HOW TO BOIL AN EGG

“Two fingers' width of water, lid on the pan and when the water is bubbling, turn off the cooker and use the residual heat”! With this tip, Adolf Ogi taught us how to save energy when boiling eggs. What began as a cooking instruction in 1988 developed into a national mission: Living more energy-efficiently!

To ensure that everyone, from homeowners to CEOs to "Fridays for Future" activists, can find out about the various aspects of energy efficiency and renewable energies, we have restructured and redesigned the Confederation's most important point of contact: the website of EnergieSchweiz.

A website for 8.5 million people

EnergieSchweiz is the first point of contact not only for citizens but also for companies and the public sector when it comes to energy topics. As diverse as the audience is, as diverse have the topics become over time. With one drawback: It became increasingly difficult for users to quickly and easily find information that matches their interests, goals, and needs.

Put the user in the driver's seat 

In addition to the visual redesign, we have revised the navigation concept and the information architecture. Thanks to the new content-driven navigation concept and consistent information architecture, users are back in the driver's seat. They can click and scroll faster and more confidently through the topics, knowing at any time exactly where they are, and what's coming next.

Content-driven navigation

We implemented content-driven navigation and added breadcrumbs at the top of each information page. Breadcrumbs are important for user orientation and guidance, because as our data showed: every second person who starts their search query via google lands directly on an information page. Additionally, we adjusted the content structure of the pages:

• —The detailed knowledge increases from top to bottom.
• —Anchor navigation allows you to jump directly to a specific content block. 
• —Each page type is based on a consistent sequence of content blocks.

Cross-references and inspiration

When users don't find exactly what they're looking for, they tend to close the website. To get them to keep discovering, we've added some inspiration triggers. Besides the breadcrumbs (looking back), users can discover cross-references and related content on each page (looking ahead). Thus, we use several possible paths from their current position to inspire them to stay on the site and keep discovering.

Call-to-action module

Beyond the successful transfer of knowledge, the goal was to get people to take action. Therefore we built a call-to-action module that can be prominently placed on any information page and flexibly customized in the CMS. Users are thus motivated to click to receive contextually relevant guidance on how to plan the next steps towards a more sustainable future.

A complex world made simple

The new website has become a vehicle for an easy drive through the multi-layered and complex world of energy. The content-driven navigation and breadcrumbs add transparency and orientation. And the consistent information hierarchy empowers a fast understanding of how to scan the pages for relevant information. No matter if people want to get a broad overview, delve deeper into a topic, or literally make a change in daily life by taking action – we offer the best way for everyone.

Project facts

Project team