UTILITY WAREHOUSE

UTILITY WAREHOUSE

Smart Billing Experience

Designed the digital billing experience at Utility Warehouse to reduce support calls, clarify charges, and introduce AI-powered summaries that help users understand their bills at a glance.

Designed the digital billing experience at Utility Warehouse to reduce support calls, clarify charges, and introduce AI-powered summaries that help users understand their bills at a glance.

Utility Warehouse's Company Vision:

Utility Warehouse's Company Vision

To simplify life for homeowners by providing all essential services under one roof, delivering value, convenience, and exceptional customer experience through seamless integration and innovation.

To simplify life for homeowners by providing all essential services under one roof, delivering value, convenience, and exceptional customer experience through seamless integration and innovation.

My Role

Lead UX Designer

Collaboration

Product

Marketing

Engineering

Data Science

Cross Functional Teams

Strategic Impact

Increased Customer Trust

Reduced Support Calls

Improved Retention

The Challenge

The billing experience was seen as overly complex.

Users had to download a PDF to understand their charges — an outdated and unhelpful format.

The Goal

💡Modernise billing by:

  1. Reducing PDF reliance

  2. Lowering support calls

  3. Giving users a smarter, self-serve experience

We focused on the 70% of customers who check their bill digitally before contacting support.

Prevent or deflect up to 11% of total support calls.

Target impact
Prevent or deflect up to 11% of total support calls.

Target impact

What We Achieved

📉 -27% drop in billing-related support calls

Users were able to find the answers they needed without calling in.

📈 +42% in engagement with billing content

More users interacted with their bill digitally — especially via the new summary and insights view.

💬 +36% improvement in comprehension scores (via usability testing)

Participants reported feeling more confident and clear about what they owed, when, and why.

📱 3x higher interaction with billing via the app

Compared to the previous PDF experience.

What We Achieved

📉 -47% drop in billing-related support calls & 13% of total calls

Users were able to find the answers they needed without calling in.

📈 +42% increase in engagement with billing content

More users interacted with their bill digitally — especially via the new summary and insights view.

💬 +36% improvement in comprehension scores (via usability testing)

Participants reported feeling more confident and clear about what they owed, when, and why.

📱 3x higher interaction with billing via mobile app

Compared to the previous PDF experience.

My Role

Lead UX Designer

Process

Discover

Define

Develop

Deliver

Collaboration

Product

Engineering

Data Science

Cross Functional

Strategic Impact

Increased Customer Trust

Reduced Support Calls

Improved Retention

01 Discover

01 Discover

The first part of the process was to understand our users through comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research.

The first part of the process was to understand our users through comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research.

The first part of the process was to understand our users through comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research.

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Analysing the internal Call Driver Model 2.0

Analysing the Internal Call Driver Model 2.0

As the first step, I analysed our Call Driver Model – which segments customer support calls using OpenAI. These analytics are captured in Looker and revealed that billing queries are the highest call driver.

As the first step, I analysed our Call Driver Model – which segments customer support calls using OpenAI. These analytics are captured in Looker and revealed that billing queries are the highest call driver.

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Call Listening and Transcript Analysis

Call Listening and Transcript Analysis

After identifying Billing as the top call driver, I listened to customer calls to uncover the specific problems users face within the billing journey. I also analysed how call advisors resolved these issues, so we could feed these insights directly into our solution design.

After identifying Billing as the top call driver, I listened to customer calls to uncover the specific problems users face within the billing journey. I also analysed how call advisors resolved these issues, so we could feed these insights directly into our solution design.

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Surveying App Users

Surveying App Users

To better understand user needs, I surveyed app users to learn what they look for on their bill, what confuses them, and why some return to it multiple times in a month.

These insights helped us identify key pain points and areas for improvement.

To better understand user needs, I surveyed app users to learn what they look for on their bill, what confuses them, and why some return to it multiple times in a month.

These insights helped us identify key pain points and areas for improvement.

Evaluating the Current Billing Experience

Evaluating the Current Billing Experience

I conducted a UX audit of the current billing experience following our research phase.

I conducted a UX audit of the current billing experience following our research phase.

After completing the discovery phase and UX audit, I had a clear understanding of the billing experience challenges.

After completing the discovery phase and UX audit, I had a clear understanding of the billing experience challenges.

02 Defining the problem

02 Defining the problem

02 Define

The research helped me thoroughly understand the problem space and identify a clear problem statement:

The research helped me thoroughly understand the problem space and identify a clear problem statement:

Business Opportunity Analysis

Business Opportunity Analysis

To better meet customer needs and reduce billing-related calls, I analysed digital engagement data.

To better meet customer needs and reduce billing-related calls, I analysed digital engagement data.

We found that 70% of customers engage digitally with their bill before calling for help — but still struggle to find the information they need.

We found that 70% of customers engage digitally with their bill before calling for help — but still struggle to find the information they need.

These principles helped us build a smarter, more helpful digital billing experience — tailored to how users actually interact with their bills.

These principles helped us build a smarter, more helpful digital billing experience — tailored to how users actually interact with their bills.

The Vision for a Smarter Billing Experience

The vision for a
Smarter Billing Experience

The Vision for a Smarter Billing Experience

To bring our principles to life, I mapped the ideal customer journey to meet user needs where they are:
receiving a bill ➡️ checking charges ➡️ making a payment.

To bring our principles to life, I mapped the ideal customer journey to meet user needs where they are:
receiving a bill ➡️ checking charges ➡️ making a payment.

How do we get there?

I organised and facilitated a series of workshops to align the team, assess feasibility with developers, and prioritise optiimsations, and landed on the below plan:

I organised and facilitated a series of workshops to align the team, assess feasibility with developers, and prioritise optiimsations, and landed on the below plan:

This roadmap helped us turn strategy into action — shaping a smarter, more supportive billing experience that meets users where they are.

This roadmap helped us turn strategy into action — shaping a smarter, more supportive billing experience that meets users where they are.

  • Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

    Design Solutions

03 Design & Test

With a clear plan in place, I moved into the design phase.

03 Design & Test

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Key Design Decisions

Key Design Decisions

📲 DYNAMIC BILL SUMMARY POP-UPS

📲 DYNAMIC BILL SUMMARY POP-UPS

Research showed customers were confused by fluctuating bills, so we introduced a dynamic journey to explain changes upfront and reduce support calls.

Research showed customers were confused by fluctuating bills, so we introduced a dynamic journey to explain changes upfront and reduce support calls.

With no major issues raised in usability testing, we confidently rolled the design out to a small group of live users.

With no major issues raised in usability testing, we confidently rolled the design out to a small group of live users.

✨ OPTIMISING WITH AI

✨ OPTIMISING WITH AI

While the pop-up journey showed strong results, we saw an opportunity to go further — by using AI to generate personalised bill explanations for users with more complex energy charges.

While the pop-up journey showed strong results, we saw an opportunity to go further — by using AI to generate personalised bill explanations for users with more complex energy charges.

To make sure our AI summaries were trustworthy, we set a goal of 80% accuracy. In early tests, our prompt scored 52% — already twice as good as the baseline. After working closely with billing experts and call centre agents to refine it, we hit 85% accuracy. This gave us the confidence to start scaling the solution, knowing it could reliably explain real customer bill changes.

To make sure our AI summaries were trustworthy, we set a goal of 80% accuracy. In early tests, our prompt scored 52% — already twice as good as the baseline. After working closely with billing experts and call centre agents to refine it, we hit 85% accuracy. This gave us the confidence to start scaling the solution, knowing it could reliably explain real customer bill changes.

📈 IN-APP BILLING INSIGHTS

📈 IN-APP BILLING INSIGHTS

We designed a dedicated “Account Insights” page to surface helpful explanations, comparisons, and recommendations based on each customer’s bill. Key insights like changes in bill amounts & energy usage were also embedded throughout the billing journey to provide value in context.

We designed a dedicated “Account Insights” page to surface helpful explanations, comparisons, and recommendations based on each customer’s bill. Key insights like changes in bill amounts & energy usage were also embedded throughout the billing journey to provide value in context.

Next, we ran user testing to see if billing insights helped customers make sense of their bills.

Next, we ran user testing to see if billing insights helped customers make sense of their bills.

🧭 Adding Billing to the Bottom Navigation

🧭 Adding Billing to the Bottom Navigation

To make billing more accessible, we introduced a dedicated Billing tab in the app’s bottom navigation — positioning it alongside Home, Help and Cashback as a core part of the user experience.

To make billing more accessible, we introduced a dedicated Billing tab in the app’s bottom navigation — positioning it alongside Home, Help and Cashback as a core part of the user experience.

Design Systems Contribution

Design Systems Contribution

Improving Accessibility

Improving Accessibility

I discovered that users with visual impairments found navigation difficult due to poor colour contrast.

I discovered that users with visual impairments found navigation difficult due to poor colour contrast.

04 Deliver

🚚 Delivery Phase: Rolling Out the Digital Bill Summary

To deliver a scalable solution, we broke Concept 1 into iterative, testable experiments. Each variation focused on validating messaging, surfacing insights, and tailoring next steps based on different user needs and billing scenarios.

🚀 Experiment 1a | MVP Launch

Targeted users tapping the “Your bill is ready” notification:

Tested a short, swipe-able summary before the full bill.

This gave us quick signals on clarity and early user behaviour.

Measured:
• Completion rates
• Interactions
• Call deflection potential

🧪Experiment 1b | Multi-service Scalability

Tested the UI with different service bundles:

• Energy
• Broadband
• Cashback

✅ Result: UI scaled well across combinations without losing clarity

🎯 Goal: Ensure insights are clear and easy to read

🤖 Experiment 1c – AI Summaries

Introduced AI-generated explanations for bill changes

Replaced generic help text with contextual, personalised insights

• Comprehension
• Relevance
• Clarity of AI messaging

Tested for:

This helped validate whether AI could explain charges in a more human, helpful way.

🧾 Experiment 1e – Estimated Bills & Cash Payments

Targeted users with estimated readings or cash payment methods

Prompts encouraged:

• Submitting meter readings
• Early payment to avoid large future bills

Helped users stay in control and avoid surprises.

📘 Experiment 1d – Budget Plan Messaging

Added clear “you’re on track” reassurance for Budget Plan users

Aimed to reduce support calls by confirming no action was needed

Reinforced billing confidence with simple, upfront messaging

⚠️ Experiment 1f – Overdue Balances & Payment Plans

Surfaced overdue alerts and active payment plans clearly

Showed what was owed and what would be collected

Aimed to reduce confusion and improve payment confidence

📦 Gradual Rollout Strategy

To ensure stability and collect feedback, we rolled out the feature in phases:

✅ Phase 1: Staff testers

🔟 Phase 2: 10% of energy-only customers

➕ Phase 3: Energy + 1 other service

🌍 Phase 4: Full rollout to all eligible users

This approach helped us:

• Monitor adoption
• Catch edge cases early
• Deliver a more reliable experience at scale

Conclusion & Next Steps

📈 Project Impact

This project delivered a smarter, more supportive billing experience by:

1. Reducing reliance on PDFs

2. Improving bill comprehension

3. Surfacing helpful insights and actions upfront

Through iterative testing, we validated ideas across real billing scenarios and customer types.

Early results show:
📞 -27% drop in billing-related support calls

📊 +42% increase in engagement with billing content

🙋 +36% improvement in comprehension scores (via usability testing)

Looking ahead, our next steps include:

  • Expanding service coverage to bundle customers and additional billing types (e.g. prepay or multi-property).

  • Refining AI-powered summaries to make them even more personalised and context-aware.

  • Building an insights history view so customers can track past changes or trends.

  • Collaborating with ops and support teams to feed customer behaviours and FAQs into ongoing improvements.

The foundation is now in place to evolve billing from a static document into a dynamic, supportive experience — helping customers feel more informed, in control, and confident managing their accounts.

Reflections

Reflections

What Went Well

What Went Well

  • Incremental delivery de-risked the experience
    Breaking the work into focused experiments meant we could test hypotheses safely, respond to feedback quickly, and avoid major surprises during scale-up.

  • Incremental delivery de-risked the experience
    Breaking the work into focused experiments meant we could test hypotheses safely, respond to feedback quickly, and avoid major surprises during scale-up.

  • Early qualitative feedback validated the need
    Customer testing and stakeholder demos confirmed that the previous PDF-led experience lacked clarity and guidance — giving us confidence in our direction.

  • Early qualitative feedback validated the need
    Customer testing and stakeholder demos confirmed that the previous PDF-led experience lacked clarity and guidance — giving us confidence in our direction.

  • Reusable patterns were established
    Components like insight cards, accordion summaries and inline banners are now part of the design system — making it easier to scale consistent messaging and layouts across account areas.

  • Reusable patterns were established
    Components like insight cards, accordion summaries and inline banners are now part of the design system — making it easier to scale consistent messaging and layouts across account areas.

What Could Be Improved

What Could Be Improved

  • Handling Edge Cases – Some users encountered edge cases that were not fully addressed in initial prototypes. Expanding test scenarios and including more diverse user paths could help identify and resolve these issues earlier.

  • Handling Edge Cases – Some users encountered edge cases that were not fully addressed in initial prototypes. Expanding test scenarios and including more diverse user paths could help identify and resolve these issues earlier.

  • AI prompt refinement required trial and error
    As this was our first time using AI in the billing experience, getting the right guided prompt to generate clear, accurate summaries took significant iteration. In future, building in more time for prompt design and user testing will help us improve quality from the outset.

  • AI prompt refinement required trial and error
    As this was our first time using AI in the billing experience, getting the right guided prompt to generate clear, accurate summaries took significant iteration. In future, building in more time for prompt design and user testing will help us improve quality from the outset.

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