The Challenge
Inspire’s users don’t have a simple way to access their energy usage data in the form of cost, potential savings, and environmental impact.
In an ideal state, their user is driven to reduce their consumption, is supported by personalized insights, has an automated solution to help them reach their energy goals.
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The Process
Empathize
I identified the extreme users, conducted user interviews with 4 users spanning across the identified personas, and produced empathy maps for each user.
Define
I defined their problem to ensure I was solving for the right issue. For this project, the problem was defined as such:
Inspire’s users need clarity and simplicity when it comes to reducing their energy consumption. Although they see the benefit of being educated on their energy spending habits with data on cost and environmental consequence, they’re not looking to drastically change their lifestyle habits and prefer their technology to support them in being energy conscious.
Ideate
I ideated a large number of solutions ranging from in-app energy reports to online courses on how to reduce energy consumption in the home.
Prototype
After deliberating and deciding on which idea would be most effective at solving the user’s problem I built a prototype to test with the user. I sketched out low-fidelity wireframes of the energy report and notifications, then created a digital version to test with users.
Test & Iterate
I tested the prototype with users through a series of in-person user tests. I iterated on my prototype once I analyzed the feedback from the user tests.
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The Solution
My solution was dependent on whether or not the user had IoT devices (ex. a smart thermostat) in their home that controlled appliances that used significant amounts of energy.
For users with No IoT Devices in the home, I designed an In-App Energy Report.
- It Shows Overall Use + Shows 3 “Ways to Reduce”
- Energy Shift/Reduction
- Energy Efficiency Product Purchase
- Outside of Energy Usage Tip
For users with IoT Devices in the home (ex. a smart thermostat), I designed automated push notifications that would be generated based on goals they would have set in the onboarding process of their energy management app.
- Easy Adjustments through 3 types of Push Notifications
- Positive Reinforcement Notification
- Keep On Track with a Minor Adjustment Notification
- You’re Off Track, Let Us Help You Notification
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The Result
Although this was part of an external program and was never launched into the market, when testing the results with real users I found that with the:
- Energy Report Feature
- Users wanted to be proactive in looking at their energy usage prior to the weekly report. Could there be a constantly updated report within the app?
- Easy Adjustments Feature
- The user wants more information in the notification. How far past their goal are they? They want to see that as a cost and/or a metric representing environmental impact.
- Could there be options on what to adjust (ex. a large adjustment to the thermostat for a short period, or a minor adjustment for a longer period)?
So I iterated on the Easy Adjustments Feature and included both cost reduction and environmental impact directly in the push notification.
