British Gas

The Challenge

As one of the UK’s most established energy providers, British Gas operates in a highly competitive and scrutinised market. With rising customer expectations, increasing regulatory oversight, and aggressive competition from challenger brands, the business recognised the importance of delivering consistently positive customer experiences across all touchpoints.

Alongside this, British Gas needed to ensure that its marketing communications (marcomms) were both effective and relevant — cutting through with clarity while avoiding the risk of misinterpretation in a sensitive category.

The core objectives were to:

Optimise customer touchpoint interactions across multiple channels (digital, call centre, in-home, billing).
Screen marketing campaigns pre-launch to maximise cut-through and ensure alignment with customer needs and expectations.
Translate insights into practical, actionable guidance for teams across the business.

The Solution

Skopos partnered with British Gas across a series of projects, employing a tailored, flexible research design depending on the channel or campaign in focus:

Customer experience evaluation: A mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand the lived experience of customers across billing, support, and service journeys.
Marcomms screening: Pre-launch testing of campaign materials with target audiences, primarily conducted via online panels, to assess clarity, appeal, relevance, and potential risks.
Touchpoint-specific approaches:
- For digital platforms, usability testing and customer journey mapping.
- For service channels, structured surveys and post-interaction feedback.
- For in-home services, ethnographic methods to capture authentic customer reactions.
Activation workshops: Facilitated sessions bringing insights directly to operational and marketing teams, ensuring findings were embedded and acted upon quickly.

The Outcome

The partnership has delivered clear, actionable outcomes across multiple projects:

Provided directional reporting that pinpointed areas of improvement and highlighted best-practice behaviours.
Enabled British Gas to refine its customer touchpoint strategies, leading to smoother, more consistent interactions across digital, service, and in-home experiences.
Strengthened marcomms effectiveness, ensuring campaigns launched with greater cut-through, resonance, and reduced reputational risk.
Supported operational implementation by running activation workshops — translating insights into practical next steps for customer service, marketing, and product teams.
Reinforced British Gas’s reputation as a provider committed to listening to its customers and acting on their feedback.

Ultimately, the ongoing programme has helped British Gas maintain trust, improve customer satisfaction, and enhance communication impact in an increasingly competitive and challenging market.

British Gas

The Challenge

The Solution

The Outcome

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