Pre-Event Email

The pre-event email is a short message that tells customers when a peak event is going to occur. It displays user-friendly graphics and insights to motivate participation and behavior change. The email has a different appearance depending on which user experience variation the customer receives. See Customer Experience Variations for more information.

Note: If multiple consecutive peak days are called, pre-event emails and voice messages will reflect that a customer is in a multi-day event period.

On this page:

Neighbor Comparison Experience

The Neighbor Comparison pre-event email shows the customer their energy usage during peak hours compared with other homes that have similar characteristics. The goal is to persuade customers to improve their status by using less energy on subsequent peak days. Below the graphic showing the customer's energy usage in the pre-event email, is a list of actionable tips.

The following image is an example of the summer experience. You can also use it during the winter season and include the peak day definition and actionable tips related to winter.

Image of Neighbor Comparison Experience Pre-event Email

The first pre-event email of the season does not include any actual customer data. Instead, it includes a generic bar chart containing mock data and poses a question to customers to entice them to participate in the upcoming peak event. In most cases, subsequent pre-event emails use actual data from the last peak event to show customers how well they performed and motivate them to do better next time.

Allowable Modules: The following modules may be used in a Neighbor Comparison pre-event email:

The neighbor comparison user experience will vary for customers depending upon their energy use, the data available, and whether they are receiving a pre-event or post-event email. The following table indicates the most common user experience variations.

Variation	Description
The customer used less or the same amount of energy as all neighbors.	The “You used less than average but more that the most efficient homes on the last peak day.” message followed by the three bar graph comparing YOU, Efficient Neighbors, and All Neighbors energy use is displayed.
The customer used less or the same amount of energy as efficient neighbors.	The “You used LESS than the most efficient homes on the last peak day.” message followed by the three bar graph comparing YOU, Efficient Neighbors, and All Neighbors energy use is displayed.
The customer used less energy or the same as their efficient neighbors.	The “Great work on X date!” message followed by the three bar graph comparing YOU, Efficient Neighbors, and All Neighbors energy use is displayed.
The customer used less energy than neighbors, but more energy than efficient neighbors.	The “You used less than average but more than the most efficient homes on the last peak day.” message followed by the three bar graph comparing Efficient Neighbors, YOU, and All Neighbors energy use is displayed.
The customer used more energy than their neighbors.	The “You used MORE than similar homes on the last peak day” message followed by the three bar graph comparing Efficient Neighbors, All Neighbors, and YOU energy use is displayed.
One of the following scenarios occurs: The first peak event of the season. Two peak events take place too close to one another. There were not enough neighbors in the customer’s neighbor group to display the comparison.	The “Can you use less energy than your neighbors on the next peak day?” message followed by a two bar graph comparing a hypothetical YOU and All Neighbor energy use is displayed. The YOU bar energy use is lower than the All Neighbor energy use.

Neighbor Rank Experience

The Neighbor Rank pre-event email ranks the customer based on how their usage during peak hours compares to the usage of approximately 100 similar homes. The goal is to persuade customers to improve their ranking by using less energy during subsequent peak days. Below the rank graphic is a definition of what a peak event is and list of actionable tips that customers can follow to save energy. The following image is an example of the summer experience. You can also use it during the winter season and include the peak day definition and actionable tips related to winter.

Note: The Neighbor Rank email is only available for customers who receive electricity from their utility.

The following image is an example of the neighbor rank graph within the pre-event email sent to customers who receive the neighbor rank experience for the summer. You can also use this email in the winter and include a peak day definition and actionable tips related to winter.

Image of Neighbor Compariosn Graph

The first pre-event email of the season does not include any customer data. Instead, it includes a generic bar chart containing mock data and poses a question to customers to entice them to participate in the upcoming peak event. In most cases, subsequent pre-event emails use data from the last peak event to determine the customer's rank and show them whether or not they moved up, dropped down, or remained at the same position. See Neighbor Rank Module for more information.

Allowable Modules: The following modules may be used in a Neighbor Rank pre-event email:

Non-AMI Gas Experience

The non-AMI pre-event gas email uses static content to invite customers to participate in a peak event. However, due to the absence of AMI data, the email does not include a neighbor rank or neighbor comparison module.

Note: The non-AMI email is only available for customers who receive gas from their utility.

Image of Non-AMI Pre-event Gas Email

Allowable Modules: The modules below may be used in a non-AMI pre-event email. There is no neighbor comparison or neighbor rank module.