Crowdtesting in the energy and utilities industry
Digitalization, decentralization, green initiatives, cyber risks, and more consumer power, are just some of the challenges facing today’s energy and utilities industry.
Being change-ready and customer-centric
Innovative technologies appearing every day, customers expecting personalized attention, never-ending regulatory changes, and the need to digitalize, decarbonize, and decentralize are disrupting the energy and utilities industry.
These challenges are further compounded by the need to quickly get products to market and develop customer-centric solutions that deliver a flexible, reliable, secure, and overall positive and empathetic user experience – at every touchpoint they have with your business. To meet these increasingly complex challenges, providers, and their solutions, must be customer-centric, agile, and highly change-ready.
Show moreBeyond total digital transformation and meeting regulations that encourage transitioning to renewable energy, it’s the customer that is proving to be arguably the most disruptive element. They expect the same digital experience they receive from other industries, especially retail, and often will settle for nothing less. Support 24/7/365. Seamless and frictionless interactions with your services – on demand. The ability to shift and change plans from any device. Everything has to provide a positive, effortless experience that develops trust.
But what devices do they use? What version is their operating system? Does your smart meter work in any house at any location? How well does your mobile app perform on all these multiple devices? Does everything connect as it should, regardless of where they’re used? How well does it all connect to your legacy systems?
Every digital solution must provide a wonderful experience, be secure, and create value for your customers. It’s the best way to build trust and gain ongoing loyalty both today and well into the future.
Show lessPower your solutions with crowdtesting
Creating digital solutions that your customers will love requires real people to test them. This is the true power of crowdtesting. Unbiased feedback from actual people who directly resemble your customers.
With access to one of the biggest and most active global community of testers, we can test your products wherever they’ll be used, and with millions of different devices on hand, on the exact devices and operating systems they’re designed for. Apps, chatbots, smart energy devices, smart meters, energy industry software, everything can be conveniently, easily, and thoroughly tested in real-world conditions.
Show moreFrom e-mobility app testing, EV charging testing, Usability and UX Testing to Customer Journey Testing, we can test your solution at every stage of its development and use, while helping you to fully optimize both your solution and the customer experience.
Today, highly personalized, streamlined, and user-friendly utility customer experiences are mandatory. It doesn’t matter if they’re looking for information, wanting to change their plans, or talking with your AI-driven customer service, the experience must meet their expectations at all times and be something they implicitly trust. Wherever they are and at any time. Expectations are constantly changing and becoming more demanding.
This is why it’s essential that your business, and your digital solutions and processes, are agile and able to meet any change and challenge. Testing only in a lab, on a limited range of devices, and against only a few unique situations, ensures issues can be missed. And opportunities.
With actual people doing your testing in virtually any location, closely fitting your customers’ profiles, and using the devices they use, crowdtesting delivers fast, real, unbiased, and measurable results.
Show lessActual users, real-world testing, net zero results
As the demand for convenient and connected solutions increases, the industry is having to step up and offer a range of innovative digital products to stay competitive, and relevant. From mobile apps that track electronic charging stations for your e-car, AI-driven chatbots providing 24/7 support, an increasingly broad range of devices, such as smart energy meters, omnichannel-connected portals, and much more.
The true challenge is ensuring they not only work as intended but that they provide a positive experience while also meeting the diverse expectations of your customers. This can only be done out of the lab. With our crowdtesting services, which includes an e-mobility testing solution, you can use real people in the exact locations you do (or want to do) business and receive truly unbiased and actionable feedback and insights on what works, what doesn’t, and where improvements can be made to fully optimize your solutions.
This is what our crowdtesters have already done for our clients and what they can do for you.
Our client, a leading German energy provider, has developed an innovative online portal with a plethora of new features that allows customers to review their plans, submit meter readings, adjust contact details, order wallboxes, and receive support through an online chatbot.
Everything had to look good and work seamlessly, from its user-friendliness to information architecture, as well as feel fresh, modern, and intuitive. To ensure these standards are met, our Crowdtesters did what they do best: thoroughly test every aspect of the portal.
To capture immediate and genuine feedback, we conducted remote interviews to observe how testers interacted with the service in real-time. Initial tests focused on the portal’s usability and user experience, including navigation, color schemes, and the way information is presented. Further tests concentrated on the portal’s chatbot functionality, where testers manually entered their electricity meter readings and used the chatbot to send the reading through.
Our final test simulated the process of ordering a wallbox, involving three unique groups of testers. Each group tackled four use cases and responded to over 20 open-ended questions. This approach particularly highlighted the need for greater personalization in both the portal and the services offered.
Thanks to this comprehensive and thorough testing process, we helped our client refine the portal’s updates, ensuring that millions of users could benefit from the new features. And we were able to advise on how to better implement certain processes, like providing customers bespoke advice according to their individual needs during OCC setup. This not only led to increased usage of the service app, but also minimized the probability of abandonment and significantly enhanced customer satisfaction.
We believe in making it easier for people to reduce their carbon footprint. Our client, one of the largest electricity companies in Germany, shares this vision as they aimed to offer two top-tier apps tailored for their environmentally conscious users.
Our first challenge was to tackle their app which helps locate the nearest charging station for owners of fully electric or hybrid cars. After all, when you’re out and about in your e-car, the last thing you should worry about is finding a charging station. To ensure the app’s effectiveness, we leveraged our diverse pool of Crowdtesters to evaluate its performance in realistic scenarios. Hailing from bustling cities to remote towns and using a variety of devices, our testers assessed the app’s functionality during station searches, charging processes, and tariff registrations. In total, eight unique test cases were conducted, covering aspects like tariff information, charging costs, and in-app support.
Our second challenge similarly focused on the usability of an app that facilitates the integration of solar panel charging with the users’ homes and electric vehicles. To see if it worked correctly in real-world conditions, we sourced from among our Crowdtesters and performed several one-hour-long interviews. Each tester had to use the app to simulate the activation of their solar charging, to cancel the service, as well as provide feedback. And each step of the way, any issues, problems, or obstacles were identified and discussed in great detail. Was the information logical, clear, and easy to find?
In both cases, thanks to real-world feedback and recommendations from our qualified testers, we pinpointed exactly where the product needed refinement and offered a range of improvement suggestions, ensuring the final version is well-received by all users. This also meant long-term increase in app user numbers, better conversion, minimizing the risk of abandonment in the set-up process, as well as reduction in customer service workload.
As the e-Mobility industry works to provide seamless and efficient customer experiences, the challenge of integrating multiple vendors, external partners, and open protocols remains significant for operators and manufacturers alike. This is only made more complex by the rapidly growing market for e-cars manufactured in China, which are becoming increasingly popular in Europe.
It’s due to this intricate network of interactions that our client reached out to us to test the software of their charging stations, which are located throughout Europe, along with the accompanying app. Our QA, UX, and Usability testing aimed to ensure that every component of the charging ecosystem worked together smoothly, providing a reliable and user-friendly experience.
By simulating real-world scenarios, we put overall tester behaviors under the microscope, from start to finish, and were able to identify any pain points in the charging process, the ease of use of the charging app, and check for any usage barriers (ranging from findability to correct status displays and beyond!).
What’s more, we ensured that every interaction in the customer journey – from the charging stations to the payment systems, whether at home or on the go, using the app or the website – was thoroughly tested and proven to work harmoniously.
Like a domino effect, any disruption in this chain can result in a negative user experience. Thus, all the data we collected from our crowdtesters provided our client with the essential information and tools to ensure that their digital products are smoothly adopted by users.
How we’re helping to energize digital solutions
Power to all: An online portal to usability
Our client, a large German energy provider, had developed an online portal for customers to review their plans, change details, order hardware, and receive support via an online chatbot. As new features were developed, they would be inserted into a prototype of the portal to check everything worked as intended before updates to the existing portal went live.
Everything had to work seamlessly and be appealing, from its user-friendliness, information architecture, and even its zeitgeist (that its look and feel is of its time). Crowdtesters then tested the portal from login, ordering a wall box, evaluating their chatbot, invoicing, and the overall usability and user experience.
To ensure immediate and honest reactions, remote interviews were usedTo ensure immediate and honest reactions, remote interviews were used to see how they interacted with the portal in real time. The initial testing looked at the portal’s overall usability and the user experience, including navigation, colors, and information. When issues were found, testers rated the problem as moderate, irritating, or severe.
Additional testing focused on the portal’s chatbot where testers manually entered their electricity meter reading into the portal and used the chatbot to send the reading.
Finally, a new team of testers went through a simulated process of ordering a wallbox for their home (they wouldn’t actually receive such a device). Placed into three groups – those interested in e-mobility, the average motorist, and people who own an e-car and a wallbox – each group underwent four use cases and answered 20+ open and rating-focused questions.
With such comprehensive and in-depth testing of the portal’s updates, we were able to help them optimize each new feature.
Show lessSurf and ride: Optimizing the customer journey
When you’re out and about in your e-car, the last thing you need to worry about is where’s the next charging station. Our client wanted to create a baseline for where they could measure future improvements.
This meant testing to see how the app performed when looking for charging stationsThis meant testing to see how the app performed when looking for charging stations, during the charging process, and when registering for a tariff.
This meant finding thirty crowdtesters who not only lived in a mix of densely and sparsely populated areas but who had a hybrid plug-in or fully electric car. They also had to have a healthy mix of Android and iOS versions (overall, each tester had a unique version). Eight use cases were then developed to focus on each relevant section, including finding a station, receiving information about tariffs, being charged for the charge, and getting support via the app.
On average, feedback was positive around the user interface and the information provided and our comprehensive testing ensured any issues were quickly identified and fixed well before the product hit the road.
With real-world feedback and recommendations from the testers, we could also show exactly where the product had to be optimized while providing a range of improvement suggestions.
Show lessDay and night: Putting the customer in charge
Our client developed an app to help their customers coordinate the charging from their solar panels to their home and electric car. Updates were then made within a prototype so they could be thoroughly tested before release.
To see if it worked correctly in real-world conditions, we sourced seven crowdtestersTo see if it worked correctly in real-world conditions, we sourced seven crowdtesters for one-hour-long remote interviews to look over the prototype app. Each tester then used the app to simulate the activation of their solar charging, to cancel the service, and provide feedback.
Everything started with registering the ‘PV Anlage’ (PV System), which required the creation of a simulated subscription plan (to charge, change settings, and set up preferences). They were then asked to discuss/identify areas that were clear or unclear, whether information was sufficient, and graphics okay. They then connected the app to their charger and identified any issues or obstacles when doing so before connecting their cars to the simulated system and activating the charging process. All steps were discussed, and any problems identified. Finally, the testers went through the process of canceling the service. Was the option easy to find? Were there any issues while doing so?
Overall, the app rated highly with the testers and based on comprehensive feedback, our client was able to further optimize their solution before releasing the real version.
Show lessCreate empowering solutions with crowdtesters
Today’s energy and utilities customers have elevated expectations when it comes to their digital devices and want them to help streamline their plans, intelligently minimize energy and water usage, provide instant support, assist with EV charging, and much more.
Already familiar with digital solutions from other industries, they expect their devices to work perfectly on any device and operating system, wherever they are, whenever they want to use it. All while providing a positive and personalized experience. Getting these elements right can build trust and ongoing loyalty.
This is where our highly flexible and fully customizable crowdtesting services, including Customer Journey Testing and Usability Testing, can help you create fully optimized, dependable, and secure digital solutions – regardless of where and when they’re used!
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