If you think about the most exciting apps on your device, a utility app isn’t the first to come to mind. But Utility and Productivity apps are often the ones that provide true value for their users.

Delivering customer value is exactly the goal of European energy company E.ON’s app which uses Urban Airship’s Digital Growth Platform to encourage self-service, drive interest and support customer retention.

As one of the U.K.’s leading energy providers, E.ON is responsible for powering gas and electricity to around 4.6 million homes and workspaces. The app gives customers the power to manage their account by enabling users to track their energy use, submit meter readings and pay bills.

Using Push Notifications To Drive Action

The E.ON app allows users to submit their meter reads easily from their mobile devices. To remind customers to do this, E.ON launched a push notification campaign resulting in a significant boost in open and conversion rates. E.ON customers who don’t use smart meters are encouraged to check and note their own meter readings to ensure accurate billing.

“Meter read submissions are a massively important function of our app. The reminder campaign has proven that a simple push notification can have a massive impact on our number of submissions and ultimately on customer satisfaction and overall retention rates,” said Daniel Stevens, Digital Experience Manager at E.ON.

Using Custom Events and Message Center

Working with DigitasLBi and the Urban Airship strategic consulting and managed services team, E.ON set up custom events tracking, enabling them to target users who had begun task, but not completed it. (This strategy is similar to what a retailer might do with an abandoned basket.) E.ON leverages user-level data to build segmented lists and deliver a message center message to these users, reminding them to complete a task.

Message center notifications are a great way to target 100% of your app audience — including users who are opted-out of push notifications — plus, content remains in the message center unless the user (or the brand itself) has deleted it. E.ON’s message center notifications have achieved notable success, with a 35% read rate as well as a 23% conversion rate.

Using A/B Testing to Deliver More Effective Messaging

Generating interest in new products and services is a key priority for all of E.ON’s digital channels — including mobile. E.ON was able to leverage Urban Airship’s A/B testing capabilities to see which messages worked best for their customers to drive interest in new boilers. They sent out three different messages to a test groups and a control group.

Users who clicked through were driven to a landing page where they could setup a free home survey for their boiler. The app user base was split into a test group consistent of 45% of users and a 55% control group. Three different push notifications were sent, each to one third of the test group. Then, the best performing message was sent to the control group.

By A/B testing their push notification content, the campaign has beens one of the most successful push notification campaigns E.ON had implemented to date, outperforming other paid media channels. (See how a retailer is using A/B testing in this blog post.)

The Value of Urban Airship

By using thoughtful push notification strategy, message center content and A/B testing, E.ON has succeeded in creating a customer-first app that empowers app users.

“Our innovative mobile engagement strategies have positively impacted our business goals and objectives and most importantly — have helped us create a app that drives value for our customers. Urban Airship’s products and team have been great partners and have supported us as we work towards consistently taking our mobile engagement efforts to the next level.”

Check out the full case study about how E.ON took full advantage of Urban Airship’s digital growth platform and services, putting them on the path to success. Interested in other customer stories? Our case studies topic page features stories from top brands and learn successful strategies you can use.