DESIGN

Building markets for SMARTER HEATING

Why the Danfoss Eco™ App-thermostat sells surprisingly well

Help us to design a user-friendly Danfoss Eco™ App-thermostat, that resonates with mainstream consumers in Europe. This was the brief design-people got from Danfoss Heating, when asked to help on extending Danfoss Smartheating product portfolio.

“At Danfoss we love to create brilliant solutions for our end-users. The aim for Danfoss Eco™ was first and foremost to create a mass-market IoT product that would ensure both home comfort and large energy savings for regular consumers.”

— Morten Kofod, Strategic Project Manager at Danfoss Heating

Familiar and straightforward design
As Danfoss Eco™ is destined at a broad market, it is meant to meet consumers who are not super-users of smart home products. Therefor the design team focused on accessibility and encouraging first time use of the solution. Both the thermostat design and the App look intentionally familiar – a first time user will perceive an uncomplicated and straightforward solution:

“design-people were involved in the physical product design and the app-interface. Their contribution to both parts of the solution gave a very holistic result: the designs of the thermostat and the app are clearly integrated, it’s one solution instead of two products“

— Morten Kofod, Strategic Project Manager at Danfoss Heating

Customer centric design pays off
The sales results confirm that Danfoss hits the sweet spot in the Smart home market. Sales in the launch period exceed expectations more than 3 times. Besides we are proud that the Danfoss Eco has won 2 design awards: A Red dot design award for interaction and UX design and the Danish Design Award in the “public choice” category – underlining it’s broad market appeal.

Behind the scenes: Targeting the mainstream tech-consumer “Johanna”
To ensure the right fit with end-user preferences, the design process evolved around a specific persona: Johanna – a ‘Pragmatic’ tech-user profile. Based on the “Tech User Navigator”, design-people’s segmentation tool, the “Pragmatics” are the largest segment making up 37% of consumers in Europe:
“The female “Pragmatic”, that Danfoss called Joanna, is not a super-user, but a person for whom technology is 2^nd priority. This persona gave the design and marketing teams a common language to work with – creating a solution that is simple enough to be relevant for all consumers, yet smart enough to also attract super-users. design-people assured that the entire customer experience is consistent: from installation, 1.time use to everyday interaction with the product, everything is designed to be as seamless and straightforward as possible.

Get in touch with us to discuss how we can make your Smart IoT product into a similar market success.

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