AirCycle Project

Livewell knew they had a good business idea, but also knew they were failing in one critical area – communicating with the customer. Heating and air technicians were running air quality tests in customer homes providing them with a wealth of information on how healthy their home air was to breath. But the report they had created was fatally flawed.

Here's what the original report looked like:

Key Problem Areas

I realized they had really good content, but it was presented in a poor way:

1. customers had to really scour the report to find their personal results
2. the graphs were hard to read and understand
3. the text was small, cramped, and not easy to read
4. problem areas were therefore easy to miss

Plan of Action

My redesign of the report made a few simple but highly effective changes to the formatting. When coupled with a new type of graph that was clear and easy to read, the new report hit a home run with the technicians and the customers. Home owners could quickly see their air quality results and know what needed attention, which made the technician's sales job easier.

Putting Personal Results At the Top

First, I consolidated the results of the report into one simple section, giving the customer a clear understanding of which parts of the report were good, what parts needed attention, and what parts were borderline between the two. I put this at the top of the report.

Dial Instead of Chart

Next, I changed out the graph for something easier to read and understand. Instead of the bar chart on the left I created a dial instead, which lets all pertinent information be seen clearly. I also used three different subtle ways to reinforce the acceptable range — the green area of the dial, the blue section next to the green, and the descriptive phrase that says "Acceptable Range Less Than 6ppm."

Simplifying Each Section

After that, I made some changes to the section of the report specific to each test. Because I grouped all the customer’s results at the top of the report, I could take that out here. I also removed the recommended actions, letting the technician make his sales pitch for the parts of the report where the customer could purchase a product or service that would bring their air quality back to an acceptable range. Finally, I changed the heading to make it stand out more and, for further clarity, reiterated if this part was good, marginal, or needs attention.

New Report Format

Wrapping things up, I reordered the test results so the most dangerous item (carbon monoxide) was always shown first, followed the rest of the items listed in order from "good" to "needs attention." In the end, the customers felt more enlightened and technicians spent less time explaining, which lead to an extremely happy client!

Below is the report, showing both pages.

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