Challenge

As a new entrant to the heating & cooling space NextGen Aire faced strong competition from established players with big budgets and well known brands.

Approach

Research

Methods

Competitive Audit, Market Research, Customer surveys, Customer interviews, Field Observation, Web Heat Mapping & recordings

Insights

Research uncovered a common feeling of discontentment among customers when dealing with existing contractors. Often feeling that their time and homes were not respected. There was a lack of trust in the service being provided. Customers indicated that they wanted to feel well informed when making a purchasing decision given the great expense.

It was also clear that many competitors brands were undifferentiated in terms of brand aesthetic and digital experience. Websites were often overwhelming, bombarding users with pop-ups or irrelevant content.

Ideation

Methods

Business Model Canvas, Value proposition Canvas, Customer Journey Maps, Customer Personas, Service Blueprint, System Mapping

Insights

During ideation we discovered a few opportunities that would not only help differentiate NextGen Aire but also surprise and delight their customers. Journey maps allowed us to see pain points that aligned with issues uncovered in my research including trust in the field technician, lack of info during the pre-sales and sales periods supporting a well informed customer decision, and on-site estimate generation saving customers time.

Implementation

With insights from the ideation process I went on to implementation across the critical touchpoints. I started with designing a clean and informative website which supported customer needs without overwhelming them with irrelevant information.

Next, I moved onto the integration of Service Titan, a powerful dispatching and customer management SaaS platform designed for contractors. This allowed NextGen Aire to automate it's dispatch process notifying customers of technician arrival times, text and email introductions to technicians, and feedback surveys.

Finally, to enable on-site estimates we developed a partnership with a local supply warehouse. This allowed for up-to-date pricing and inventory thus making on-site estimates fast, accurate, and reliable.

Outcome

After a 3 month design and implementation period NextGen Aire was able to capture the attention and business of customers under-served by existing offerings. In the quarter following implementation they generated just under $400,000 in gross revenue setting them on track to beat their $1 million first year goal by an additional 20%.