HOME ENERGY REPORT
How the paper and digital formats came to life for Public Service Oklahoma (PSO)
THE PROBLEM
Take the newly designed Home Energy Report and create an email version.
We had just done a Home Energy Report project, creating a new paper report for Public Service Oklahoma. The client was really happy with it, and wanted to implement the changes to their email version of the report. I was the design lead on the project.
The email report they had was too plain and not well branded. The client really liked having a graphic that rotated for each report, but voiced concern about the images not adding any value.
WHERE IT STARTED
The PSO
Home Energy
Report that I designed in 2018
Where the email concept started
The client really emphasized how much they liked having a banner image at the top of the email that rotated every month. But in this case, the image was too random.
Also, I really wanted to highlight the data in the new emails. Data is fascinating, and conveying it to users in a way that is useful and effective was a fun problem to solve. I needed to explain data in a way that would draw interest, and potentially affect change.
MY ROLE
I was brought in as the design lead of behavioral products for our client, Public Service Oklahoma.
I worked closely with PSO Marketing Specialists and Project Managers on the needs of the client. Also, I worked in an Agile environment alongside engineering, learning how the products would work and creating the final graphics they needed to face the products.
RESEARCH BEHIND THE PROGRAM
Utilities can use any number of behavior change programs and tactics to reduce user energy demands.
According to ACEEE, first the audience and targeted behavior they want to affect must be chosen, and then the program is to be tailored to address them directly. These programs should focus not only on immediate results, but also long term savings over time.
Information-based programs deliver information to customers.
Home energy reports deliver information to participants about their energy use (generally monthly). Unlike traditional utility bills, HERs typically use social science insights about the power of social norms to encourage behavior change. People will often change their behavior to follow social norms by aligning with what they perceive others to be doing (descriptive norms) or what they ought to be doing (injunctive norms).
Programs that target small, frequent curtailment behaviors have to be carefully designed to ensure long-term savings. They should aim to:
• Change habits (disrupt old habits in order to allow new ones to be adopted)
• Provide intrinsic motivation (e.g., satisfaction or happiness from the behavior)
• Change how people think about the behavior (e.g., that the behavior is more important or desirable)
• Change the perception of future costs (make the new behavior easier and less costly than changing back)
At first, the paper report was to dictate the email report. It was very square peg, round role.
The client really liked the new look of the paper reports. It was well branded, and even pushed their branding further than they typically did. We made it work for a time, the two products looking very visually connected, but the email version showing a lot of issues.
Because we increased the visual appeal in part by use of photography, deliverability and open rate were becoming an issue, especially in certain clients (ahem, gmail– I'm looking at you). The open rate increased with the attractive design, but our delivery wasn't all we hoped it would be. The first thing I did to adjust the deliverability was to simplify elements in the design. Instead of these more complex judgement areas, I simplified it and used the horizontal space better. We did see an improvement on deliverability.
This year, I took on redesigning the Home Energy Report for email from a new angle, by designing it as a separate entity. I continued streamlining for web, and designed with a mobile first approach. The different formats could look related, but the email report and print report would shine in their own lights, featuring the data in different ways.
Removal of red brackets from print report
Rewards area, still not much of an attention-getter
Re-envisioned data visualization
Simplified judgement area
MY RECOMMENDATION
I updated the method of judgement, showing how many data modules there are altogether (4qty), and thereby showing a collective judgement.
I took the information and re-envisioned the entire product. Even having worked on it, for a while the data was confusing and I found it was due to the language. By seeing the product as a whole, we can look at the data as a whole instead of disconnected snippets.
Here we have the usage breakdown shown in a singular month. I have shown all of October– cost, usage, and comparison to last year. Also, I described the contributing weather factors.
Here I showed a 13 month comparison, bringing the data to life through the typography.
FINAL PRODUCT
The final eHER turned out great.
I worked mobile first, and designed for digital space only. I knew some of the elements would need to translate across more platforms, but by starting simply I could add elements back in to customize the design by client.
I created a design system for the product, listing several levels of headers and their use. I then defined the colors and base use of iconography, size of the judgement boxes, and worked on the data visualization.
An important stakeholder wanted to maintain much of the original messaging delivery, so I proceeded with the original judgement icons and data module set up. This way, the transition to new would be "a minimal lift [to the user] because the messaging would remain the same." I made all of the judgement boxes consistent, so the actual judgement is what stands out.
From there I simplified the data visualization, making it really clean and clear. I kept the headers very basic, intending them to be a place where clients can customize, bringing their branding into a well defined product. With the design changes made, the open rate increase 35%.
