Contact Energy
Bill estimation and query bill have consistently been among the most requested features by our customers.
Background
Contact Energy is a renowned energy company based in New Zealand, specializing in the generation and distribution of electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial clients. Additionally, they offer a range of services, including broadband internet.
I joined the company in November 2022 as a Lead UX Designer contractor. Since then, I have taken on leadership and support roles across various aspects of the business, focusing on user experience and human-centered design.
Here’s some of the key highlights/achievements that I would like to share:
1. Leading human centered design to my squad ‐ Built relations across Product, Leadership, Sales and Customer teams to better understand cross-functional work and to influence design thinking outside of the feature teams such as how or when to involve customers, how to research, process feedback and seeing design as an enabler and not a blocker.
2. Improved design system ‐ Develop an improved framework, enhance documentation, and refine methods for effectively utilizing components in Figma.
3. Advocate user research within the business ‐ We conducted user research to gain a deeper understanding of our customers and product strategy, which led to the development of terminology that has been widely embraced throughout the organization, establishing it as the standard against which all feature development is measured.
4. Established collaborative design practices ‐ We foster a culture of creativity and consistency in both the product team and the broader design organization. This includes promoting the habit of regularly sharing work in progress and involving engineers at an early stage.
5. Coaching junior designers ‐ Establish regular meetings with junior designers to offer support, provide constructive feedback, and empower them to thrive and advance within the company.
Understanding the problem
This project comprises two main challenges I addressed:
The first challenge revolves around a high volume of customers who prefer calling Contact Energy for bill inquiries, resulting in long queue times, increased operational costs, and potential impacts on customer patience and the business reputation.
The second challenge pertains to the absence of a tool allowing customers to estimate their power and gas consumption costs, with broadband considerations set for future development phases, beyond the scope of Phase 1.
Research and gathering insights
I have conducted 20 qualitative user research sessions, divided into two groups: 10 with customers to gain insights into the motivations behind their bill inquiry calls, and 10 with customers to assess the potential value of a bill estimation feature for helping them monitor their home consumption patterns.
I was fortunate to have the assistance of the Head of User Research and a junior designer for these sessions. Their support significantly expedited the interview process compared to if I had been conducting it on my own.
1. Opting for the mobile app over the desktop ‐ 95% of our customers use the Contact Energy app on their phones to access billing information, monitor consumption, and seek assistance or support.
2. Customers lead busy lives ‐ Many of them face time constraints that make waiting on the phone for bill inquiries impractical. Factors such as childcare responsibilities, chauffeuring children to activities, and other priorities should not require lengthy phone wait times for answers.
3. Currently, there is no feature for tracking billing and consumption ‐ Many of our customers currently lack the means to monitor their consumption and anticipate their end-of-month bills. Their current workaround involves maintaining personal spreadsheets to manually record consumption and billing details.
Wireframing
Taking into account the feedback provided earlier, I have begun working with my team on developing solutions that effectively address the identified pain points.
1. Collaborating with the product owner, engineers, and stakeholders to gain insights and prioritize enhancements aimed at improving our app's customer experience.
2. Upon a customer’s app login, a visual progress bar and dollar amount indicator are presented on the dashboard, showing their current consumption and expenditure.
3. Introduced a new digital communication channel for customers within our app. Phase 1 focuses on its development for the app, with Phase 2 extending its availability to the desktop version. This channel features a progress indicator and offers various inquiry categories for customer convenience.
Validating design assumption and hypothesis with customers
I’ve conducted 20 usability testing sessions to validate both my team's and my own assumptions and hypotheses. These sessions aimed to assess how our proposed solution addresses the current problems our customers are experiencing.
I’ve presented several variations of the bill estimate feature, showcasing different designs and functionalities. During the sessions, I gathered valuable customer feedback, encouraging them to share their preferences, dislikes, and suggestions for improvement. For example, instead of a linear progress bar, I introduced a circular progress bar similar to Apple's fitness tracking. While some customers liked it, the majority preferred the linear progress bar for its simplicity and ease of understanding.
As for querying bills, I designed a prototype in Figma and crafted several customer scenarios using Optimal Workshop, including card sorting and first-click tests. The results showed that 70% of users clicked the ‘Query bill’ button when on the ‘View bill’ page, while 30% navigated directly to support in search of the button.
Result
We launched this feature back in May 2023 and have been collecting data ever since. The results have been remarkable. Our team and I have successfully reduced call center call times by an impressive 47% and saved $283 per day by addressing basic customer queries.
Self-service interactions have surged by an astonishing 180% over the course of a month, with more users logging in regularly to check their bill estimates.