Thermostat Installation Usability Study

Overview:

With an eye towards the DIY market, Resideo wanted to be sure its latest thermostat wall plate would be easy to install. With two different design variations, I decided a usability test would be the best method to test the thermostat wall plates. I also used the opportunity to also compare Honeywell Home’s installation process with those of its competitors.

Key Goals:

• Discover the positive and negative usability qualities of both Honeywell Home’s and its competitors’ wall plates

• Determine which of two wall plate designs is best suited for a DIY user

My Role:

I managed this project from beginning to end, including setting up the unique testing environment. I also supervised a junior researcher, who provided research support.

Business Impacts:

The research demonstrated that one thermostat was far superior to the other and based on those findings, I made an compelling recommendation in favor of a specific design and the project team moved ahead with this recommendation.

The research also provided the design team insight into the features of a wall plate that increase or decrease usability, which were then incorporated into future wall plate design iterations.

Outcomes & Assets:

The DIY thermostat market depends on an easy to install product, and my wall plate study was instrumental in showing which wall plate design was not only easy to install, but left people confident they had done it correctly. To provide the product teams the evidence they needed to move forward with the “winning” design, I created the following deliverables:

• Usability report with metrics and qualitative feedback

• An analysis of the successful and unsuccessful design features to help future design iterations