Power play: Winning the home mover moment before energy customers switch

The client

A leading UK energy supplier serving over 1.8 million customers wanted to reduce customer churn and grow its customer base in an increasingly competitive market. The business recognised that moving home represents a key moment when consumers review or change their utility providers.

What they wanted to achieve

The client set out to:

• Retain existing customers who were planning to move home
• Acquire new customers moving into areas where they could supply energy
• Improve marketing efficiency by targeting consumers at a key decision-making moment
• Generate measurable growth in customer numbers and revenue

Our approach

Using regularly updated home mover data, we identified both existing customers approaching a move and prospective customers relocating into serviceable properties.

We created a targeted direct mail programme comprising:

• Retention campaigns encouraging existing customers to transfer their energy supply to their new property
• Acquisition campaigns introducing moving households to the supplier’s competitive tariffs and customer service credentials
• Personalised offers, QR codes and unique response mechanisms to enable full campaign tracking and attribution

Mail packs were timed to reach households shortly before and after their move date, when energy provider decisions are most likely to be made.

The outcome

Over a two-month campaign period:

• 52,000 existing customer movers were identified and contacted
• 9,600 customers retained, reducing mover-related churn by 34%
• 110,000 prospective home mover households targeted
• 5,200 new customers acquired through direct mail
• Cost per acquisition was 27% lower than the client’s paid digital channels
• The campaign generated an estimated £6.8 million in annual customer lifetime value
• Overall return on marketing investment exceeded 10:1

Key takeaway

By combining accurate home mover data with a highly targeted direct mail strategy, the energy supplier successfully retained valuable existing customers while acquiring thousands of new accounts at a lower cost, turning home moves into a significant growth opportunity.