Rethinking Heat Smart:
from boilers to heat pumps
UX case study
Overview: This is a UX project I have led at Guru Systems, a B2B company that creates intelligent technology to make energy systems more transparent, lower cost, and lower carbon.
Objective: Redesign the Heat Smart app as a heat pump-focused product.
The process: Competitor research, stakeholder interviews, user interviews, affinity mapping, ideation, user testing, handover
My role: UX Designer
Team: Worked alongside a Product Manager and the Engineering team
Tools: Figma, Otter, Miro, Jira
Duration: November-December 2022
01. Introduction
What is Guru Heat Smart?
Guru Heat Smart is a web app that allows property managers to fleet manage the heating systems in their homes.
It is accompanied by a device - called the Hub - which acts as a smart thermostat, allowing residents to control their heating.
Therefore Heat Smart has two sets of users: property managers (or 'clients') who use the web platform, and residents (or 'customers') who interact with the Hub.
The objective
The Heat Smart product was originally designed for gas boilers. The objective of this project was to reposition and redesign Heat Smart as a heat pump-focused product.
The team
Product Manager: Contributed to competitor research, interviews, and testing. We also collaborated closely during the final phase of ticket definition.
Engineering team: Regular tech feasibility sessions were held with the Engineering Team. I worked closely with a Frontend developer to whom I provided annotated designs in Miro.
02. Research questions
Question 1: How can we help our client-users monitor and maintain their fleet of heat pumps?
Action: Interview clients to uncover client needs and requirements.
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Question 2: How can we make the heat pump experience a positive one for residents?
Action: Interview heat pump users to learn about their experience and uncover pain points.
03. Key challenges
1: Heat pumps are a brand new space for our client users, therefore we can’t expect them to give us the answers we need.
Solution: Interview heat pump experts to predict users’ needs.
2: Tight timeline. Had to learn a lot about heat pumps, quickly!
Solution: Utilise interviews to gain key insights on heat pumps and how they compare to boilers so that our existing design patterns can be reutilised as much as possible.
04. Research findings
Understanding the client
Who I interviewed: heat pump installers, designers, and consultants
Research goal: Understand the needs and pain points of client users responsible for maintaining a fleet of heat pumps
Key findings:
Client users will need to monitor the performance of their heat pumps.
They will require visibility over the average Coefficient of performance (aka COP) as a crucial metric for heat pump efficiency
Educating residents on the effective use of heat pumps is likely to be a major challenge
Incorrect usage of heat pumps by residents can lead to higher bills and result in dissatisfaction among residents.
Snapshot of user interviews documented in Miro.
Understanding the residents
Who I interviewed: heat pump users
Research goal: Uncover heating behaviours, heat pump controls, pain points, impact on bills, and how heat pumps compare to boilers
Key findings:
Longer heating cycles are the biggest pain points - it takes longer for the heating to reach the resident’s desired temperature
Holiday mode is the most important feature
Tracking usage was mentioned as a helpful feature.
Snapshot of user interviews documented in Miro.
Quotes from user interviews
“When it comes to heat pumps, the housing provider needs to do 2 things: 1) educate the residents, and 2) keep an eye on the coefficient of performance.”
— Heat pump expert
“Once I went away for a few days and turned the heating off. I came back to a very cold house. It took ages to get it back to a normal temperature. With a heat pump, you need to plan ahead.”
— Resident & heat pump user no.2
“The biggest problem with a heat pump is how long it takes to reach the desired temperature.”
— Resident & heat pump user no.1
05. Solving the problem
Heat Smart web app (client-facing)
Monitoring heat pump performance
The following designs allow the client user to monitor:
Average COP for all heat pumps present on a single site (one heat pump per dwelling)
Average COP for a heat pump located in a specific dwelling
Both average and instant COP for a heat pump in a specific dwelling.
Client user flow: monitoring COP
Monitoring COP for the heat pumps present on site
Monitoring average COP value for a dwelling
Monitoring average and instant COP value for a dwelling
The Hub (Resident-facing)
Controlling the heat pump and its consumption
The following designs allow the resident user to:
Change their desired temperature for a specific time frame (holiday mode)
View their heat pump consumption
Be reminded of the longer heating cycle at the right time, for example:
when choosing the timeframe for holiday mode,
when turning the heating off.
These reminders also fulfill a crucial client requirement - educating residents on how to use their heat pump correctly.
Hub home screen
Enabling holiday mode
Holiday mode - info tooltip
Heat pump consumption graph
Informative modal - turning the heating off
6. User testing insights & next steps
During the user testing phase, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with users expressing satisfaction with the prototype’s functionality and ease of use.
One notable aspect that users responded well to was the inclusion of informative tooltips and modal warnings regarding the longer heating cycles of the heat pump. These features were praised for enhancing the user experience by providing clarity and guidance.
An interesting observation came from a user who made an ironic comment about the term 'holiday mode,' noting that not everyone gets the opportunity to go on holiday frequently. In response to this valuable feedback, we decided to rename 'holiday mode' to 'away mode,' aligning with our commitment to inclusivity and ensuring that all users feel represented.
While most users appreciated the consumption graph displaying energy usage in kWh, some expressed a desire to see how this usage translated into cost. Recognising the importance of this feature, we added it to our list of future improvements.
Quotes from usability testing participants
"Ah, 'Holiday mode’… Seems handy. Though, unfortunately, I don't find myself on holiday too often."
“It’s helpful to know exactly when the heating will come back on; it typically takes quite a few hours for the house to reach a comfortable warmth again."
(after reading the info tooltip).”Ah, that’s a great insight - I didn’t know that!”
Snapshot of user testing findings documented in Miro.