Review the new designed product checklist, the latest site migration guidance, and a free analytics tool for your websites.
Communication Standards and Guidelines
July 24, 2025
minute read time
Highlighting the latest updates to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Communications Standards & Guidelines website and important pages to note
Today, we’re taking a look at the new designed product checklist, the latest site migration guidance, and a free analytics tool for your websites.
Designed Product Checklist
To ensure your EERE product has been reviewed appropriately, check that it has approval from:
- The EERE technology office subject-matter expert (SME) and director
- The EERE pillar deputy assistant secretary (DAS) or chief of staff (who will coordinate with EERE comms on political leadership review as needed)
- The EERE products and branding team, with confirmation of:
- Correct use of EERE identifier(s)
- Adherence to the EERE branding guidance
- Inclusion of a DOE/EERE publication number.
Remember:
- EERE does not allow the use of nongovernment logos, including private entities and nonprofits. You may reference entities within the content by name only.
- If you are cobranding your product with multiple government logos, refer to the factsheet examples and branding guidelines.
Site Branding and Migration Guidance
We have updated the EERE application template to match the DOE branding. Consider adopting the new application template entirely, but guidance requires that:
- Application sites (ones that have features outside the capability of energy.gov) should be updated to follow the new application template.
- Nonapplication sites (ones without special features) should, at a minimum, follow the latest EERE visual guidelines, which state, “If you have a long-standing website that is already built for brands that will be sunset, you do not need to rebuild or redesign your website. Swapping out the logo and using the approved color palette is sufficient” (p. 17).
As you identify and update these sites, please email the following details to the EERE Digital Team for an EERE external site audit:
- Site name
- URL
- Where it is hosted
- Owner (office(s))
- Contact
- Any special features (logins, special functionality, datasets, etc.).
Although there is no directive to migrate into energy.gov at this time, you should be prepared to respond if asked why any externally-hosted site should continue to live outside of the energy.gov CMS. Consider migrating into energy.gov if there are any concerns regarding the site’s continuance (e.g., finances, support, hosting platform).
Microsoft Clarity Analytics
Clarity is a free, powerful analytics tool that provides heat maps and information on user scrolling behaviors for webpages. It also offers UX features like rage click and dead click tracking, highlighting user frustration points. This tool is available to users signed in to Google with our shared EERE Stats account. Please reach out to the EERE Digital Team for assistance getting started.
Questions?
If you have questions about the new product checklist, please email the EERE Products and Branding Team.
If you have any questions or suggestions related to EERE communications standards or these emails, please reach out to the EERE Comms Standards Team.