CASE STUDY • Portfolio • Content Strategy & Design • Content Writing • UX Writing
Palmetto customer support center
Palmetto solar’s mission to ‘democratize clean energy’ centered on tech-enablement solutions that allowed us to expand our reach while reducing costs for customers.
To efficiently scale our customer experience without compromising on quality, accuracy, or personalization, we needed to systemize and automate key aspects of customer support.
ROLE
Project Lead • Information Architecture • UX Research • Copywriting • Content Governance • Customer Journey
COMPANY
Palmetto
TEAMS
Content • Product • UX Design • Customer Experience
YEARS
2022-2023
“We are continually focused on reinventing the clean technology sector and bringing innovation through software, fulfillment, customer service and structured finance.”
Chris Kemper, CEO and Founder of Palmetto, in Solar Power World 2019: ‘Energy Impact Partners invest $20 million in Palmetto Clean Technology’
CHALLENGE //
As our customer base grew, so did the demand for support.
Our Customer Experience Team was unable to meet the forecasted volume, but a corresponding increase in staff would increase the cost to customers.
Access One-Click Customer Support
Have a question? Our dedicated Customer Experience Team is just one click away.
Chat, email, or call for support—we’ll have your details on hand and be ready to help.
Palmetto copy by Trystin Sova
OPPORTUNITY //
More customers: More data.
Teams across the company were tracking valuable insights on the Palmetto customer journey.
We could aggregate their findings to improve the customer experience.
OBJECTIVES //
Educate and empower customers with timely and accurate information.
Integrate self-service content to preempt questions, pain points, and concerns.
METRICS //
Increase: NPS scores • Customer reviews • Pull-through rates • Fulfillment rates
Decrease: Support inquiries • Escalation and retention cases • Cancellations
DESIGN // RESEARCH
We began with a competitive analysis, gathering ideas from websites, support centers, and user flows. Working with Product and UX, we then defined the structure, features, and capabilities for an early Support Center design.
Lo-fi wireframe of the Support Center design
DESIGN // FEATURES
Search functionality
Intuitive content hierarchy
Persistent side navigation
Breadcrumbs
Responsive design
Customer feedback
Delayed CTA for Customer Support
CONTENT // RESEARCH
CONTENT // INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Through brainstorming and research, I compiled ideas for a comprehensive support center. I structured the content into categories, subcategories, and articles, then collaborated with stakeholders to prioritize topics and finalize the information architecture.
CONTENT // CATEGORIES
Solar & Storage Basics
Solar Process
Solar Financing & Incentives
Palmetto Account & App
System Performance
Service & Troubleshooting
CONTENT // CHALLENGE
Our Support Center needed to accommodate variations in the customer experience, including entry point, timing, sequence, requirements, and flow.
PROJECT //
MVP Launch
Minimum Viable Product
-
I secured approval to move forward with the project. My goal was to launch a functionally complete support center within one business quarter.
-
Prioritize and map content to pivotal steps in the solar journey.
Create a resource page for each step, with support articles and FAQs.
Sequence and schedule launches to ensure a cohesive customer experience.
Integrate support content across the website, app, and customer communications.
-
14 customer support articles
Three resource pages
Consumer website, app, and communications updates
PROJECT // FRAMEWORK
The solar process can feel long and complicated, with numerous requirements between accepting a proposal and enjoying the benefits of solar.
In 2021, we created a short video to orient customers to the process, simplifying the requirements into three major steps. These provided the framework for the project.
Script: Trystin Sova | Motion content: Duke & Duck
STEP 1: Proposal to Contract
STEP 2: Contract to Installation
STEP 3: Installation to Power
PROJECT // MANAGEMENT
For each step, I needed to:
Define the articles, FAQs, and resources to include
Write or assign the content, working with stakeholders and SMEs
Manage content, stakeholder, and legal reviews
Build a step-specific resource page
Publish the support articles, resource page, and related website updates
Write, edit, and approve consumer app and communications updates to integrate the content into the Palmetto customer journey
I developed a sitemap and wireframes to visualize the website updates, then created a template for the new resource pages using UI components defined by Product and UX.
Basic Gantt chart of the project timing and workflow
Tracking spreadsheet with article titles, categories, links, and reviews
WEBSITE // SUPPORT CENTER
We added ‘Support’ to the top and bottom navigation of the website, routing users to a homepage where they could search or browse for topics.
Palmetto Support Center homepage
Palmetto Support Center article
WEBSITE // RESOURCE PAGES
Each step-specific resource page included new support articles and FAQs, a collection of blogs and resources, and links to other steps.
We also added a ‘Resources’ page with quick access to the steps, Support Center, blogs, and other educational content.
Step 2
Step 3
Step 1
WEBSITE // CONTENT
Page: Step 1 | Section: Header
Page: Step 1 | Section: Articles
Page: Step 1 | Section: Blogs and resources
Page: Step 1 | Section: Other steps
Page: Step 2 | Section: Header
Page: Step 2 | Section: Articles
Page: Step 3 | Section: Header
Page: Step 3 | Section: Articles
Page: Step 3 | Section: FAQs
Page: Steps 1 and 3 | Section: FAQs
Page: Resources | Section: Process and steps
Page: Resources | Section: Blogs and support
INTEGRATION // APPROACH
Once the content was live, we integrated links across the app, sms, and email content—empowering customers with timely and accurate information specific to the status of their project.
INTEGRATION // CONTENT HIERARCHY
The content was structured in layers to prioritize critical information and CTAs, but invite further engagement. It also served to bridge lulls in the Palmetto customer journey.
INTEGRATION // DYNAMIC CONTENT
In some cases, like the welcome email, we included dynamic links to account for variations between trigger and project status.
The welcome email included a dynamic link to Step 1 or Step 2 content, depending on the status of the project.
INTEGRATION // CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Throughout the project, I worked closely with the Customer Experience team to ensure visibility and alignment across customer support touchpoints.
The content was integrated into phone, chat, and email responses, creating efficiencies in the support process.
We integrated self-service content into the website and mobile chat.
DISTRIBUTION //
I announced the support center to the broader Palmetto team as a company-wide resource and ongoing initiative. To support the announcement, I created an internal content library and a standard operating procedure (SOP) for contributing to future updates. This allowed anyone at the company to:
View published and in-progress Customer Support articles
Request urgent or future updates
Suggest or endorse new content
Volunteer as a contributor or SME
Customer Support is live!
This was a BIG team effort. Thank you to everyone who helped inform, write, edit, and publish this content.
IMPACT //
By the end of 2023, our customer support content had doubled to include 32 articles spanning six categories and fifteen subcategories.
While the customer support center was one of many initiatives to improve the customer experience, it contributed to higher customer satisfaction and fulfillment rates while alleviating the strain on support.
Customer review submitted on energysage.com