IO Energy
UX/UI Design
Timeline
April 2021
(1 Sprint, 2.5 weeks)
Role
UX Researcher & Designer
UI Designer
Company
IO Energy
IO Energy
IO Energy is a South Australian clean energy technology start-up that offers time-of-use electricity plans that encourages using the cleanest energy when renewable electricity generation is at the highest.
The Brief
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Create a frictionless self-service sign-up form
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Create an assisted (and traceable) sign-up form
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Help new prospects understand our value proposition and evaluate their fit
The Problem
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Complicated sign-up journey: Customers were frustrated by a long and complicated sign-up process.
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Duplicate effort was happening internally in sales-assisted (i.e. door to door) sign-ups: Sales agents collect customers details and fill the sign-up form on their behalf then It's sent over to IO Energy customer support manager and he manually inputs the same details on the sign up form while confirming the details and reading policy agreement over a phone call.
The Process Summary
This project is conducted as a real-client project during my UX/UI Design course at Academy Xi. Previously a different Xi team has worked on optimisation of the website content and presentation of information about IO Energy.
In our research phase, we conducted 7 usability tests to validate both the current website and previous Xi team work to find out the gaps. We analysed IO Energy website and their competitors in the market. Then we conducted 7 user interviews as well as an interview with sales agents and IO team to understand the sign-up process and pain points.
We organized an ideation workshop with IO Energy CEO and voted for the best ideas to create viable solutions. Next, we started to design a new sign-up form with the ''save & revisit'' button on it and re-design the pricing page, we also performed 2 rounds of usability testing through Zoom and Maze.
The Solution
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Designed a new sign-up form which follows IO Energy style guide and added a ''save & revisit'' button on the sign up form which reduces workload by streamlining the process and removing the need to input information twice by sales agent and IO team.
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Automated emails to be sent to customers once sales agents save the details on the form. Customers will be able to review their details, read the policy agreement and submit the form to sign up for IO Energy.
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Re-designed the pricing page which presents information about the plans and gives users easy access to tools that help them onboard including bill upload, FAQ, and recommend plan.
Competitor Analysis
We researched on IO Energy and 4 competitors to understand their general offerings, presentation and sign-up process.
We synthesised the Google Analytics that we received from IO Energy, to track users activities on the website.
User Interviews
We conducted 7 one-on-one interviews via Zoom to understand users behaviours, needs and expectations.
Key Takeaways:
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During the onboarding, users were confused on certain questions and thought the process was long.
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Users were confused about being redirected to another website (Energy Locals) for the sign-up form.
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Users wanted to know more about what each plan offers and see how they can fit as a customer.
''It is confusing to go Energy Locals website.''
''How do I check it is for me?''
''It is not easy to find the sign-up form.''
Employees Interviews
The CEO mentioned that most of the customers have come from their sales agents. In order to get a better understanding of how sales agents capture information from door to door sales, we spoke to the third party company (David- Sales Consultants) who obtains leads as well the IO Energy contact who takes over these leads (Alex - customer support manager for IO Energy).
We realised that David from the sales consultant company fills out their own form to capture the client's details on their behalf.
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It then sent over to Alex and he manually inputs the same details on the IO Energy sign up form while confirming the details of the customer over a phone call. This call is also to read and make the customer aware of the policies and agreements in place.
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Usability Test
7 usability tests were completed via zoom to get more insights into the pain points of the current and new version of the site.
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Current Site
6/7 Participants
''Doesn't clearly tell me what the company is.''
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7/7 Participants
"I wanted to see the pricing plans upfront. That's not what I expected to see."
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7/7 Participants
"Wasn't easy to find the sign-up form."
Previous Xi Team Work
6/7 Participants
''Want to see the plans all together.''
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7/7 Participants
"The content is informative and convincing."
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7/7 Participants
"Like the customer stories."
Affinity Mapping
We synthesised the data to understand user's behaviour, pain points and confusions.
Users Archetypes
Type A
User is already committed to signing up with IO Energy. They understand the plans and how they will be charged. They have come to the website to sign up.
Type B
User is familiar with IO Energy through marketing/word of mouth and is thinking about switching. They have come on to the site to get more information, go through the plans and switch to Io Energy.
Type C
User is unfamiliar with IO Energy. Organically lands on the page and goes through the plans and compares against existing provider. There is a possibility that this customer would switch to IO Energy.
Employees Archetypes
David
Third-Party acquiring customers for IO Energy
He calls people and has a conversation about energy providers and captures customer details through a proprietary form.
Alex
Customer support manager for IO Energy
He calls the leads brought in by David and signs them up for IO Energy through the IO Energy site sign-up form (manually inputs all data all over again).
Ideation Sessions
Organised an ideation workshop with IO Energy CEO for the following HMW questions to generate ideas and mashed them together to create viable solutions.
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How might we streamline the sign up process for the various user types?
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How might we make the sign-up process for sales agents working with IO more efficient?
Quick Wins
Sign-up Flow:
Reduce the amount of clicks and time it takes for users to onboard.
Pricing Page:
Help users understand and compare the plans as well as access onboarding tools.
Sign-up Form:
Create a custom sign-up form that follows IO Energy branding and optimise the sign-up form for all stakeholders.
Re-designing the Pricing Page
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Re-designed the pricing page to minimise the number of clicks to get to the form and show all the available plans in a single view.
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Added ''plan recommendation'' feature that helps users to find the best plan through a conversational form.
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A/B testing for plans presentation
Designing the new Sign-up Form
Designed a new sign-up form following IO Energy style guide.
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Key Features:
"save & revisit" Button
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The sales agent fills in the customer details and 'saves' them on the form.
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An automated email would be sent to the customer.
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The customer is directed to the final step to review all details including policy and agreement details.
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Customer clicks Sign up.
Automated Email
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An automated email to be sent to the customers once the sales agents fill the form and it directs them to step number 4 to complete and submit the sign up form.
How does it address the pain points?
Type A
Reduced the number of clicks to get to the sign-up form from 6 to 1.
Removed the need to visit Energy Locals website.
Type B & C
Presents information about the plans and gives users easy access to tools that help them onboard including bill upload, FAQ and recommend plan.
David & Alex
Greatly reduces workload by streamlining the process and removing the need to input information twice.
Usability Test - Round 1
We conducted 4 usability testing via Zoom and at the end of the sessions, we asked users to rate the design and content of both pricing page and sign-up form.
7.8/10
avg. score
Pricing Page: Design/Visuals
8.3/10
avg. score
Pricing Page: Content
7.6/10
avg. score
Sign-up Form: Design/Visuals
8.5/10
avg. score
Sign-up Form: Content
Usability Test - Round 2
We did an iteration based on feedbacks and conducted another usability testing through Maze and received 35 responses.
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8.8/10
avg. score
8.6/10
avg. score
Email Content
8.6/10
avg. score
Overall sign-up process
''Save & Revisit'' feature
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Client Feedback
'' I'm so impressed, It is really fantastic how you solved this complex problem in a short time, we definitely want to follow up this solution.''
Reflection
Overall, I am quite happy with the results of this project. It was rewarding to hear that we were able to solve the problem.
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If we had more time, we would have definitely tested our solution with the sales agents and IO Energy customer support manager which would help us to validate the features.
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