How do you make a company that sells a commodity like energy stand out? How do you get customers to recognize you, select you, and stay with you? TXU Energy focuses on four basic brand builders: be trustworthy and transparent, customer centric, innovative, and dependable.

"Let's do what we do best and tell customers about it, focus on customers, find innovative ways to engage customers, and be there when customers need us," TXU Energy CMO Michael Grasso said this morning during his presentation at Loyalty 360's Loyalty Expo 2012. This approach links closely with the company's customer value proposition: "Right Thing, Right Now." What this means, Grasso explained, is that the company focuses on interaction points like helping customers to understand what they're paying, staying connected to the company in ways they prefer, providing control over their spending (e.g., help them easily reduce their bill), and keeping them informed.

For TXU Energy, building customer loyalty begins during the acquisition stage of the relationship. "Acquisition is the first point of loyalty," Grasso said. "If you bring customers on for the right reasons you'll retain them." TXU uses its key areas of differentiation to attract customers. These include a cash-back program (or customer can get Southwest miles instead of a rebate) and communicating rates clearly in its marketing communications; the company doesn't use bait-and-switch plans that start with low rates and then quickly increase, Grasso said...