Hydro-Thermal is a technology company that provides DSI (Direct Steam Injection) heating solutions for the manufacturing industry. The company is committed to helping its customers save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

Hydro-Thermal wants to create a web application to convert with HYDRO-THERMAL ENERGY SAVINGS CALCULATOR. This web application will allow potential customers to calculate energy savings and ROI from an DSI heating investment.

I am a UX/UI designer, and I was asked by Jeremy, the Vloggi development team, to help improve some of the Vloggi flows that were felt to be lacking. This is where I got involved in this proud project.

UCD is a user-centered design approach. By using UCD, I can understand the needs and wants of users, so I can create tools that are beneficial for HydroThermal and their potential customers.

To create a product that meets Hydro-Thermal’s needs, I conducted in-depth discussions with stakeholders to understand their business problems, target market, goals, and preferences. I actively listened and asked questions to ensure that I understood everything well.

From these discussions, I identified two main challenges that Hydro-Thermal is facing:

• Potential customers have a low understanding of the potential energy savings and ROI from investing in DSI heaters.
• Potential customers are often hesitant to invest in DSI heaters because they are not confident in the potential energy savings and ROI they will receive.

These challenges motivated Hydro-Thermal to create a web application that would help them achieve their goals, such as:

• Helping Hydro-Thermal potential customers to estimate energy savings and ROI from DSI heater investments more easily and accurately.
• Providing potential customers with the information they need to make more informed investment decisions.
• Raising potential customers’ awareness of the potential energy savings and ROI from DSI heater investments.

Hydro-Thermal’s target market is:

• Industrial companies that need heaters to heat liquids, such as water, oil, and gas.
• Companies that have production processes that require precise temperatures, such as food processing, chemical processing, and textile processing.
• Companies that want to save energy and operating costs.

In terms of marketing and business model, Hydro-Thermal uses the following methods:

• Targeted advertising in mass media to specific industries.
• Participation in industry exhibitions and conferences.
• Building relationships with distributors and agents.
• Direct marketing to potential companies.

I understand the challenges of Hydro-Thermal, and I determined innovative solutions that meet their requirements. These solutions are comprehensive and include various features that can help potential customers understand the potential energy savings and ROI of a DSI heater investment.

The general solutions decided in designing the solution for Hydro-Thermal are as follows:

• Use an easy-to-understand and fillable input form by selecting all the commonly used parameters.
• Use an accurate algorithm that takes into account various factors.
• Present the calculation results clearly and concisely.
• Present information about the factors that affect energy savings.
• Display examples of energy savings from actual use cases.
• Provide potential customers with the ability to compare calculation results from various scenarios.
• Provide the option to export calculation data results to PDF or Excel files.
• Require visitors to log in first before they can use the application so that the marketing team can navigate potential customers.
• Make it more responsive on mobile.

These solutions are designed to make it easy for potential customers to use the web application. A well-connected and efficient sitemap and userflow will ensure that potential customers can easily find the information they need and complete the tasks they want.

The initial concept design and A/B testing are important steps to get the right design that meets user needs.

The design process I conducted includes wireframes & flows, lofi prototyping, visual design, illustration and iconography, hifi UI design (mockup), prototyping and interaction design, to design testing.

I followed the layout preferences selected from the A/B testing results and utilized the Hydro-Thermal team’s style guide. This made it easier for the Goal development team to implement it.

To ensure perfect design, I conducted design testing with real customers. The results showed that some parts needed to be improved, such as the use of pre-set English units that were still not familiar to some customers.

Testing showed that most respondents were more familiar with pre-set metric, but there were also a small portion who preferred pre-set English. Therefore, I decided to keep pre-set English by adding the pre-set metric option.

I handed off to the Goal dev team to realize my design and help Hydro-Thermal influence the decisions of its potential customers.

The HYDRO-THERMAL ENERGY SAVINGS CALCULATOR platform successfully increased the conversion rate of potential customers to active customers by 24% in 6 months. This also had a positive impact on sales, as distributors, agents, and marketing teams were more effective and easier to sell Hydro-Thermal products. In addition, the Hydro-Thermal brand is also becoming more trusted and reliable in the eyes of potential customers.

I am excited to be involved in the Hydro-Thermal project. With the achievements that have been achieved, I am confident that Hydro-Thermal will continue to be a reliable and successful company in the future. This also strengthens my relationship with Goal in collaborating to solve challenges outside.