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Project Overview
Switching energy providers can be a hassle for customers, whether that's filling out long online forms, or understanding complex tariffs. Comparethemarket.com developed Snapt Energy to address this issue and create an accessible app that enables customers to get a new supplier just using their paper bill and smartphone. It's that simple.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
Aish Campbell, Anna Dalhstrom, Daniela Cadore and Stephanie Ip
Project Brief
With paper billing still common and smartphones in most pockets a solution leveraging the phone’s camera became a clear choice for helping reluctant customers quote for and switch energy providers.
Comparethemarket.com had a high-level concept for the application experience and were developing the backend capabilities to process bill data for quoting. As Comparethemarket.com’s recently appointed innovation agency, Albion was tasked with developing the user experience and design of the application.
The application needed to inform and reassure customers about the energy switching process they are unfamiliar with without slowing them down, and make the process easy and effortless.
The aim was to enable customers to change provider with a single tap.
Project Need
The complexity of switching energy leads most consumers to ignore the opportunity.
The Snapt Energy application marries the unique capabilities of the smartphones in our pockets and a human touch. The application uses the smartphone camera for bill submission; customers simply snap pictures of the bill’s pages, and Comparethemarket.com’s customer service team capture the bill details to provide an energy cost quote.
User Experience
The Snapt Energy application provides a unique user experience for customers who might expect to have to fill out long forms in order to compare or switch financial products or utility services.
The user simply snaps a picture of their energy bill, provides their email, and receives an actionable quote for their gas and electricity needs within 10 minutes. It’s that simple.
Project Marketing
The application was creatively marketed in several ways.
The app was launched in coordination with the 'Great British Switch' – a partnership between the Mirror and Comparethemarket.com to eliminate switching costs (which can amount to £100) for a single weekend in March 2014. This media event created public awareness about energy-related savings opportunities.
In addition to this event, the app was advertised in print, radio, and social networks. These ads featured Comparethemarket.com’s well-known meerkat characters.
As a result of its successful marketing campaign the Snapt Energy app was featured on The Gadget Show and in leading financial publication This Is Money.
http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/gadget-show/gadget-news/snapt-meet-the-app-that-helps-you-save-on-your-energy-bill
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2537262/Would-mobile-app-make-likely-look-better-energy-tariff.html
Project Privacy
Several choices were made to insure that the Snapt Energy application’s unique functionality protected customers.
First, all data was transferred from the application securely and only stored on company servers. Customer contact data such as email, phone, names, and addresses are only used to provide customers with a quote. This information is not used for marketing and is not shared with energy providers.
The Snapt Energy functionality creates a unique security challenge. Customers are taking pictures of their energy bills that contain personally identifying information. Therefore, the choice was made that photos taken within the application should never be stored on the customer’s phone or external servers.
Financial Information & Tools
This category relates to applications that provide financial information and tools.
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