Connecting A/C client, tech & system creates a path to
address issues early & and keep clients comfortable
Fahrenheit 32 is an air conditioning company in Houston,TX. Their technicians perform repairs, system replacements and seasonal service. The 40 year old company is looking to grow by expanding the experience they can provide their clients via a service app.
This project focused on creating a residential service app for both clients and service techs to communicate together to keep air conditioning systems running at their best and homes a comfortable temperature.
THE PROBLEM
A homeowner who feels disconnected from their A/C system and technician needs to get connected with both but faces a lack of the right tool to do so.
TIMELINE
6 weeks
TEAM
PLATFORM
​2 Stakeholders
1 Researcher
1 Project Manager
18 Users
Mobile
MY ROLE
I began by interviewing eight people who had A/C service in the past year. I collected and synthesized their feedback about their experiences with A/C issues and service. I created a Provisional Persona and Empathy Map to help inform what the user needed going forward. We needed to know a lot more about the perspective of all the party's involved.
UNDERSTANDING THE CLIENT USER
Our goal as a team was to work toward creating an app for home owners that would allow them to communicate directly with their technician, create less stress about their system working and keep their home at a comfortable temperature.
PERSONA
EMPATHY MAP
KEY CLIENT RESEARCH LEARNINGS
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Rip off? You never really know what’s going on with the system and many customers fear getting ripped off
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Is there a system with no issues?
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80% of homes in the U.S. have air conditioning
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In most cases, clients are uncomfortable until urgent repairs are complete
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"The worst time for the A/C to go out is the summer" - Bill, Texas
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
Current State Of
A/C Failure
Challenges
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Slow to repair - wait on tech
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Being uncomfortable until it’s fixed - wait on parts
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​Improvement Opportunities
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Less time to assess what the problem might be & providing a source of cooling in the meantime - faster service time
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Having a line of communication open with a service tech familiar with your system and history - having parts available faster
The Future Of A/C Maintainence
Challenges
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Not all repairs can be made the same day due to parts back orders & location supply
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
I wanted to better understand what Fahrenheit 32 had to offer compared to what's already in market. This chart helped us see that difference.
Ideation, Prototyping & Testing - Client User
Version 1
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HYPOTHESIS: The opening screen on the app is of the four main things a client user can to. We want to see what other things the client user would like to be able to do from the app.
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OUTCOME: After testing with client users, it was clear that they wanted the “Book an Appointment” function to have its own button not an icon. The majority of users appreciated that the list started with “Report an Issue” since that was the button they felt they would use most often.
Client Users also liked the confirmation message letting them know their message was actually delivered to someone.
Version 2
HYPOTHESIS: We wanted to present the Client user with rough fleshed out screens to get their feedback.
OUTCOME:
Client users expressed a desire to have the “Report an Issue” and “Message Tech” to be one button. There were questions around what was different around their uses.
Stakeholders spied the empty space at the bottom of the log in screen and asked to have helpful A/C and energy article links in that space.
Version 3
HYPOTHESIS: For this stage we merged the two buttons: “Report an Issue” and “Message Tech”. Also added links to helpful articles on the log in page.
It was also pointed out in testing that they’re weren’t confirmations in all the places they would be helpful so I added those where needed this time.
OUTCOME: The button merging, helpful articles on the login page and the added confirmation pages were well received. I think we’re ready to move onto a bit more UI design to test next.
KEY CLIENT RESEARCH LEARNINGS
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Clients like to be in the know
and not be caught off guard by costly repairs and uncomfortable temperatures -
Clients like being able to reach out to their technician when they have a concern about their A/C; This is the value add of an app that communicates with the A/C system the tech and the client
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The project changed as we worked on it and we ran out of budget and had to take a pause on moving forward
Understanding The Tech User
I started by interviewing 10 technician users who had been in the A/C business for at least 5 years. I collected their feedback about their experiences with systems they had used at different jobs to track customers and current work assignments. I created a Provisional Persona and Empathy Map to help inform what the technician user needed going forward.
Our goal as a team was to work toward creating an app for technicians that would allow them to monitor changes in an A/C system closely to see changes that could indicate a problem. This would allow for faster fixes and happier client users.
PERSONA
EMPATHY MAP
THE PROBLEM
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An A/C technician who feels frustrated about a lack of connection to A/C system as well as customer needs to get connected but faces not having the right tool.
Ideation & Prototyping & Testing -
Tech User
VERSION 1
HYPOTHESIS: Having a list of reported issues will allow the technician to plan their day and communicate with clients/users when they will arrive to diagnose their system to complete repairs.
OUTCOME: After testing with technicians, we learned the majority prefer a hamburger menu to a bottom menu icons. The top menu allows for a larger button and ease of use with larger hands.
They liked seeing all the issues in a list to see where the day would take them. They liked the map icon for directions and seeing the history of the client’s A/C system.
VERSION 2
HYPOTHESIS: In this round of testing we added the hamburger menu and fleshed out the different screens to see if we had all the information categories desired by the technicians for a good experience.
OUTCOME: After testing with technicians, we learned they agreed that the necessary information was there and easy to find. They felt a place to put in notes for “technicians only” was lacking and wanted to combine “history” and “issue reports” together for less switching.
KEY TECH RESEARCH LEARNINGS
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A way to put the client concerns to rest
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Need a better way to keep track of clients and delegate work
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A way to predict problems before they happen
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“I want to create repeat business by servicing their A/C system and keeping it running well.” -Juan, Texas
KEY LEARNINGS AND TAKEAWAYS
TECH RESEARCH
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When technicians are monitoring an A/C system they can detect and service system issues sooner saving the client user costs and discomfort
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Technicians would like to build a partnership with clients to care for their A/C system and create repeat business
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A real opportunity here to partner with supply houses to create an avenue to have more parts available more of the time
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We're looking forward to building a manager dashboard as well to allow one person to balance workloads and schedule days off