Market research confirms positive image of the energy cooperative
How is Prokon perceived by members, customers, and the wider public? The energy cooperative regularly conducts market research to find out. Its experts recently presented the latest report. The encouraging message: Prokon stands for trust, sustainability, and community – more than ever before.
Prokon image with top ratings
‘Values outweigh returns’: This characterisation applies to electricity customers as well as to members. For over 90 percent of electricity customers, it is important that their energy provider invests in the expansion of renewable energies, that the electricity comes directly from the producer, and that the green electricity offers good value for money. A similar picture emerges among the members: driving forward the energy transition (71 percent) and implementing the energy transition through citizen ownership (68 percent) are rated as ‘very important’ motivations, clearly ahead of dividend returns (45 percent).
This is reflected in the responses regarding dividend policy: seven out of ten members are satisfied with a dividend at the level of an overnight deposit account, provided the remaining profits are invested in building new wind power facilities. Among electricity customers, members, and so-called ‘combi-customers’ (who are both), Prokon’s image is excellent. In addition to aspects such as ‘contributes to the energy transition’ and ‘provides green electricity directly from the producer’, statements like ‘I find the company appealing’ and ‘I can trust the company’ also receive top ratings.
Zufriedenheit auf höchstem Niveau
“Human, competent, solution-oriented” – the Prokon Dialogue Centre is undoubtedly the flagship of the brand – personal contact is highly valued. The top rating of “very satisfied” rose again by seven percentage points to 47 per cent. Users praise friendliness, speed and competence. The customer and member portal as well as the website also received the “excellent” rating.
Example – online presence: Prokon.energy achieved one of the two top ratings, “good” or “very good”, from 63 per cent of surveyed members and 65 per cent of surveyed electricity customers. Satisfaction has improved slightly again since the relaunch.
Among the frequently used sources of information is also the magazine “Käthe & Paul”, which, for example, gained eight percentage points among new members, reaching 54 per cent. In particular, when acquiring electricity customers, online advertising and social media channels play a major role, alongside personal recommendations.
Interessante Kombination
Not all Prokon members purchase wind power from their energy cooperative – and not all green electricity users have become involved with Prokon. There is still significant potential here: nearly half (44 percent) of the members who are not yet customers consider switching to Prokon wind power to be worth considering. And slightly more than a third of the electricity customers can imagine becoming a member of the cooperative – primarily out of the conviction that doing so contributes positively to the energy transition. Discounted electricity for members is seen by 42 percent as a strong incentive.
Veränderte Wahrnehmung
A nationwide survey revealed that brand awareness of all energy providers has declined compared to previous studies – including that of Prokon. Prokon is primarily associated with green electricity from wind energy (51 percent). In contrast, among people who associate something with the Prokon brand, only 37 percent chose the statement “Prokon develops and operates wind farms” – a decrease of 20 percentage points compared to the previous year. 29 percent identified Prokon as an energy cooperative.
Prokon is now perceived much more strongly than in the past as an “interesting investment opportunity” – here, there was a significantly positive trend compared to the previous year's survey. This indicates the growing presence of the target group of “impact investors,” who link investments with socially beneficial goals. In line with this, Prokon is viewed as modern, meaningful, objective, and community-oriented – these characteristics received the highest levels of agreement. Among impact investors, 72 percent consider it very or somewhat likely that they will seek information about getting involved through a cooperative membership.
The market research results show that Prokon is particularly convincing to its members and electricity customers – including in terms of communication. However, as is the case with our competitors, there still seems to be room for improvement in terms of public perception. We still need to convince more people that it is worthwhile to get involved with us: to choose particularly green electricity as a customer, to advance the energy transition as a member of the cooperative – or ideally both," says Prokon’s CEO Henning von Stechow.
