Giftbee research uncovers key insights into switching, loyalty and incentive performance in Australia’s energy sector.
In a cost-of-living environment where household expenses are scrutinised more than ever, it’s easy for energy brands to assume that switching decisions are driven purely by price.
But after conducting a fresh qualitative study with Australian household bill-payers, our team uncovered a far more nuanced truth — one that has major implications for acquisition, loyalty and retention.
Over several weeks, we conducted in-depth, one-to-one interviews with consumers who had recently switched, stayed, or compared energy providers. The participants came from a mix of demographics, households and life stages. While their motivations varied, recurring themes emerged that tell a clear story about the modern energy customer.
1. Switching is driven by “value” — but value is personal, contextual and fluid.
Energy is a classic “low-involvement” category. People don’t want to think about it and many think about it as a commodity with little differentiation between providers. Therefore price still matters. But price alone doesn’t win customers — value does, and value looks different for different households. Across interviews, four dominant “value triggers” consistently emerged:
Price-Sensitive Switchers
- Move to reduce immediate cost — often catalyzed by a bill shock or life change.
- Incentive-Sensitive Switchers
Respond strongly to high-relevance rewards like groceries, fuel, or bill credits (not broad bundles).
- Principle-Driven Customers
Make ethical or sustainability-based choices, especially in younger households, choosing providers based on ethical sourcing or environmental footprint.
- Cognitive Ease Seekers
Stick with whoever feels simplest: “If it’s easy and fair, I’ll stay.”
This shows that energy brands can’t rely on one universal incentive to attract new customers. Personal relevance is now the key differentiator and consumers see “value” as a bundle of price plus relevance plus effort.
2. Loyalty is shockingly weak across the industry
Much of the retention in this category is driven by consumer inertia, with little emotional loyalty toward energy providers in general. Despite this, one of the most surprising patterns was how rarely energy brands attempted to retain customers. One participant informed her provider that she was leaving — and was met with silence.
Another had been loyal for 2.5 years and never received a single benefit or check-in.
A third said he would have happily stayed if his provider simply matched the offer he received elsewhere.
This lack of retention effort leaves millions in revenue on the table. Retention is not just a financial strategy — it’s an emotional value signal. A well-timed, flexible reward can reverse churn far more cheaply than reacquiring the same customer.
3. Customers prefer simple, practical and flexible rewards
Across interviews, three reward categories consistently dominated:
- Groceries
- Fuel discounts
- Bunnings and home improvement essentials
These align to what behavioural economists call psychological offsets — rewards that lower stress in budget-heavy categories.
Other notable patterns:
- Some customers prefer bill credits or bank transfers over gift cards
- Physical products are rarely appealing unless they meet an immediate need
- Digital, instant redemption is critical (“everything via phone just makes it easier”)
- Flexibility is king — people want to choose their reward, not accept a pre-selected one
Energy brands that still rely on low-relevance freebies (cinema tickets, niche entertainment, broad “bundles”) are missing the mark. Relevance equals respect.
4. The reward experience matters almost as much as the reward itself
When redemption is slow, confusing, or fragmented, the reward is psychologically discounted — even if the dollar amount is high. Consumers talked at length about friction:
- Long, clunky redemption flows
- Partial gift card balances they can’t track
- Emails going to spam or being blocked by IT
- Confusion about what buttons like “Swap” or “Give” mean
- Marketplaces that feel overwhelming or hard to navigate
This friction creates what economists call “effort tax”, and it significantly weakens brand goodwill.
Conversely, when the experience is simple, fast and digital-first, perceived value skyrockets.
One participant told us:
“Just give me something I can use immediately — with no extra hoops.”
5. The biggest untapped opportunity for energy brands: Let customers choose
The strongest insight from the research was clear:
Consumers want control.
They want to choose their incentive — not have it chosen for them. Choice signals fairness, respect, and transparency — powerful emotional drivers in a category where most customers feel powerless.
In fact, many participants said they would have stayed with their provider if they were simply offered the same reward being offered elsewhere, but in a form that suited their household.
This points to a major opportunity for energy retailers to differentiate without increasing cost:
Offer a flexible, choose-your-own incentive model that meets customers where they are.
How Giftbee Helps Energy Brands Win and Keep Customers
Giftbee enables energy brands to turn incentives into a genuine value signal — not a one-off discount.
✔ Flexible, high-relevance incentives:
Customers can redeem for groceries, fuel, bill credits, entertainment, tech or physical products — whatever matters to them.
✔ A single, growing rewards balance:
Instead of juggling multiple gift cards, customers accumulate everything in one place.
✔ Digital, instant redemption:
Rewards are easy, mobile-friendly, and frictionless.
✔ Choice-based acquisition and retention tools:
Let customers choose the reward style that motivates them most, from essentials to lifestyle to savings.
✔ Clear, simple customer journeys:
A UX built specifically to reduce uncertainty and increase satisfaction.
As energy brands continue to operate in a competitive, price-sensitive market, offering customers flexibility, clarity and genuine value will become a key competitive advantage.
The result: reducing churn, increasing loyalty and decreasing your cost of acquisition.
If you’d like to access the full research summary or explore how your brand can use flexible incentives to drive acquisition and retention, contact our team, we will be happy to share it.
