Jotson – an energy management app

How opportunity trees unlocked a utility comparison feature for 1k+ homeowners

  • STRATEGY
  • RESEARCH
  • PRODUCT DESIGN
Screen recording of the Contract Comparison Toolkit I designed together with another designer

tl;dr

I led research and shaped the customer discovery strategy for Jotson, an early-stage energy management app.

It turned into a focused roadmap which led to the design of the Utility Contract Comparison Toolkit product feature that helped the team reach their first 1,000 users.

impact

APP SUBSCRIBERS
1k+
Surpassed the brand’s goal of 1k subscribers by the end of 2024
USABILITY IMPROVEMENTS
9x
Significant improvements to app flow, usability, and new product features
PRODUCT TOOLKIT
+1
Designed a new product feature that led to 1k+ new users
Screen recording of the new Analytics section with richer data breakdown, color coded for easier distinction and improved functionality
Onboarding screenOnboarding
HQ screenHQ
Analytics screenAnalytics
Resources screenResources
Toolkit screenToolkit
Improvements made on the user experience and interface design based on research findings

Breakdown

01—

Speak the language. Get buy-in.

When I joined, leadership was still working out who they were building for and had no structured way to validate it. I built a customer discovery roadmap and put it in a format they already used every day. This got me buy-in that helped shape everything that came after.

Opportunity tree structure
02—

Narrow the focus

That roadmap became the foundation for a comprehensive opportunity tree structure.

It mapped potential user outcomes, behaviors and actions needed to arrive there, and where product interventions can support those actions.

03—

Max efforts, minimal means

Budget was tight. Given the constraints, I proposed a lean research strategy and ran a structured qualitative study between December 2023 to mid-2024.

  • Backyard FGT (Focus Group Testing) – Reached out to friends & family for initial user insights
  • Roadshows & field research – On-site interviews in Canmore, a community already transitioning to carbon-zero
  • User interviews – Invited and interviewed early access users
Original app HQ — beforeOriginal app HQ — before
BEFORE
Redesigned app HQ — afterRedesigned app HQ — after
AFTER
04—

Key insights & design implications

1. Legibility & data visualization issues

  • Older users increased font sizes on their phones, causing data visualizations to break and run off-screen
  • To address the aspect ratios issues we set it to fixed font sizes and preserve readability
  • While not a perfect fix it signaled to the team the need for better accessibility as development progresses

2. Carbon footprint confusion

  • Users didn’t understand if their carbon footprint score was “good” or “bad”
  • We introduced benchmarks to provide clearer insights

3. Cost savings as the primary driver

  • Unsurprising, users cared most about how much money they could save
  • This led to the utility contract comparison tool, a feature that helped users find the most cost-effective energy plan
Utility contract comparison feature

Learnings

Impact & measurable outcomes

Short-term impact:

  • The customer discovery roadmap became an ongoing reference for product planning
  • Prioritized usability fixes improved user experience
  • Jotson gained clarity on user motivations, leading to the contract comparison tool

Long-term impact:

  • Surpassed 1,000 subscribers by late 2024, exceeding the brand’s goals
  • The contract comparison feature became a key growth driver
  • The COO and product owner continues to refer to the opportunity trees for future product direction