As utilities scale their demand response and Virtual Power Plant (VPP) programs, increasing customer enrollment remains a key priority across both utility-owned and third-party channels. Leveraging Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) channels can be particularly effective due to extensive customer engagement opportunities through apps and other communications.
OEMs are beginning to encourage energy customers to enroll in demand response (DR) programs using in-app marketing. ecobee, a partner to Uplight and a pioneering smart home device company, launched its in-app marketing system called “Drawers” in May 2024. While customers are using the app, a pop-up feature, called a drawer, informs customers about DR opportunities available to them. So far, the in-app marketing has proven to be 600% more effective at increasing demand response program enrollments than traditional email notifications for the OEM.
The ecobee app lets customers control their ecobee devices, including smart thermostats, cameras, sensors, and smart locks from anywhere, and is broadly adopted by customers with ecobee devices. ecobee’s Drawers reach about 90,000 customers across fifteen utilities partnering with Uplight, with messages detailing incentives for enrolling in a thermostat DR program.
After launching in-app DR program marketing through Drawers, Uplight and ecobee observed a significant increase in Bring Your Own (BYO) enrollments across the fifteen participating utilities— during the month of the launch, customer enrollments increased by 2.2x. The utilities saw sustained increases in the following summer months, with enrollments about 1.5x higher than the same months in 2023.
With an average conversion rate of 7% across Uplight programs— nearly double the conversion rate based on emails alone— ecobee’s Drawers program demonstrates the impact of in-app messages and the OEM channel in improving customer participation in clean energy initiatives. With each enrollment, Uplight and ecobee can shift more load, deepen grid resiliency, and advance the clean energy transition.
