CASE STUDY
Transforming a dormant app into a thriving energy management system
THE CHALLENGE
A large energy company introduced its IoT home energy management app + device system and weren’t getting the customer traction they had anticipated. They decided to work with Peer Insight Ventures to nail the use case and get consumer traction.
THE OUTCOME
In 100 days, we turned a heavily-downloaded but only one-time-use app into a sticky service experience users wanted to engage with over and over. This led to reduced energy usage, and created a secondary revenue stream for our client.
The Problem
Even though the energy management app was built to specs, customers weren’t engaging with it as expected. The product team needed to understand why and fast.
The Approach
- We started with testing our critical make-or-break assumptions about the system directly with users. We identified unmet needs and modeled different early adopter scenarios.
- Within weeks we settled on an ideal Year 1 target customer and customer experience. Meanwhile, we validated pricing and the in-home set-up experience. Once people got the service up-and-running, they tended to stay invested.
- With customer traction, we then designed and tested the business model and outlined the go to market path.
- To truly meet requirements for the connected home at scale, the energy bridge required open APIs, hardware interoperability, and service support that exceeded the scope of a regional power utility. We convened the appropriate third parties and spun the solution out, where it could adapt to evolving homeowner needs while still meeting product team’s goals for proactive energy management and planning.
The Impact
In 100 days, we turned a heavily-downloaded but only one-time-use app into a sticky service experience users wanted to engage with over and over. This led to reduced energy usage, and created a secondary revenue stream for our client.
