Common Energy
Streamlining the community solar experience from hello to goodbye
Expertise
Journey Mapping
Design Systems
User Experience
User Interface
Copywriting
AI Collaboration
Touchpoints
Sign-Up Flow
Email Campaign
Customer Portal
Collaborators
Product Management
Customer Service
Sales Operations
Engineering
Toolkit
Adobe XD
Adobe Photoshop
Zeplin
Customer.io
Miro
ChatGPT
Growing Pains
Common Energy provides access to community solar programs for homeowners, renters, and businesses. With new state legislation opening additional markets, the company faced the challenge of rapidly expanding across states—each with distinct regulatory and utility requirements. Simultaneously, they aimed to better serve low-to-moderate income households and address ongoing customer pain points, all within six months to maintain a competitive advantage.
Objective 01
Scaling across state markets
As Common Energy prepared to enter newly opened state markets, it became clear that expansion couldn’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Each state and its utilities introduced unique enrollment rules, documentation requirements, and terminology. These differences affected core parts of the experience, including the sign-up flow, customer portal, and communications.
Integrate State Disclosure Requirements
Maryland requires subscription managers to present and store a signed state-issued disclosure form for each new customer.
The sign-up flow will need to include an e-signature step, and the customer portal will need a section where users can access their signed forms.
Configure Utility-Specific Data Inputs
Utilities across different states use varying terminology and require different account details during enrollment.
A dynamic sign-up form that adjusts based on the selected utility will help ensure accurate data collection and reduce confusion.
Design Utility Bill Navigation Support
Required enrollment details are often hard to find on utility bills and labeled inconsistently across providers.
Adding utility-specific guidance to the sign-up flow will help customers locate and enter the correct information more easily.
Objective 02
Focusing on LMI households
As part of nationwide efforts to make renewable energy more equitable, community solar programs often include provisions for low-to-moderate income (LMI) households. Common Energy needed to support these requirements across its platform to ensure eligible customers could participate and receive the enhanced benefits they’re entitled to.
Verify Financial Assistance Eligibility
Customers qualifying as LMI must provide documentation showing enrollment in an eligible financial assistance program.
The sign-up flow should identify these users early and guide them through submitting the appropriate documentation.
Configure Utility-Specific Data Inputs
LMI customers are eligible for a higher savings rate than standard subscribers.
Each digital touchpoint should display the correct savings percentage based on a customer’s eligibility.
Objective 03
Strengthen customer satisfaction
Customer Service has surfaced recurring pain points from existing users and identified key moments of friction in the onboarding experience. Before expanding into new markets, Common Energy wants to address these issues to avoid scaling inefficiencies and prevent further strain on support teams.
Many users abandon the sign-up process, often citing that it feels too long or requires too much information.
Reduce the number of steps and simplify the amount of information requested during enrollment.
Prevent Incorrect Customer Data
Customers sometimes submit incorrect information, requiring manual outreach from the support team.
Set up automated emails triggered by errors to guide users in correcting their own information.
Expand the Nurture Campaign
Customers waiting 3–6 months for their solar project to go live often disengage due to lack of communication.
Build a more robust nurture campaign to keep users informed and engaged throughout the waiting period.
Introduce an Offboarding Experience
Customers who leave the program report a lack of communication or closure after their departure.
Create a lightweight offboarding campaign to leave a positive final impression and encourage future re-engagement.
Ground Work
Laying a foundation with personas, journey maps, wireframes, and AI-assisted messaging ensured alignment with core objectives before shaping the final experience through design
Defining user personas
Example user personas were developed to reflect the diverse customers engaging with community solar. These helped test how the sign-up flow, emails, and portal performed across different demographics, utilities, and income levels. By simulating real needs and constraints, personas revealed friction points and ensured the experience worked for everyone—from low-to-moderate income participants to residents in new state markets.
Mapping customer journeys
A complete overview of customer touchpoints was mapped to understand the full experience from sign-up to ongoing engagement. User personas were applied to audit these flows and identify potential friction points, given that timelines did not allow for live user testing. Using Miro made it possible to quickly create, adjust, and refine the maps as insights emerged.
Sign-Up Flow Map
Visualizes the different paths users take based on state, utility provider, income level, or customer type, along with points where documents must be uploaded or signed. Mapping these steps highlighted pain points that previously caused drop-offs and confusion, guiding solutions to streamline the process and reduce errors.
Email Journey Map
Outlines how customers are engaged through emails over time, from project status updates to requests for corrected information. This overview revealed gaps in consistency and transparency, helping address complaints about unclear communication and long wait periods.
Stay tuned...Creative deliverables in progress
Full case study update arriving this September
