For anyone working in the digital product space, we know that our products and experiences don’t live inside a bubble. There’s competition out there.
Very few customers will be completely new to banking / having a mobile phone / using electricity. For core services, the majority of new users will have switched.
Electricity switching is at a four year high
Within the last year, 10% of all domestic electricity customers have switched (OfCom – Great Britain Q4 ’23 – Q3 ’24).
So what matters to a customer when making a switch? How do you encourage potential customers to make the move?
Let’s look at a recent switch I made. From British Gas, the default provider at my new build home, to Octopus Energy.
I’ll break this into three stages. The prompt, the comparison and the customer experience. Each may be owned by separate parts of a business but together shape my experience as a potential switcher.
The prompt
It began with a prompt. The marketing hook that gained my attention was a refer-a-friend offer.
£50 for my friend (an existing Octopus customer), £50 for me. He knew that I was moving house. I had life admin to do either way, so I was happy to consider the switch.
The comparison
I started with a quick comparison. My big motivations were price, market stability, brand perception and social proof.
Price – Will this save me money?
Price comparison showed minimal variance. The top providers offered a similar price that sounded reasonable. If I was confident with Octopus, why wouldn’t I secure myself a £50 reward?
Market Stability – Is the provider well established and stable?
£50 means nothing if the company isn’t stable and lacks the infrastructure to support you when things go wrong. A big motivation for my house move was simplification and streamlining, so I focused on the top providers that together own the majority of the electricity market; Octopus, British Gas, E.ON and OVO.
Brand Perception – Do I believe in their business?
- Can I recall any specific marketing campaigns or brand messaging from Octopus? No.
- What do I associate them with? Green and future focused, innovative and tech-led, fresh graphics, human tone.
- Have I heard anyone complaining about them? No.
So minimal knowledge. But a positive sentiment.
Experience and Social Proof – What do others think of them?
Having worked in the app space for years, I seriously lack tolerance for poor digital experiences. I’ll never have the latest phone (sorry Apple) but an app will be my most frequent form of interaction with a company. The experience tells me whether a company respects my time. Whether they understand what I’m there to do. And whether they have my best interests at heart, anticipating where they can add value. This stuff matters.
Let’s look at the App Store ratings.
BehindLogin’s Radar technology (platform coming soon!) provides me with a quick snapshot of App Store positions and recent feature releases. I’m intrigued to learn more about rewards and energy efficient offerings. At Octopus, incremental improvements and behind‑the‑scenes fixes are the norm, rather than infrequent big‑bang feature drops. This iterative approach appeals to my product mindset.
With 231k 4.8* reviews, Octopus is generally seen as the strongest pure app experience on iOS. My incumbent provider, British Gas, lags behind with 10k 4.5* reviews. Trustpilot also shows Octopus to hold a significant lead overall.
Indirect competition – ones to watch
What are the alternatives?
BehindLogin helps providers to benchmark their experience against the competition. With one utilities provider, we’re delivering a year long program with an always on stream of competitor insight. A recent study included a benchmark of leading energy providers alongside smart meter apps, with a focus on nine core features.
Alongside the big providers, it was interesting to see some standout motivational features and transparency among niche providers. Ivie offers some intelligent features that help users to build better habits over time. Meanwhile, Hugo’s “Tariff AI” presents users with the ability to select the best customised tariff. Indirect competitors, but certainly ones to watch!
My own experience
My digital experience with Octopus started long before my download of the app.
Following my quick comparison & through a request for a quote, it was the ease of interaction that really clinched it for me.
- An accessible customer services team – The browser based chatbots couldn’t help with a specific new build query so I needed to speak with a real human. With British Gas I was in a queue of 47. With Octopus, I was immediately in 2nd place.
- Email interaction – “Reply straight to this email” they said. And I did.
- Handholding whilst British Gas got my gas account in a tangle – “No worries” they said, “just let us know the meter reading when you’re ready”.
- Recognition when first opening the app – Browser login credentials were recognised. “Welcome back Gemma”. I was in.
- Light and friendly sign offs – “Love and power, The Octopus Energy Team”. I imagine this tone may be divisive, but for me it lifted an otherwise dry email about Direct Debits.
Meanwhile, British Gas sent an email that encouraged me to stay. With a focus on their established position, I was reminded of their heritage, tariff flexibility, green credentials and support. I couldn’t find a tangible gain and understanding this further would involve another customer service queue. My decision was made.
The app experience
The Octopus app gains a solid score within the BehindLogin benchmark across all the basics: First Appearance, Usage, Payment and Bills, Tariffs, Rewards and Promotion, Educational Content, Help and Support, and Communication Preferences.
Octopus delivers a consistent end-to-end experience, balancing strong usability with clear visual design across usage, payments and rewards.
Here are my personal highlights:
1. Opening the app
No password retrieval needed. All set up and ready to go.
2. Octopoints
A neat benefit with affiliate discounts and offers that I might actually use.
3. Spin the wheel
A fun interactive feature with the chance to win points that can be exchanged for offers and discounts. I didn’t win big first time but it’s a reason to return. Click here to give it a spin yourself!
4. Prompt to adjust payments
A simple gesture that suggests they are protecting my interests. And some important words of guidance.
These first impressions will carry me a long way. I’ve found myself mentioning this to others, sharing my refer-a-friend code to many and even writing about it here.
Will I bother switching again in the foreseeable? Unlikely, I’m pretty happy where I am.
But perhaps this is an invitation for others to see if they can do better.
How could they make a future switch seriously worthwhile?
Whatever’s next, I know that we’ll be monitoring this closely here at BehindLogin.
Designing an experience that’s worth the switch
We’re here to help you plan the sort of experiences that are worth switching for. How do you compare with the competition and which features would offer a competitive edge?
BehindLogin provides the competitor intelligence that brings market advantage. Arrange a call to learn how we can help you with our Custom Research.
- Global insight behind the login
- Competitor journeys created with real users
- Proprietary experience benchmarking framework
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