How Arcadia Works
Arcadia’s mission was to realize a 100% renewable energy grid through connecting consumers to renewable energy via their current utility. The problem was that most people didn’t know what brokerage, renewable energy credits (RECs), or community solar was and the subjects themselves were quite complex. Through some research and many other experiments, I found the best way to explain Arcadia was just to explain how to get connected to our service.
Objectives
Problems
– Current and potential Arcadia users weren't sure how it worked
According to our own surveys with current customers and market studies, some respondents couldn’t clearly define the relationship between Arcadia and their energy company. Most of them resonated with our message of “Clean Energy, Save Money”, but the how they got the clean energy or saved money was more muddled in their eyes. Furthermore, there was confusion whether Arcadia or their current utility was the one making sure all the lights were on.
– Energy products are complex and difficult to explain
According to the EPA, A renewable energy certificate, or REC (pronounced: rěk), is a market-based instrument that represents the property rights to the environmental, social and other non-power attributes of renewable electricity generation. Smelling burnt toast yet? Arcadia would purchase these RECs on behalf of the customer for free for up to 50% of their energy bill. Trying to explain this in a short and sweet way while also explaining complex energy products like brokerage, was near impossible and didn’t make them convert.
Solutions
– Research the renewable energy consumer market
Through my research on the consumer energy market, I found a report that stated that consumers interested in renewables were not being matched with products because they simply did not know how to connect outside of installing solar panels on their roof.
– Explain how rather than why
Since users were arriving on a landing page via an ad that spoke on our renewable energy commitment, they did not need to be convinced anymore about wind and solar. I used the how it works section below the hero to explain the steps to creating an account and connecting their utility since it was an already existing content area and it was where users who didn’t immediately convert scrolled next for more information.
Results
95%
13%
Users were significantly more likely to create an account and connect their utility after reading the steps on to how to connect to Arcadia. This language was tested on several other product landing pages and the home page with similar significant increases in conversions.