a proven approach to driving both sales performance and customer satisfaction, particularly when implemented as part of a comprehensive marketplace strategy.