Enexis
In The Netherlands, people buy their energy from their energy supplier. However, it's not that company responsible for the actual delivery of electricity and gas to their homes. That task is undertaken by network providers, like Enexis. The operator used to serve households through postal communication only, while there was a growing demand for real-time, accessible information, such as (the resolvement of) power outages. Enexis and I teamed up for a complete redesign of the website, including dozens of digitized processes and actions.
Reporting and/or tracking a (power) failure can now fully be done digitally.
Challenge
Enexis primarily served its customers through postal communication, while there was a growing demand for real-time, accessible information, such as the status of a power outage.
Outcome
A redesign of the website, including dozens of digitized processes and actions, along with push notifications for relevant updates (to come).
Delivered
User Strategy
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Impact
Enexis serves over 3 million households in the Netherlands.
New users are asked to enter their postcode or share their browser location with us. By doing so, they'll find personalized information and updates.
Strategy
The digital strategy of Enexis in a few words: as personalized as possible. Although over 3 million households are customers of the grid operator, most of them never really heard about it. Until... their electricity suddenly shuts off. By making the information on the website as personal as possible, both Enexis and its users benefit.
Users stay directly informed about maintenance, outages, or meter replacements, Enexis reduces the pressure on its customer service through a high level of self-service. Additionally, Enexis now has the opportunity to collect realtime, relevant data, such as the number of reports on the same outage and the popularity of certain topics (in certain regions), such as installing a charging point for an electric car.
The new menu was not designed for navigational purposes, it also makes clear what a "power connection" or "electricity meter" actually is.
Through close collaboration with the Enexis customer service gang, we've identified a list of hot topics: things the user is primarily looking for. To be able to monitor this, on a daily basis, we've implemented a user-friendly analytics dashboard in Enexis' CMS, always showing them hottest topics users come up with.
Our research showed that the vast majority of users are seeking information about outages or maintenance work, in their street or neighborhood. Other users appeared to be interested in clear (and short, really short) explanations about energy-related matters, such as switching to an electric vehicle.
Enexis' website now provides realtime information on outages and maintenances, offering users the ability to take some follow-up actions.
As we've previously highlighted, many users appeared to be quite unfamiliar with their grid operator, such as Enexis. Only when their electricity shuts off, when they'd like to request a charging point, or when the grid in their street is being renewed, they get in touch with their grid operator.
This had several strategic implications. Firstly, we must reach new users at crucial moments: at Google, at their social media. When we do, secondly, we must present them only relevant information, as accessible as possible. Lastly, Enexis should try to keep the user informed about future events, such as a power outage or when the user is entitled to financial compensation.
As users might encounter complex technical terms, such as upgrading their power connection, we have invested significant effort in creating the simplest possible explanations.
Creative
So: what you gonna do when the grid goes down? No light, desktop won't start, Wi-Fi connection no longer available. Your mobile internet is still working like a charm, though. Damn sure I'd Google for power any outages in my street. As it turned out, the majority of Enexis' users would.
Therefore, the mobile experience of the website deserved our top priority. At that point in time, Enexis was not listed in the top search results for keywords like "power outage [insert name of a random village]". In most cases, it was not even on the first page. Fixed that.
Oh, and by collaborating with some of the top ranked platforms regarding *whatever* outages, Enexis is now able to redirect these users to its website much faster.
By utilizing simple illustrations instead of detailed photographs, we reduced the cognitive effort required from the user.
As most of the information on Enexis' website is quite technical in nature, we found out that the use of many supporting images and videos would be crucial. Therefore, I designed a minimalist, illustrative style, with as few irrelevant details as possible. Just a picture of an electricity meter contains infinitely more unnecessary information than a plain illustration, where we only need to show the elements that are relevant to the user.
By offering users the option to subscribe to push notifications regarding (future) outages and maintenance works, the nature of Enexis' user communication has shifted from reactive to proactive.