Author Archive
Julie Stanford | 02.22.10
While consumer smart grid energy portals are an important area for user centered design, there is an often overlooked design challenge in helping utilities craft a demand response (DR) program that really works. For readers unfamiliar with the term, demand response is a program utilities are exploring which asks customers to reduce electricity use during peak times in exchange for financial incentives. Utilities have recently launched DR programs with the basic assumption that providing access to energy usage data and an economic incentive would motivate users to change their behavior. Turns out, encouraging behavior change is not so easy. With that challenge in mind, I decided to look at what’s been done in the past to motivate energy behavior change and see how learnings from past efforts can be applied to the design of demand response systems – from a consumer perspective.
Based on my literature review, the following are ten ideas to consider when crafting your demand response program to create an effective user experience:
1. Carefully craft and explain rate structures
Construct the rates and program carefully with consideration of more than the just the economics. A 2008 study of a time of use pricing pilot found that suggestions for behavior change were highly time sensitive to key family patterns such as mealtimes and did not work if they were disruptive to the household. To make sure you create a structure that is within the capabilities of your target audience, consider conducting a user study to understand how household behaviors align with specific time periods. Then you can craft a program with realistic expectations for consumption management and provide users with actionable advice that they can follow without changing their family patterns.
2. Create a goal – get commitment – provide feedback
Consider structuring the DR program so that participants get a specific difficult goal for participation, commit to the goal, and then get feedback on their goal. This type of structure has proven repeatedly to be one of the strongest approaches for motivating energy behavior change. In one study, researchers gave households a difficult goal (20% energy reduction), easy goal (2% reduction), or no goal for energy use. All groups (including the no goal control) were then given information on which appliances used the most energy. The goal was also combined with feedback or not. Households who received a difficult goal + feedback conserved the most (15.1%) and were the only group to significantly differ from the control. Participants with the easy goal did not differ in behavior from the control at all. To make an even stronger program, consider an extra reward if the goal is reached.
3. Provide frequent feedback
The more continuous the feedback, the more effective the intervention. In a seminal study conducted over 30 years ago in 1979, households were given continuous feedback over a period of 11 months about monetary costs of electricity use by means of a monitor displaying electricity use cents per hour. On average, households that had a monitor installed reduced electricity by 12%. Although hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly feedback all create savings effects, the more frequent the feedback, the more effective it is. Consider creative ways to deliver that feedback via web portals, in home devices, smart phones or on SMS (intermittently).
4. Emphasize choice and control
One study considered people’s resistance to installing automatic day/night thermostats. Once the thermostat was redesigned to allow residents to override the system temporarily, the thermostat was much more attractive to residents – even though in actual use most people never overrode them. Similarly, a DR program should emphasize choice and control – people can opt into the program and still have full control over their consumption.
5. Tap into the power of the group
One energy conservation program that had a lot of success enrolled people in groups where they discussed and compared conservation behavior with their social group over a long term basis. Similarly, virtual networks of known groups can be set up to motivate participation in DR programs – for example by tapping into existing social networks of friends on Facebook to encourage participation.
In addition, consider a structure that offers additional savings if everyone in a group or neighborhood participates and reaches a set goal (see point 1 above). One study indicated that an incentive that offered on an individual and group level – in this case for all residents of one apartment building — was more effective than solely an individual incentive.
6. Frame program benefits as avoiding loss rather than emphasizing gain
The amount of joy that someone experiences when winning $100 is not equal to the consternation suffered when losing the same amount. Most people are more willing to take risks to avoid or minimize a loss than to increase their fortune. So, focus on showing residents how much money they are losing every month by not enrolling in demand response. Once the loss is obvious, people will take action.
7. Integrate complex information
When calculating energy savings, people usually can’t take into account all the elements such as rising fuel costs, the real long terms benefit, etc… So, do the math for them! Give price information that shows the full savings, presented as avoidance of a negative consequence of non-action (see point above). Use the actual data you already know about the consumer’s energy usage to make the information actionable and real.
8. Present information using vivid personal stories and videos
Statistical data summaries and impersonal information are less effective than case studies and colorful stories for motivating participation. For example, imagine that you are considering a new car and are choosing between a Volvo and a Saab. Consumer Reports informs you that the consensus of its studies is that the Volvo has a better repair record. That evening, you go to a party and run into an acquaintance who tells you a horrific story about a Volvo. Although the Consumer Reports article is based on hundred of repair records and your friend’s story is just one additional data point, most people will be swayed by their friend not to buy that car.
When communicating the benefits of a direct response program, demonstrate benefits with concrete stories about real people who save more energy than average but are “just like you. To be even more effective, present the content in videos. Numerous studies have also shown that videos of people modeling the desired actions are more effective in getting people to change their behavior than written information or lectures.
9. Use a foot in the door strategy
Individuals who agree to a small initial task are much more likely to agree to a larger request. So, instead of asking people to enroll in the full DR program immediately, first ask people to participate in a small act, such as filling out a survey, and then later ask them to consider signing up for demand response as a follow up to the first request. For example, one representative study showed that the percentage of people agreeing to an unattractive sign being put on their front lawn encouraging people to drive carefully increased dramatically (from 17% to 55%) if they had first been given the opportunity to sign a petition favoring safe driving.
10. Communicate trust
One key differentiator for successful energy programs is successful marketing to get people to even consider trying it out. We’ve found in our research that people inherently don’t trust their utility so partner with a local organization people do trust to market your program. In a marketing experiment conducted in Minnesota, a county government contracted with a private company to install energy saving equipment in homes in exchange for payment of a percentage of the value of the energy saved. To market the program, households received one of three types of letters: one letter was sent on company letterhead with no mention of cooperation with the county, one letter went out on company letterhead and mentioned the county’s role, and the third went out on county letterhead and was signed by the County Board of Commissioners. The source of information had a profound effect on consumer response – request for energy audits came from 6%, 11% and 26% respectively of households receiving the three types of letters.
Next Steps
We’re continuing to do more research in this area and will publish more insight expanding into some areas mentioned above. In the meantime, here’s a partial list of references…happy reading!
- Abrahamsen, W., Steg, L., Vlek, C., & Rothengatter, T. (2005). A review of intervention studies aimed at household energy conservation. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 25, 273-291.
- Krantz, D. H., & Kunreuther, H. C. (2007). Goals and plans in decision making. Judgment and Decision Making, 2(3), 137-168.
- Geller, E. S., (1992) It takes more than information to save energy. American Psychologist, 814-815.
- Geller, E. S., Winett, R. A., & Everett, P. B. (1982). Preserving the environment: New strategies for behavior change. Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press.
- Lutzenhiser, S. et al (2009) Beyond the Price Effect in Time-of-Use Programs: Results from a Municipal Utility Pilot, 2007-2008. Presented at the International Energy Program Evaluation Conference, Portland, OR, August 12-14, 2009. http://drrc.lbl.gov/pubs/lbnl-2750e.pdf
- McKenzie-Mohr, D. and Smith, W. (1999) Fostering Sustainable Behavior. Gabriola Island, B.C., Canada: New Society Publishers.
- Swim, Janet et al. (2009) Psychology and global climate change: addressing a multi-faceted phenomenon and set of challenges, A report by the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface between psychology and global climate change. http://www.apa.org/science/about/publications/climate-change.aspx
- Winett, R. A., Hatcher, J. W., Fort, T. R., Leckliter, I. N., Love, S. Q., Riley, A. W., et al. (1982). The effects of videotape modeling and daily feedback on residential electricity conservation, home temperature and humidity, perceived comfort, and clothing worn: Winter and summer. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 15(3), 381-402.
- Winett, R.A. and Geller, E.S., (1981) Comment on “Psychological research and energy policy”. American Psychologist, (425-426).
- Yates, S. and Aronson, E., (1983) A social psychological perspective on energy conservation in residential buildings. American Psychologist, (435-444).
- Stern, P. C., Aronson, E., Darley, J. M., Hill, D. H., Hirst, E., & Kempton, W. et al. (1986). The effectiveness of incentives for residential energy conservation. Evaluation Review, 10(2),
147-176.
For related posts about designing for the smart grid, check out:
Julie Stanford | 12.10.09
AT&T just announced in an investor’s conference that smart phone users are using too much of its network for data and that something is going to have to be done to curb their usage since their network isn’t able to handle it. All I can say is WAH-WAH-WAH.
Let me get this straight. AT&T has an issue that their network is slow, which clearly is not the fault of the network but is the fault of the users of the network. So, instead of upgrading their network or preparing for the introduction of more smart phones which are going to cripple their network further, they are going to do something punitive to get smart phone users to download less data. And is their plan to do this while still continuing to charge $40/month for data service? They could offer tiered pricing to people so that some can opt into a lower price plan for more limited data, but charging users who are already paying $40 for apparently subpar unlimited service doesn’t seem fair.
As you can tell, as a user advocate, I think this is absurd. Problems with your product are never the fault of the customer. They are your fault. And, most importantly, if you are AT&T and ACTIVELY PROMOTING all the awesome apps and great things you can do with the iPhone while then complaining that people are using them too much, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
This behavior is not acceptable for an organization with a lot of competitors (rumored to be losing its iPhone exclusivity soon) that sells a service. Your goal as a product manager, engineer, designer, CEO, etc… is to make your users happy and not think of ways to save money by pissing them off. It may save money in the short term, but if your business is selling a service, there should be a high level of service involved.
This is a new announcement from AT&T but I predict it is going to lose them customers in the long run. In the words of Stephen Cobert, AT&T you’re on notice.
Julie Stanford | 08.17.09
We’re proposing two panels for South by Southwest. Audience voting on the panels is open until September 4th and you can vote thumbs up or down on any as many panels as you want so if these sound interesting, please vote yes! (note that you’ll have to register but it only takes a second)
Comfort foods are the epitome of success. Delicious, ubiquitous, and easy. This panel of chefs and designers will explore what food can teach about product design. What makes a new recipe take-off? How do you make your product comfy on first use and then make people want to use it again?
Questions this panel will answer:
- What do eating a food and using a technology/software/website have in common?
- What makes comfort foods so appealing?
- Can those same qualities translate into software/websites?
- How do you create a new recipe that a mass audience will like as much as an old standby like mac-n-cheese?
- How do you have a successful yet cutting edge restaurant?
- How do you create a new product that people will feel comfortable using from the start?
- What techniques/lessons from recipe creation (for magazines and restaurants) can be applied to the design of new technologies?
- How do you innovate if people like known things?
- How do you get a following for your food? For your restaurant? For your product?
- What mistakes should you avoid when doing something new?
Dazed and confused in a sea of technology and marketing fluff? This talk will help you pick the right technology for your Rich Internet Application based on the user experience implications. See specific examples of the trade-offs with each so that you can finally make an informed decision.
Questions this panel will answer:
- What is a Rich Internet Application (RIA)?
- What sorts of features should you expect a RIA platform to offer?
- What is Microsoft Silverlight?
- What is Adobe Flex/Air?
- Can you create a RIA using HTML/CSS/Javascript?
- Are there any other technology platforms to consider?
- What are the pros and cons of each platform from a user experience perspective?
- What are specific examples of applications using each technology effectively and ineffectively?
- What tools are available to design for each platform?
- What are the ten key points to think about when deciding which technology to use?
Julie Stanford | 08.05.09
I’m a big advocate of lazy registration. Lazy registration is the concept that you don’t have a sign up form on your site but instead let the user try out your site for as long as they like and ask them for user data as part of their natural trajectory. This results in an experience full of open inviting doors.
The key is providing users with a reason to give you the registration data you’re looking for. If you’re site is good enough to do that (and if it’s, than that’s a bad sign), you’re golden.
How to make this pattern work:
- Let the user enter as much data as they want wherever they want to do it
- Then, to let them save their data, choose from one or more of these solutions:
- Provide a Save or Submit button that on click asks them for their email address to register
- Provide a link that they can save on their own to get back to their data
- Save their data automatically via cookies so that when they revisit your site, the data is still there
Examples
Picamatic, an image hosting service, is a fantastic example of lazy registration.
A user can upload their images and can then either copy and paste a link to that image on their own:
Or click Save these images to get emailed a link to the images:
Asking after data entry
Another good example is the way that commenting works in blogs. It’s only when you enter a comment that you are asked for your email address to register.
Similarly, on sites like Stackoverflow , when you ask a question, then you are asked to enter in your email address at the bottom of your post:
On GetSatisfaction, when you’re done entering in your question, you get a pop-up after you hit submit that asks you to register:
Cookies
Cookies are another key to lazy registration. See how much info you can keep for the user when they come back to your site. If you’re an ec-ommerce site you should be saving anything the user adds to their shopping cart. You can also save items they visited, searches they did, etc.
Kayak is a great example which retains searches you’ve made and saves them to your account when you do register.
Now go out there and rid your site of those registration black holes.
Julie Stanford | 07.17.09
The new shopping area of the Intuit Health Benefits Center has just launched! We’ve been working very closely with Intuit on the design of this new venture for months and are proud to be a part of making healthcare insurance more accessible to small businesses.
Julie Stanford | 06.22.09
In response to everyone’s awesome feedback on last week’s diagram of what we do, I’ve posted a new one:
This one adds a circle for the user which I agree is super important and a key part of our process. It also more specifically spells out what we do — strategy, user research, and design. The idea is that someone has an initial concept and we can help create the strategy and design for that concept based on our understanding of the concept, user needs, and development constraints. Thoughts?
Julie Stanford | 06.19.09
I recently sketched this diagram to explain what we do and wanted to see if it resonated with people. Is this too high level? Does it add a layer of understanding? Basically, we work with clients on all levels of product design including feature definition, interaction and visual design, user research, and specification. The only thing we don’t do is the final code. Thoughts?
Julie Stanford | 06.03.09
Open Table recently introduced a new mapping feature that displays restaurant info. Putting info on a map is a solved problem. Google, Yahoo! and many other sites have successfully mapped information with mouseovers and Open Table could have easily reviewed these sites and put together a design that capitalized on best practices. Instead, the Open Table interaction is awkward, resulting in an experience that is difficult and unwieldy. Sigh. Let this be a lesson to those putting together mapping interfaces on what you should and shouldn’t do. Here’s our list of key mapping tips:
- Allow the user to close boxes they opened on click. This is the most important tip here. In Open Table, when you click on a map marker, it opens a window that covers up the other restaurant markers on the page and there is no way to close it. Sometimes I noticed at random times the window would close on its own, but it did not have an X in the corner so was super annoying.
- Visually connect the pop-up with the map marker. As you can see in the screenshot above, Open Table does this quite subtly. The map marker in the middle has a black outline and a slightly brighter white spot. Uh-uh. This is not the time to be subtle. POINT to the marker that the hover refers to so that the user does not have to remember.
- Consider if you need to have both on hover and on click interactions. If you present different info on hover and on click, make sure that there is a reason why you are not presenting the info on hover to start with. Check out the difference between on hover and on click in Open Table:
On hover
On click
Note that the box does not get bigger on click, leading me to wonder why they don’t just display the time info on hover. Even if the times sometimes wrapped to a second line as shown below, it’s still a pretty small box.
On click, 2 lines:
- Display the information in in an order that makes sense. This tip, of course, applies to anything you design. In the screenshot above with the four times, Open Table is displaying 6 and 8:30 PM at the end of the line, presumably because you get more points for going at those times. I’m used to time data being display chronologically. I dunno why. Must be something about the fact that it’s time.
A Good Example
Now for an example of what we consider a good map interaction. A while ago we designed a map interaction for hotels for Yahoo! that never got launched so I’ll share it here because it illustrates the points above. Here’s how it works:
On hover is simple with just the hotel name:
The on click pop-up reflects all the recommendations from above:
This solution is elegant and informative. If only we could see the same at Open Table.
Julie Stanford | 06.02.09
If you’re building a product that people use, you should be watching people use your product as often and as early as possible. Gathering quick, informal user feedback during the design process will let you know whether or not you’re on track while you can still make adjustments – not after it’s too late. At Sliced Bread Design, we call this user research method Fast Insight Testing, and we use it constantly to get immediate feedback on work in progress.
To help you get started, we’ve answered some of the questions we’re often asked about doing Fast Insight User Testing so that you can try this on your own.
1. Won’t it take a long time to run the test?
Full usability tests can take weeks, but Fast Insight User Testing is aimed at getting very quick feedback on a specific target. Pick one thing you want to test, and keep it focused. For example, you could test your new home page to get general feedback on the message it’s sending to new visitors. Or, you could give your subjects a single task to perform, like editing some information in your product. If you keep it focused, you can get what you’re looking for in as little as five minutes per person on the phone. Or, you can test a short flow in 15-20 minutes.
2. Don’t I have to pay a recruiter to get participants?
Not at all. Start with friends and family in your address book or IM list who are easy to reach but have very little or no knowledge of your product. Unless you’re working on a product aimed at computer professionals, make sure that you pick a few people who aren’t too tech savvy. (You don’t need to mention why you picked them!) Use this as your list of test subjects. You’ll be surprised at how much great feedback you can get from talking to 3-4 people whose only qualification is that they aren’t familiar with your product.
3. What if my target market is specialized and my friends are not?
Even if your target market is specialized, that market is still made up of people. You are designing for people, right? There are many types of things you can learn about the usability of your design just by getting a fresh pair of eyes on it. For example, if you were designing a search engine for realtors, testing on anyone would be helpful for making sure people understand your method for presenting search fields and results, the location of buttons, etc. It would not be useful for assessing if you have the exact right search fields for realtors or the correct data in the results. Essentially, you can use your friends to test your overall design concept, and then test within your product’s niche to get more specific feedback later.
4. Do I need a fully working prototype?
Absolutely not. This is FAST Insight testing, which means that you should be testing quick mock ups that you create, not waiting around for engineering to create a stable build. We’ll write an article about creating quick prototypes in a future issue, but in the meantime see the list of links at the end of this article for resources to help you create your own mock ups. If you’re short on time, just sketch something on paper and scan it in.
5. What do I ask?
To help the process go smoothly, make sure that you plan your questions ahead of time. Here are the key recommendations for a Fast Insight test structure:
Before showing your design, start with a short introduction where you set the stage for how the user arrived at this page or process. For example, “Imagine that you are planning a party and want to use a website to invite guests.”
Then, your first question should always be: “What do you think is going on here?” Don’t jump directly into asking specific questions or giving them a task to do. Start by getting your user’s first impressions of the screen. And then follow up with more open ended questions, such as “What do you think you would do here?” Follow the user’s lead, and don’t be anxious about getting all of your questions answered until you thoroughly understand what the user would do without prompting.
Next, you can ask specific questions or ask the user to complete a task. For example:
- What do you think you would do first on this screen?
- Imagine that you want to do X. How would you do that?
Most importantly, always follow up all responses with “Why?” Even if you think you already know the answer, you’ll be surprised how often you learn something new.
6. How do I make sure I’m being a good moderator?
Moderating is harder than it looks, and we will write more about it in a future article. For now, we’ll keep it simple. Your number one goal is to get your user’s true feedback on the interaction you’re testing without imposing your views on them, so do not ask leading questions. For example, avoid saying things like “Do you like this new way better?” or “Click down there to move on to the next step.” Instead, ask open ended questions like “Which way do you prefer?” or “What would you do next?” Encourage your user to think out loud, and don’t put words in their mouth!
7. Can I do the testing remotely?
Ideally, it would be nice to gather the feedback in person — we’ve even been known to do Fast Insight testing at parties. However, you can easily gather feedback on the phone by either posting your screens online and giving your user the URL or sharing your screen using services like webex.com or gotomeeting.com
8. What do I do after the test is over?
When you’re all done, write a short summary of your findings for yourself and to share with your team (if there is one). It’s important to summarize the feedback quickly so that you don’t forget. Try to focus on the key areas where your participants struggled or seemed confused. Then, think of potential ways to address those problems. For example, create a list with two columns: Problem/Solution. Your final deliverable should give you a clear idea of what to fix and actionable ideas for how to fix it.
9. What about Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)?
NDAs are important if you think what you are showing will compromise your Intellectual Property. Depending on what you’re testing, you may feel comfortable with a verbal agreement or a quick email. If you feel like you want to use a written NDA, have your subjects sign one online using a free site like wufoo.com.
10. When should I do this?
How about now? Once you see how simple and effective it is, you’ll be ready to start integrating users even more closely into your development process. Now go out there and start getting some Fast Insight.
More Sliced Bread Design resources for testing and prototyping:
- A/B Testing and Qualitative User Testing
- Dreamweaver Prototypes: All Pain and No Gain
- Balsamiq vs. HTML Wireframes
Tools to make your own prototypes for testing:
- Balsamiq
- Dreamweaver
- Axure
- iPlotz
Julie Stanford | 05.20.09
Our redesign of the Quicken Picks website has just launched!
Key features of our redesign effort:
- Three step home page for first time users: First time user experience clearly explains the benefits of cash back
- Deal badges: Deals are now presented in a consistent, streamlined manner
- Clean information architecture: Flattened navigation to present primary store categories on the home page.
- Simple deal flow: Users can now get from the a deal on Quicken Picks to the target site in one click
Here’s our three step design on the home page (it follows a design pattern we’ve blogged about before):
Before our redesign
Here are some screenshots of the site before our redesign to give you a sense of the impact of our work. It’s a bit green and gunky to say the least:
Home page – Logged in
Home page – First time visitor
Feel free to check out the redesign yourself at the www.quickenpicks.com.
