Energy Dashboard

A user-friendly tool for customers of a large energy company, with the goal of helping them explore and understand their energy use, identify inefficiencies, and reduce their monthly bills.

Portfolio

Energy Dashboard

Your Energy Use, Clear and Simple:
Helping Customers Take Charge of Their Bill

The client, a major energy company, wants to help their customers save money. They believe they can do it by guiding them to actions that save energy, and giving them much clearer, actionable, and insightful information about their energy use.

By improving the usability and friendliness of their current platform, customers will understand their energy use better, identify inefficiencies, and over time take action to reduce their monthly energy bill.

The project is a close working collaboration of teams from digital experience, marketing, customer service, engineering, and software development.

Role: Interaction Designer

Challenge

The goal is to improve an existing comprehensive tool that enables customers to track and analyze their energy consumption. The primary challenge is simplifying the presentation of the data to help them feel less threatened by its technical complexity. Updating and improving these tools will help more people feel empowered. As the display of the information is simplified, customers become more knowledgeable of their own energy use.

Approach

​A customer-centered mindset informs the business decision to visualize energy consumption in a simpler, less technical, more friendly and approachable way, while still identifying as a trusted energy advisor presenting actionable suggestions to reduce their costs.

The immediate objective is to create an intuitive platform that helps customers conquer the challenge of overwhelming and complex energy data, and gives them clear, personalized strategies for lowering their energy bills.
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​A mix of user experience research methods is employed throughout the design process, including analysis of web logs, user interviews and observation, and customer surveys. Valuable insights are gained to inform the decisions taken by the main stakeholders.

Unlocking Insights and Making Smarter Energy Choices

How might we empower our customers to see, save, and take control of their energy costs?

Existing users of the current energy dashboard actually like the tool a lot as it is, and use it frequently. These users identify strongly with scientific and technical professions, but they represent a small subset of the full customer base.

To attract less-technically-savvy customers, without alienating the core base, a dual approach is proposed. Two main views of the data will be presented, one is a quick summary glance at the factors affecting the energy bill, and the other view will be similar to the current approach, a more detailed and analytical presentation style.

Images of the existing tool, to be improved.

AT A QUICK GLANCE​

The idea is to show units of information as modular tiles. Data points are displayed as discreet visual elements, and complexity begins to break down. The time it takes to understand the reasons behind a bill begins to decrease.
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DETAILED VIEW​

For the more technically-oriented type of customer, who is looking for analytical information, there is a second way to look at their energy consumption, with a lot more detail and nuance.

The user can investigate the factors that impacted their bill, and discover how local weather conditions and monthly cycle length have a variable effect. Users can also inspect longer timelines to reveal hidden patterns, cycles, and trends.

Depending on the size of the display being used to access the information, more data points can be shown at a time (above).

Members of the Customer Service team, who use very large double-width monitors, can easily view larger periods of time, and notice more trends.

Many types of informational tiles can be presented, potentially more than what a typical user can display, or has time to look at. They can choose which tiles to show, and by dragging and rearranging, set the order in which they appear. 

Outcomes & Impact

The top outcome that is desired for all types of customers is a reduction in their average monthly bill, due to more informed energy usage.

For the company, it expects to see increased user interaction with the platform’s features, including with alerts, tips, and downloads. More customers are expected to actively reduce their energy use patterns. More sign-ups to the appliance downtime program are also expected.

For customers new to these tools, they will enjoy the on-demand reports now available to them. They will be able to pinpoint which appliances are costing them the most, and they will  start to see monthly savings as they apply the tips for keeping energy bills down.
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These design changes are expected to produce an increase in customer satisfaction, measured via usability surveys and Net Promoter Score. They will also yield the benefit of reducing the number of calls received by the Customer Service team, from customers asking why did their bill go up. Growing use of other features, such as monthly reports, alerts, and cost estimation tools is also expected.

Some ideas for future exploration include sending customers notifications on high usage days, using AI to craft personalized tips, and perhaps creating a 1:1 energy coaching program.
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A top insight gained on this project is that empowered customers can save more, because when they understand their energy use, they can then make more cost-effective choices. Also, personalization matters. Results that have been tailored to the user increase engagement and promote trust in the company. Above all, a user-friendly, accessible interface is essential to ensuring increased customer satisfaction, increased rates of adoption of the tools, and increased monthly active use by existing customers.

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Hi, I'm David Rovira

Let's Make Things Better

I help teams achieve more in less time, with facilitated collaboration. I'm a UX, product, and interaction designer and facilitator.

Just founded an online community for creative professionals called Team Star. It's a place for peers and colleagues to connect, grow, learn, and practice team member skills.

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