AGL Website
Creating a Digital Experience for Commercial and Industrial Businesses
Overview
Founded in 1837, AGL is Australia’s largest fully integrated energy utility. In line with the goals of its Climate Transition Action Plan, AGL is focussed on leading the transition to low emissions, for an affordable and smart energy future.
AGL wanted a website uplift to support its commercial and industrial (C&I) business strategy. The uplift would create a platform for the C&I team to showcase their products and tailored solutions to generate new leads and support existing customers.
Working in a team augmentation capacity, Exo Digital assisted the AGL project team with discovery research, workshops, customer interviews and more. Together, we improved the website’s navigation, information architecture and visibility of AGL’s products and solutions.
Following our 6 months of effort and collaboration with AGL, the launch of the new site was met with positive feedback from stakeholders and saw an immediate uplift in web traffic.
Challenge
Exo Digital was engaged to assist AGL to uplift the digital experience for its new and existing commercial and industrial (C&I) customers.
With the website divided into residential and business, one of the main challenges was showcasing the breadth of AGL’s products and solutions to better meet the needs of its business customers.
Our Proposal
- Project Management
- Landscape Review
- Stakeholder Workshops
- Card Sorting
- Information Architecture
- Prototyping
- Concept Testing
- Content Modelling
- Content Writing
Exo Digital recommended a team augmentation approach to provide visual and content design expertise that would unlock in-depth discovery and build out the project team.
To set up the project for success, we proposed a team consisting of UX & UI designers, a content strategist and a project manager.
Starting with usability research, we recommended mapping out existing site navigation, a heuristic review of the existing website and a competitor analysis. Following from that, Exo Digital would work alongside the AGL project team to deliver the project within the required timeframe.
Given the number of stakeholders involved, we introduced a hybrid project management approach to allow flexibility and ensure we hit the timeline.
The Solution
01.
Research
Discovery for the AGL C&I website IA included several research activities including desk and user research. This approach enabled Exo Digital to collect industry-relevant data and flesh out a scope that catered to business requirements and user needs.
02.
Content Design
Showcasing AGL products that addressed the needs and goals of C&I customers was key. Together with AGL, we workshopped business direction and purpose to ensure webpage copy provided value and relevance.
03.
Technology Compatibility
AGL provided parameters around its technology limitations including what feature developments were out of scope. Working within the parameters, Exo Digital created screen designs that were compatible with the available technology.
04.
Project Management
To manage multiple stakeholder priorities, we introduced a hybrid project management model. This approach provided flexibility and enabled continuous progress tracking.
Consulting
Hybrid Project Management
AGL Business has many stakeholders with complex priorities. A waterfall approach enables understanding of long term vision and goals to manage scope and budget, while the Agile method helps to provide visibility with the stakeholders and validate the project needs and goals. Exo Digital combined the two models, to enable AGL to implement a clear plan, while also allowing for much-needed flexibility.
Managing Priorities
Exo Digital brought stakeholders together to align priorities and work towards the same goal. To strengthen the communication, we implemented ceremonies including:
- Daily stand-ups with the working group
- Weekly project updates with the wider group
- Feedback loop with team leads
- Fortnightly presentation to stakeholders
These regular check-ins ensured progress was underway, addressed critical blockers and adapted any changes where required.
UI & UX Design
Research
Exo Digital kicked off research by mapping out existing site navigation, a heuristic review of the existing website and a competitor analysis. This was followed by requirement gathering through interviews with members of the various service teams within AGL such as solar, marketing, electricity, etc. The research fed into card sorting sessions with AGL business customers.
Existing Site Map and Navigation
In working out problem areas with the existing information architecture of the AGL business website, we compared the intended site map to the user experience when navigating the website.
Heuristic Review
A heuristic review of the website was conducted using Nielsen's usability heuristics to identify usability issues on the website. The findings were compiled into areas such as ‘Navigation’, ‘Content’, ‘Composition’, etc.
Competitor Analysis
We carried out competitor analysis using the areas identified in the heuristic review as a template. We researched 6 direct competitors and 1 indirect competitor in this exercise.
Requirement Gathering
Once we completed independent research, we approached AGL stakeholders to understand business needs. We conducted a series of interviews with members of different business units within AGL and concluded requirement gathering with two value mapping workshops.
Card Sorting and IA
The data from our independent research and requirement gathering sessions fed into moderated open card sorting sessions with AGL customers. The outcome of the card sort resulted in the construction of a new IA for the AGL C&I website.
Wireframes to Screen Design
Combining the IA and content strategy efforts, we kicked off design work with wireframes.
Approaching each page of design from a content-first approach, we explored the new design system created for the business part of the website.
Exo Digital owned the visual design process and led the creation of scalable and cross functional components to sit within the new design system. Through the screen designs, we provided visual representations of the narrative for each page.
Content Creation
Content Structure
For each page, new content was required to shape the offering for AGL’s C&I customers. To ensure we captured the vision of each product offering, we workshopped the purpose and direction of each page with stakeholders. In these workshops, any gaps in information were also identified.
Adherence to Brand Voice
Although an extension of the residential tone of voice, the C&I tone of voice needed to differentiate itself to target the relevant audience.
Taking inspiration from the residential tone of voice, Exo Digital provided parameters for the C&I tone of voice. This ensured all copy for the new C&I webpages were consistent with AGL’s personality and spoke to the C&I target audience.
The Result
“Thank you Exo Digital from the bottom of my heart. This has been a mammoth task and we have made it through. My deepest gratitude for the collaboration, resilience, attention to detail and utmost care to deliver this project. I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Meera P.
Senior Experience Design & Research Manager, AGL
“Thank you all for your work on this important project. A big part of the initiative was the design ambition. Thank you for your stewardship on many aspects of this project, including those aligned to your craft and on the leadership front.”
Alessio B.
Head of Product Development, AGL