Nudging energy shift: Behavioural-informed campaign spurs first-time switches

What unsustainable behavior needs to change:

When we look back to the fall of 2018 in Germany, one topic stands out: Climate change had the undivided attention of the media for the first time. Fridays for Future was only a few months old, but had already mobilised many people onto the streets. Consumers were becoming increasingly aware that they and their behaviour could make a difference. This sparked a newfound willingness in over half of Germans to alter their consumer habits.

Nevertheless, many remained entrenched in their old habits. This was apparent when examining the intention-behaviour gap, particularly when switching energy suppliers. For example, in 2018, of the Germans surveyed, 75% looked at alternative energy offers and prices, whereas  60% had never switched their supplier before 2018; ultimately demonstrating that consumers still had not yet opted for designated green energy.

A municipal energy supplier from Hamburg aimed to address this issue, without pointing fingers at citizens or launching information campaigns with infographics.

The Green Nudge:

While many other suppliers attempted to convince customers to act rationally through education and explanation, Hamburg Energie chose to leverage the (often) emotional nature of decision-making, as an opportunity. 

During their campaign (from October 2018 to March 2019), Hamburg Energie nudged customers to switch their energy provider for the first time ever; using the following behavioural approaches:

• Visual Cues: a set of simple yet likeable icons and emojis which merged climate change and personal energy consumption; to make the causality between the two apparent.
• Social Norms: Telling people that by choosing anything other than HAMBURG ENERGIE and/or a green energy supplier is not very “hamburgish”.
• Feedback: They made it crystal clear that consuming power from coal – is in no way, okay today.
• Social Identity and Loss Aversion: Using  meaningful landmarks and iconic sites from Hamburg, they teased what the immediate risk of losing such heritage would be like; in order to trigger a sense of identity and make citizens fear the risk of losing their beloved hometown from climate change.

The result: Hamburg Energie not only exceeded their new customer target of 5,000 for the campaign period, but surpassed it by 90%, with a total of 9,500 new customers acquired. Of these, at least 5,000 originated from the dominant supplier, Vattenfall. This resulted in a customer growth rate of 7.1%, marking a staggering 380% increase, compared to the average growth in comparable periods from previous years.

Are you aware of any other nudges that help promote sustainable products or services? Feel free to get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com