Highlights
- A reinvented consumer and retailer website providing a simplified, trusted service to the public.
- Simplified the regulatory requirements of data transparency, helping to build stronger relationships with energy retailers.
- Improved accessibility through better compatibility across browsers and a suite of accessible and inclusive design and functionality improvements.
- A more resilient service in high traffic periods.
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Summary
Through a user-centric digital transformation, Australian energy customers gained seamless access to effective tools and comprehensive information, empowering them to navigate the complex energy market with confidence. This resulted in an impressive 92% increase in actual users accessing the service, while also simplifying regulatory requirements, enhancing accessibility, and boosting customer journey completion rates.
- Approximately 92% increase in actual users accessing the service.
- 21% increase in users completing its search form from start to finish.
- A reinvented consumer and retailer website providing a simplified, trusted service to the public.
- Simplified the regulatory requirements of data transparency, helping to build stronger relationships with energy retailers.
- Improved accessibility through better compatibility across browsers and a suite of accessible and inclusive design and functionality improvements.
- A more resilient service in high traffic periods.
The Problem
An Australian energy provider faced a daunting challenge: improving its energy comparison digital service in compliance with a Federal Government mandate. The existing service relied on a cumbersome manual data capture process, resulting in a frustrating user experience, compromised data accuracy, diminished user engagement, and eroded consumer confidence.
The Opportunity
To thrive as a trusted independent service in a dynamic market, the business recognized the imperative of constant enhancement. The rapidly evolving energy landscape, along with the introduction of smart meters, the rise of solar and virtual power plants, and the influx of new market players, necessitated a strategic response.
The client identified a need to improve the experience for Australian energy consumers by instilling greater confidence and providing more choice between providers for consumers. Following a competitive tender process, the client engaged Mantel Group to design and build a reinvented public interface and retailer interface, to manage the service and provide ongoing support.
The Solution
In a strategic partnership with our client, Mantel Group embarked on a comprehensive review of the evolving needs of Australian energy consumers. Our mission was clear: to equip them with powerful tools and comprehensive information that would enable them to make well-informed decisions about energy products and services.
Drawing on our extensive industry expertise, we developed a transformative and tailored solution.
- A redesigned website that simplifies the regulatory burden of data transparency while providing a trusted service to the public. It leverages progressive web technologies, real-time translation, bill scanning, smart metre integration, and energy pricing algorithms for the best consumer plans and pricing.
- An intuitive and visually appealing experience that caters to diverse consumer needs.
- Seamless retailer data uploads, reducing burden and improving data quality.
- Testing and Iteration: Collaborative efforts between Mantel Group and Government SMEs to continuously improve the platform based on user feedback and testing.
- Enhanced resilience to handle high traffic periods and adapt to the dynamic energy market.
- Improved accessibility through multiple language options and cross-browser functionality, ensuring inclusivity and usability.
- Significant customer usage increase of approximately 92%.
- Enhanced customer journey completion with a 21% increase in users successfully completing the search form.
- Ongoing maintenance, improvements, and support to keep the service up-to-date, user-friendly, and trustworthy.
Our Approach
The Federal Government and Mantel Group forged a long-term partnership to comprehensively revamp the digital service, adopting a customer-centric approach that ensures accessibility for all Australian energy consumers and adaptability to the dynamic energy market. This involved the following:
Customer focussed: We prioritised user needs through a discovery process, gaining deeper understanding.
Collaborative teamwork: Close collaboration among product, design, and engineering teams ensured a user-friendly, dependable experience through workshops and data-driven improvements.
Agile and Design Thinking: Ongoing support with iterative releases informed by consumer feedback, adopting agile and design thinking principles.
Rigorous testing: Rigorous and rapid user testing refined the service, meeting expectations of Australian energy consumers.
Framework adherence: Work aligned with the Digital Service Standard criteria, ensuring simplicity, clarity and speed.
Research-driven approach: Reviewing existing service, identifying customer journeys and pain points, conducting competitor analysis for user needs analysis.
