How Water Utilities Can Get Customers To Change Behavior

Social norms are a powerful tool for water utilities that want to persuade consumers to change their behavior. This is an intuitive concept to anyone familiar with the drought-shaming phenomenon, but now data is bearing it out.

“Exploiting our desire to conform — through reports comparing our water usage to the norm — is one tactic increasingly used by water agencies and utility companies to push the conservation message,” News Deeply recently reported.

“Basically, most of us just want to fit in with our social groups. And if given a little direction on how to do so, we’ll respond,” it continued.

The advertising industry already uses this technique to sell products. For instance, a toothpaste commercial may say the majority of people prefer a certain brand. This pressure can be useful for more than selling products.

A 2015 report on customer water use for the California Urban Water Conservation Council, written by Nola Hastings and Galib Rustamov, homed in on this technique, according to News Deeply.

“Behavioral economists assert that in the absence of price signals, policymakers can change people’s behaviors by harnessing their natural inclination to conform to social norms,” they wrote. “For example, customers make decisions based on social cues, self-image, local values and identities.”

Recent data shows that this technique is effective for water utilities, per the News Deeply report:

The first substantial research that emerged from the water world on this front resulted from a June 2012 to June 2013 pilot project between 10,000 customers of East Bay Municipal Utilities District in the San Francisco Bay Area and WaterSmart Software.

WaterSmart Software sends Home Water Reports, which tell customers how much water they’re using, how it compares to their own past use, as well as how much water similar households and similar efficient households are using. The reports also provide information on how to increase water efficiency, available rebates or other messaging from utilities.

The customers who received the reports conserved more water. They also took up other habits that are beneficial to water utilities.

“[Researchers] found that households from both groups were 6.7 times more likely to participate in a water audit program and 1.7 times more likely to participate in a rebate program than those not receiving Home Water Reports,” the report said.

Displaying data on customer bills in a readable fashion, and providing information about how the utility spends money, are also important messaging strategies for water utilities, the report said.

Despite the value of social pressure to motivate water conservation, the phenomenon of drought-shaming may be declining in California, despite the state’s protracted drought.

As drought-shaming increased in California, “one major lawn supplier saw orders plunge from 500 per day to 80 during the height of drought shaming. The orders have now crept into the hundreds — despite the severe drought conditions that persist,” Grist recently reported.

To read more about communicating with ratepayers visit Water Online’s Consumer Outreach Solutions Center.