NoteThis case study includes designs, research findings, and internal decisions. Sensitive images are blurred or omitted to respect client privacy.
Overview
GM Energy's first step into ecommerce, taking their home energy management system (HEMS) line from no digital presence to a launched, financed, installable commerce experience, and building the research practice that keeps improving it.
Impact
- Took GM Energy from zero to a launched commerce experienceDefined what the experience should be: service blueprint, personas, journeys. Then carried it through wireframes, sprint delivery, and launch: configurable bundles, financing inside checkout, installation scheduling, and account management.
- Unified purchase, financing, and installation into one checkoutTook what began as a hand-off between GM Energy, GM Financial, and the install partner and integrated it into a single flow: purchasing the products, financing them with installation, and quoting the install in one process, so the customer is never passed back and forth. One of the hardest problems in the project, and it took many iterations to get right.
- Established the research framework for validation testingEvery study still starts from the frame I set: what we're asking, why, what the result should tell us, and how the answer drives the design decision. I guided our senior UX designer through the first studies, then partnered on testing and synthesis as the practice matured into the process the team runs today.
The major tracks
One engagement with several workstreams running at once, from 2022 through launch and after.
The challenge
In fall 2022, home energy management systems were an emerging category and GM was entering it for the first time. There was no ecommerce presence, no established journey, and no agreed definition of who the customer was. It started as a service design engagement: define how GM Energy should engage with and serve its customers, work out the systems and processes that would take, and produce the roadmap for building it.
Who we designed for
Tech BuilderMarkusEfficiency-minded project manager, frustrated by outages. Wants visibility and control over home energy, considering an EV.
Shiny EliteTomFinance executive and GM EV owner who wants the best of the best: premium products, reliable through blackouts.
Smart TechFionaResearch-driven Lyriq owner weighing solar and backup power. Values usability, warranties, and the best possible deal.
Smart & SafeRhondaEducator nearing retirement in blackout-prone Florida. Wants dependable backup power and expert guidance, no EV interest.
We created the first personas from the closest customer types that already existed: solar buyers and backup-generator owners, the people most likely to resemble a HEMS customer. We validated them with stakeholder interviews, secondary research and segmentation research, then kept refining them for three years against sentiment pulled from every usability study.
We discovered early on a group of buyers, represented by Rhonda, that may not be interested in EVs at all: people who want home energy security because extreme weather keeps knocking their power out. For a company built around vehicles, that meant customers who would never arrive through vehicle sales.
Understanding the customer journey
Each persona enters differently. Rhonda buys home energy only, Tom arrives after an EV purchase, Markus goes the other way, and Fiona buys both at once. Their routes resolve into three journeys — HEMS, EV, and a combined one — same underlying map, different touchpoints, different order of events.
The foundation
Every track above uses the same service blueprint and journey system, built in 2022 and revised continuously since. On the commerce journey alone: 67 moments mapped across 12 touchpoints, 46 features carried into the approved roadmap, and 23+ usability tests run against it.
Product education
Education was an overarching theme for the site. The home page leads with video, a tabbed explainer that walks through each use case, and lifestyle imagery that shows how the products look and feel in a real home, so customers can picture them in their own. That education carries through the whole site, from the home page down to the product detail pages, moving from a high-level understanding to the details. The goal was for customers to imagine life with GM Energy and make the decision to own it emotionally, before price enters the picture. By the time they reach installation quoting and financing, the question is no longer whether they want it, it is how to arrange payment.
By teaching how it works instead of leading with specifications, the homepage shifts how people see an EV: not just transportation, but a power source for their home. Carrying that education through the whole journey lowers the barrier to a technology most customers have never shopped for. We also wanted the site itself to be a source of truth for the category. A shopper trying to learn about home backup battery systems should be able to turn to this site, understand the space, and make a better decision on whether a HEMS system is right for them, even if they never buy here. The FAQ and learning content carry that intent, and the goal behind it is simple: when someone thinks of a home battery, we want them to think of GM Energy first.
- Simplifies complex systems. Vehicle-to-home backup power is broken into visual steps a customer can follow, so nobody gets overwhelmed.
- Contextualizes daily use. Specific scenarios, powering the home through a blackout or through peak grid hours, show the real-world value instantly.
- Builds buyer confidence. Installation, utility coordination, and hardware compatibility are explained up front, so those questions are answered before they can stall a purchase.
- Unifies the voice. The same informative tone runs across the homepage, product pages, and support content, so the whole site reads as one trustworthy source.
Outcome
GM Energy went from no ecommerce presence to a launched, financed, installable product experience. What the client kept matters as much as what shipped: a service blueprint the organization still designs against, personas that have held up through three years of evidence, a two-track testing practice feeding every release, an ownership experience worked out as carefully as the sale, and a sales guide in every consultant's hands.
The storefront proved out. Within six months of checkout going live, monthly revenue had more than doubled, and average order value grew 42%, five-figure purchases completed on the site. When a fall campaign push tripled traffic and revenue fell anyway, the gap between visits and intent was the exact question the executive dashboard was built to answer, and it is why I would push to get it off hold.