My Account
Ergon Energy
Helping Ergon customers manage their energy account easily
Designing and developing Ergon Energy’s first digital self-service portal
Client
Ergon Energy
Role
Research, UX design
Awards
2017 Adobe Innovation Award
All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of ACCENTURE OR ERGON ENERGY.
Problem
Ergon Energy, a government affiliated and backed energy provider to northern and rural Queensland, realised their lack of digital channels for customers to self-serve was driving calls to the contact centre, resulting in higher operation costs for Ergon, and an often slow and frustrating experience for Ergon customers.
Challenge
Ergon asked Accenture to help design and deliver a digital self-service portal for Ergon customers, starting with the 3 biggest call drivers to the contact centre - bill balances, payments and moving home.
“How might we provide Ergon customers a simple and fast way to manage their bills and move home?”
Solution & my role
Split over two phases across a total of 15 weeks, the Fjord/Accenture team delivered an intuitive mobile-first digital experience that helps Ergon customers access and manage their energy accounts, as well as move home in a few taps.
I was involved in the end-to-end process, co-leading the discovery research and ideation in phase one, and leading the UX design and delivery in phase two.
Ergon customers can now view and pay bills online in 30 seconds, instead of a 7 minute call.
Customers can now arrange moving home online in 90 seconds instead of a 9 minute call.
Register online in one step
Along with the digital services, we designed a simple My Account registration process needing just 3 types of information. By confirming their account number and email, they could start using My Account within minutes.
Online, SMS and email for a seamless experience
We ensured all moments in the ‘moving home’ journey were considered and designed for. Using online, email and SMS touch points, customers were kept up to date with the right information at the right time.
Design process
Starting with rapid 3 weeks of customer research, stakeholder workshops and prototype testing with Ergon customers set the vision and direction for the second phase, where the team grew to design, develop and launch the first Ergon digital portal using human centred design methods.
DISCOVERY with customer interviews
Two of us travelled to Queensland to meet and interview Ergon customers in Cairns. We went to their homes to learn about their Ergon experiences, needs and pain points.
A customer in Cairns showing and telling us about her utilities
We were shown how people track and manage their energy consumption and bills
CO-CREATION workshops
After identifying key themes around customer needs and pain points, we ran a 1 day workshop with Ergon stakeholders and SME’s to develop ideas aimed to address customer needs while meeting business goals and discussing feasibility.
Client workshop to run ideation exercises such as crazy 8s and round robins
Over another 2 day workshop, the team dived deeper to create detailed paper prototypes based on key hypotheses. These were prioritised an refined for testing with customers.
Running a second co-creation workshop for detailed and refined concepts
Co-creating paper prototypes of key flows to test with customers
Presenting and refining concepts
TESTING AND ITERATING PROTOTYPES
I helped facilitate 2 rounds of testing prototypes with customers, to learn what’s desirable, useful and usable. The team observed and we iterated between the 2 rounds.
2 rounds of testing concepts and prototypes with 6 customers
The design team reviewing prototypes flows
After phase 1, we had validated a new digital service concept that was desirable to customers, viable for Ergon and technically feasible.
detailed design and development IN PHASE 2
In phase 2, I joined a design and development team to help lead the UX, taking the validated prototypes and propositions from phase 1 and detailing the larger service experience.
Collaborating with the client and team, I was responsible for the UX including user and task flows, information architecture, interaction patterns and content design.
Whiteboard sketches and flows to solve problems as a team
The sitemap of the portal and how it interacts with existing consumer websites
Continual design and flows feedback loops for mobile, tablet and desktop
ONE TEAM, ONE DREAM
Collaborating closely on a daily basis with the client product owner, developers, BA and visual designer was essential to ensure a simple and intuitive user experience while meeting Ergon’s business and technical requirements.
I was also responsible running usability testing sessions with customers to test, learn and validate the portal experience.
The project war room with the core team collaborating daily
We were efficient and agile in our usability testing session planning
Client showcase at the end of one of our sprints
“Mathias was able to take our business focused requirements and turn them into something clean, easy to use and customers focused. Consistent feedback from the project sponsor and post show cases was that the overall customer experience was fantastic.”
Impact
Within 6 months launch Ergon saw a reduction of almost 10,000 calls to the Ergon Energy contact centre, saving approximately $200,000 in business costs.
With the foundational UX, design and implementation of the first of many My Account services, Ergon have been equipped to design and launch more digital self-service capabilities for their customers.
