Context
ShopSolar is one of the leading providers of off-grid, hybrid, portable, and emergency backup solar systems in the United States.
As the company continued to grow, managing customer orders and support operations became increasingly complex. Many customers contacted support teams simply to ask about shipping progress, missing components, installation resources, or order updates.
At the same time, internal teams were manually tracking fulfillment statuses across multiple components and shipments, creating operational overhead and slowing down customer support workflows.
To help streamline operations and improve customer experience, ShopSolar partnered with Rappid Software to explore a more scalable digital solution.
The goal was to create a centralized experience that improved transparency for customers while reducing repetitive operational tasks for internal teams.
Complex solar orders were creating confusion for customers and extra work for internal teams.
Unlike traditional e-commerce products, solar orders are highly complex. A single order may include multiple components, separate shipments, installation documents, technical resources, and custom configurations tied to a customer’s energy needs.
Customer Challenges
Customers frequently struggled with unclear shipping updates, fragmented tracking information, difficulty accessing wiring diagrams, and uncertainty around order progress.
As a result, support teams received a high volume of repetitive inquiries related to order statuses and shipment tracking.
Operational Challenges
Internally, teams were manually managing order tracking, shipment coordination, draft order reviews, and resource distribution.
This process became increasingly difficult to scale as order volume grew.
The biggest issue wasn’t only operational inefficiency.
It was the lack of visibility across the customer journey.
The Solution
Designing a smarter customer experience for complex solar orders.
ShopSolar is one of the leading providers of off-grid, hybrid, portable, and emergency backup solar systems in the United States.
As the company continued to grow, managing customer orders and support operations became increasingly complex. Many customers contacted support teams simply to ask about shipping progress, missing components, installation resources, or order updates.
At the same time, internal teams were manually tracking fulfillment statuses across multiple components and shipments, creating operational overhead and slowing down customer support workflows.
To help streamline operations and improve customer experience, ShopSolar partnered with Rappid Software to explore a more scalable digital solution.
Create a centralized experience that improves transparency for customers while reducing repetitive operational tasks for internal teams.
Creating a More Transparent & Self-Service Journey
The customer-facing experience was designed to simplify both pre-purchase and post-purchase interactions.
Review and complete draft orders
Track order and shipment statuses
Access order history and technical resources
Download wiring diagrams and setup documents
Access PV platform tools and educational resources
Streamlining Internal Operations
Alongside the customer portal, the platform also required a robust internal dashboard to support operational workflows.
Managing Complex Fulfillment
Managing solar fulfillment involved coordinating multiple moving parts, including partial shipments, kit components, order statuses, digital assets, and customer-specific technical resources.
Centralized Workspace
The Admin Dashboard provided internal teams with one place to manage order lists, specify kit components, upload assets, assign tracking numbers, monitor component-level shipment statuses, and review draft orders before completion.
Administrators could also assist customers by initiating order completion workflows when necessary.
Design approach
One of the largest design challenges was balancing technical depth with usability.
Solar systems naturally involve a large amount of detailed information, but exposing everything at once created cognitive overload for users.
Instead of overwhelming users with technical complexity immediately, the interface guided them progressively based on what they needed at each stage of their journey.
Progressive Disclosure
Information was revealed progressively to reduce overwhelm and help users focus on the most relevant actions first.
Modular Dashboard Layouts
Content and operational data were grouped into manageable sections to improve scanning and navigation efficiency.
Clearer Visual Hierarchy
Status indicators, spacing, typography, and layout structure helped prioritize critical information more clearly.
Visual direction
Designing a modern, approachable operational experience
The visual system focused on making operational workflows feel modern, approachable, and easy to scan.
The goal was to avoid making the platform feel like a complicated backend system. Instead, the experience aimed to create a stronger sense of confidence, transparency, and usability for both customers and internal teams.
Collaboration & Iteration
Sharing early to align faster
The project involved close collaboration with stakeholders and developers throughout the process.
Workflow explorations
Wireframes
Dashboard concepts
Layout directions
Interaction discussions
Rather than waiting until designs were fully polished, I shared ideas early to align teams faster, gather feedback earlier, and validate operational requirements before development.
Outcomes & Impacts
Building a more scalable and transparent support experience
The proposed solution aimed to create a more scalable support ecosystem for ShopSolar by improving transparency across both customer-facing and internal operational workflows.
By centralizing order visibility and technical resources, the platform helped reduce friction throughout the solar purchasing journey while supporting more efficient internal operations.
Complex products don’t need to feel complicated.
