2021
UX/UI DESIGN
The value to the user of the Electric Vehicle product is that the system will ensure that the user’s EV is charged to a desired level at the lowest electricity cost. It is assumed that most EV owners will be on multi-tier tariffs, so it is unlikely that the lowest cost will be achieved by charging immediately after the car is plugged in; instead, low-cost electricity may be available during the night. Rather than the user specify when to charge, the owner specifies when the EV needs to be charged by and lets the system decide when it is the cheapest to do so.
Improving our smart heating experience
Smart heating systems are increasingly popular in the UK and around the world, with Nest and Hive controlling most of the UK market share. They are popular for their ability to control heating while away from home and their improved user experience over the old manual controllers most people in the UK are used to.
Smart heating plays an important part in reducing reducing energy bills and carbon usage, and is therefore an obvious product for geo to be involved in.
The original geo 'Cosy' smart thermostat and
app were designed around a 'Slumber, Comfy,
Cosy' concept, removing the need to enter exact
temperatures and making the in-home device
simpler to use.
Problem to solve
The existing smart heating app, launched nearly 5 years ago, was in dire need of refreshing. It was designed to support a physical device which the company no longer produced and many of the original design decisions no longer made sense without the accompanying physical device.
It was also important that the app would be compatible with upcoming smart device standards and be controllable via voice (Alexa, etc) or other smart app (Samsung SmartThings, etc), both areas the existing app failed at.
KPIs
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Use and engagement - In this scenario a reduction in use is favourable
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Compatibility with third party apps and devices
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Reduced support calls
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Geo brand favourability
Success looks like
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25% reduced time to change temperature from opening app
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50% reduced time spent to change schedule
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10% reduction in support calls about thermostat
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Users need to change their schedule 15% less often
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At least 5% of users attempt voice commands
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App store rating increased by 0.2 stars
(Numbers changed for confidentiality)
Findings
Observations on the current app
Accessibility
The app does not adhere to W3 accessibility standards. There are fonts as small as 10pt, and colour contrasts as low as 2.2.
While accessibility is not currently a requirement, adhering to accessibility requirements makes for a better experience for all users.
What is 'Cosy'?
A room is set to 'Cosy', but its current temperature is displayed in °C. The user can't immediately relate these values so every operation takes a few extra seconds while the user remembers what 'Cosy' means to them and if that is lower or higher than the current temperature.
This problem is compounded by 'Cosy' being different in each room, so the user has to potentially remember dozens of different temperatures.
Setpoint controls
The setpoint control screen allows the user to change their Slumber, Comfy and Cosy temperatures.
This screen is not easy to understand at first glance, there is a lot of repeated or unnecessary information and it's not clear where your eye is meant to be drawn to first.
There are too many ways of changing a setpoint; the user can press the -/+ buttons, rotate the dial in the middle, or drag the segments in the outside wheel. While it is tempting to offer users choice, it often only causes confusion.
Scheduling
To set a schedule the user chooses a zone (i.e. Kitchen) and is presented with 7 days (see picture). For each day the user selects a 'profile' (i.e. weekday). These profiles are unique to each zone, so changing your Kitchen schedule doesn't change your Bedroom schedule.
While this sounds like a very flexible system, it ends up being extremely confusing for the user and means that even basic schedule changes can take 5-10 minutes to complete.
Pain points
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I can't relate to 'Slumber, Comfy, Cosy', my thermostat has always been in °C
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I can't control my heating from my Alexa (technically it is possible to make the app Alexa compatible, but the user ends up having to say commands like "Alexa tell my Cosy to make my Comfy Cosy")
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I just want to be able to control my heating from my phone, I don't need anything complicated
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My partner doesn't understand how to use the app
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Some of the text is too small to read
Goals
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Make app natively Alexa compatible, with no complicated commands
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Create a UX/UI that users will understand immediately
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Align our app with market competition
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Reduce screen clutter
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Simplify schedules
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Remove need for users to remember settings they set months ago
Competitive analysis
Who are our competitors?
Competitive analysis
What are the standard features in smart heating apps?
Most people in the UK will have heard of Nest and Hive, their devices are feature rich and are made of high-end materials, miles away from the standard plastic dial thermostat most people are used to.
However, these devices cost well over £100 when you include installation, this has lead to an increasing number of competitors offering cheaper smart thermostats that do not require professional installation.
Our smart heating solution is competing with these cheaper devices, and therefore does not necessarily need to include all of the features of the £100+ devices, although it could be a differentiator if we do.
Temperature
Only one other smart heating app uses the 'comfy/cosy/slumber' approach, all other apps directly display the target and current temperature. There is no question that switching to temperatures is the way to go.
Schedules
There is almost no consensus on the 'best' way to create and display schedules, with every app employing different approaches. The Nest app only asks for a start time, and will keep that temperature until you say otherwise. The Hive app asks for start and end times, with any time in between set to 'Off'. When asking people which they prefer (internal survey of 100 tech literate people) there is equally very little consensus, suggesting that maybe nobody has found the magic solution yet.
Heating modes
One thing missing completing from out app is the ability to easily turn your whole system off with one button press. All competing apps have this functionality, many also including an 'Eco' setting which sets your whole home to a pre-set Eco temperature.
App and product store reviews
Surprisingly the app and product store reviews contained very little conversation about the features of the app/device.
30% of positive reviews mentioned they only bought the device for the ability to control their heating while away from home. This suggests that a lot of people are not too interested in additional features and just want a basic system that works.
Over 80% of negative reviews were due to the system not working or installation problems. Almost no reviews mentioned missing features, again suggesting that people are happy with a simpler device that just works.
UX & UI Design
New heating design
Key features
Temperature
Complicated 'slumber, comfy, cosy' modes have been replaced with current and target temperatures. The app is also now Alexa compatible with native Alexa controls.
Single button mode change
Switch between heating, Eco, Away and Off modes with a single button press
Reduced screen clutter
All unnecessary information has been removed, leaving the user with only 4 pieces of information:
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The room name
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Current temperature
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Target temperature
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Heating mode
Clean design
A much cleaner design allows for improved use of colour, with the user able to see their current heating mode at a glance without having to read any of the text on the screen.
Improved accessibility
The entire heating screen is now AA compliant, with most also AAA compliant.
UX & UI Design
New schedule design
Key features
NB: This design is still in the early iteration phase.
Schedule at a glance
The new schedule overview screen displays the entire schedule at a glance, no longer does the user need to explore each day separately to remember what they set.
Simpler scheduling
Each day now has only 6 setpoints (reduced from 14). While this is a reduction in capability, research shows that under 1% of users were using more than 5 setpoints, and no competing app offers more than 6.
Smart home compatible
The new schedule design complies with the upcoming Matter smart home standards, meaning you will be able to fully control your geo thermostat with any other smart home device.
