DemandIQ – Stella

Revolutionary AI based lead acquisition platform.

Overview

CLIENT

Demand-IQ provides software and managed services that eliminate the challenges associated with acquiring customers in the clean energy industry.

Demand-IQ Website

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.

Prototype

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.

Product Roadmap

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.

Complete Heuristic Evaluation

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.

Usability Screener Survey

Usability Synthesis

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.

Priority List

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”.

Competitive Analysis

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.

Quantitative Research Synthesis

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).

Complete Client Interview Synthesis

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.

B2B Client Personas

B2C User Personas

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.

User Story Map

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.

Application Flowcharts

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.

Wireframes

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.

Wireflows

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”.

Stylescapes

STYLE GUIDE

The company’s style guide ensured that standards are consistent and uniform across all platforms, including websites, mobile apps, and marketing collateral.

Style Guide

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.

Prototype

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.