Overview
CLIENT
Demand-IQ provides software and managed services that eliminate the challenges associated with acquiring customers in the clean energy industry.
PRODUCT
Stella 2.0 is a white-label ready, customer acquisition platform that powers the company’s proprietary conversion engine via AI conversational marketing and Google Project Sunroof.
BACKGROUND
The user experience of the current version, Stella 1.0, was suboptimal and needed an improvement to its buyer intent in order to create a better customer experience.
PRODUCT STRATEGY
Before proceeding into the full redesign of the application, the first stage of the project inception was to fix the current platform.
OPPORTUNITY
The company’s success hinged on the ability of the app to convert users into prospect buyers, our goal was to completely redesign the product, applying the latest design thinking principles.
ROLE
Lead Product Designer
Upon validating our assumptions and ideas with users, the following key HMW questions were identified:
Findings
INCREASE DATA CAPTURE RATES
How might we increase the number of leads, appointment rates, and the quality of bill sharing data?
REDUCE USER EFFORT
How might we reduce the time & “apparent effort” to completion?
IMPROVE EXPECTATIONS & TRUST
How might we set the correct expectations and increase user trust, in order to reduce the amount of fraudulent information provided by users?
AUTOMATE SOLAR QUOTING
How might we automate the solar quoting process in order to enable efficient self-service solar shopping?
Increased the prospect to motivated buyer conversion rate by up to 330%
STELLA 2.0
Stella provides solar customer acquisition solutions to increase conversion rates while reducing both CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) and soft costs.
Features
CONVERSATIONAL
Utilizing a proprietary AI algorithm and Google’s Project Sunroof engine, Stella 2.0 behaves as if the user is chatting with an actual sales representative.
PITCH CARDS
The primary sales points are displayed, keeping the prospect engaged throughout the estimation process.
TELEHELP
Users are able to get the help they need via live chat, video call, and file sharing as they are guided through the estimation process.
UTILITY DATA CAPTURE
Allows prospects to manually upload their electricity bills or opt-in to their utility provider and share their bills automatically.
ONLINE CHECKOUT
Allows prospects to purchase solar panels directly via the online checkout experience.
MULTIPLE MODALITIES
Gives solar distributors the ability to customize the user experience by selecting modalities that best fit their target market.
EMBEDDED VIDEOS
Videos help guide the prospect, set clear expectations, and build trust throughout their user journey.
CROSS PLATFORM
Stella 2.0 delivers a seamless cross-platform experience on both mobile and desktop devices.
UNIQUE BRAND EXPERIENCE
The platform allows complete customization of visual elements in order to best fit the distributor’s brand and identity.
DESIGN SYSTEM
The design system increases efficiency and ensures visual consistency.
The team went through a collaborative process lasting about 5 months.
Planning
WHAT GOALS ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
During the planning phase, I met with Demand-IQ’s leaders in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the corporate strategy and company initiatives. This enabled me to develop a product roadmap and identify the primary goals and objectives.
PRODUCT ROADMAP
The team went through a collaborative process that lasted 5 months, from product inception to completion. The first stage was to provide fixes to the current solution before proceeding into the full redesign.
Discovery
WHAT PROBLEMS ARE WE SOLVING? AND FOR WHO?
During the discovery phase, I utilized various UX research tools to capture a deep understanding of both the business case and the proposed product’s users.
HEURISTIC EVALUATION
Conducting a heuristic evaluation allowed me to analyze the application’s entire user interface, and identify a set of hypotheses regarding potential problems and opportunities within the existing product.
USABILITY
Usability studies helped us to understand and highlight problems that users had with the current product.
The synthesis then highlighted major findings, and suggested recommendations for resolving or improving the usability issues that were discovered.
PRODUCT STRATEGY
For phase one of the project, I created a prioritized list which highlighted the features and deficiencies that were identified within the audit. The list was then ranked based upon UX impact and engineering level of effort.
direct and adjacent industry competitors were analyzed.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
I conducted both a direct and adjacent industry competitor analysis to highlight key features, points of differentiations, and set of conclusions regarding the “state of online solar lead generation / shopping”.
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
A quantitative analysis listed out relevant data that was useful in identifying potential issues within the application, and suggested appropriate solutions to improve the user experience.
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Upon conducting secondary research, a Situation, Motivation, and Outcome journey map was created to develop further empathy and understanding of Stella’s audience.
B2B CLIENT INTERVIEWS
Interviews provided me with a better understanding of Demand-IQ’s B2B clients and their main concerns with the current solution (Stella 1.0).
Provides several user personas for both B2C and B2B segment
ESTABLISHING USER EMPATHY
Personas helped me and the team to align on strategies for moving forward and identified goals that the team needed to achieve in order to provide a good user experience to specific user groups.
Framing
HOW ARE WE SOLVING THE PROBLEM?
During the framing phase, my goal was to design and acquire the ability to make prioritization decisions for Stella’s 2.0 features.
USER STORY MAP
Utilizing data gathered in the Discovery phase I created User Story Map to identify the functional needs and requirements for Stella 2.0.
APPLICATION FLOWCHARTS
I utilized application flowcharts to provide a granular overview of the current solution – capturing the complete path that users take while completing their tasks within the product.
While working collaboratively with the team, I then created user flowcharts for Stella 2.0 which simplified the workflow and improve UX.
WIREFRAMES
Using low fidelity wireframes enabled me to identify critical design decisions and validate them with the users without needing to fixate on perfecting the visual design.
WIREFLOWS
Once the product requirements were validated and solidified, I used wireflows to provide a clear, screen-by-screen path that documented the actions that users might encounter while navigating through Stella.
Innovative, clean, smart and functional — utilizing a user-centered design thinking approach.
Principles
DEFINING ART DIRECTION
Utilizing the findings gathered in Discovery phase, we developed Stylescapes to define design principles for Stella 2.0:
INNOVATIVE – The design is focused on addressing user needs, by applying the latest technological feasibility and strategically deriving value from the market opportunity.
CLEAN – By removing distractions and focusing on content, the key message, and important actions, Stella 2.0 is clean, simple, and easy to use.
SMART – Each screen provides a clear and compelling message to guide users along with obvious next actions.
FUNCTIONAL – The design is focused on functionality rather than “uniqueness” or “edginess”.
STYLE GUIDE
The company’s style guide ensured that standards are consistent and uniform across all platforms, including websites, mobile apps, and marketing collateral.
PROTOTYPE
I created two workflow prototypes: the first one was for solar self-checkout, and the second one was for appointment scheduling and utility bill uploading.
MY MISSION & GUARANTEE
By removing barriers to launching digital products, I deliver design solutions that matter – transforming the way we live.
I put my name on the line with every project that I work on – as a seal of my guarantee to deliver the best possible results.
