Product Design
Rebuilding the booking journey to lift conversions by 10%
The product was strong; the journey wasn't. Tactical experiments on the existing flow while leading research toward a shorter, end-to-end booking experience.
Industry
Health Tech
Discpline
Product Design
Date
42%
Overall Booking conversion
Simplified renewal messaging and clearer package options made it easier for clients to say yes at the point of decision
11%
Faster, friction-free renewals converted more clients before their package lapsed, capturing revenue that previously stalled in a manual process.
3-1
Steps to book a first session
Clients reported a smoother, faster renewal experience once WhatsApp and automated follow-ups replaced manual, inconsistent communication.
Context
Brawn is a B2B2C business. It partners with commercial gym chains such as The Gym Group, whose personal trainers signed members up to small group strength sessions. Trainers earned more and built a bigger client base; Brawn provided the programming and the app clients used to track their training.
The booking journey was the front door to all of it. Every client who dropped out was lost revenue for the trainer, the gym partner and Brawn.
Problem
Each screen worked on its own, but nobody owned the end-to-end experience, so friction built up between steps.
Goals
Business Goals
Lift conversion quickly without waiting for a rebuild; understand exactly where and why clients dropped out; build the evidence for a longer-term, strategic redesign.
User Goals
Understand what I'm signing up for and what it will cost; find a session that suits me; book my first session quickly and confidently.
Challeges
Built as a theme, not a journey
Each screen worked on its own, but nobody owned the end-to-end experience, so friction built up between steps.
Clients were asked for personal details on the first step, before they knew what they were getting or what it cost.
Confusing pricing model
A discounted first session, single sessions and an 8-week block plan were presented across different screens. Clients misunderstood how the trial worked and what they'd pay afterwards.
Uneven session availability
Availability varied a lot from gym to gym. Busy gyms had few slots; quieter ones looked empty, which gave clients no reason to commit.
Solutions
Rather than wait for a full redesign, we tested our way toward it — three hypotheses, from tactical to strategic.
Shorten the journey end to end (strategic) We believe a shorter journey that shows value first, asks for details later and lets clients book a first session before choosing a plan will lift overall conversion. We'll know it worked when end-to-end conversion rises above the 10% baseline and stays there.
Using what we learned from the first two tests, we designed a streamlined flow: choose your gym and time, see the offer and price, pay, then confirm and download the app. Plan selection moved after the first session, when clients had a reason to commit.
Contribution
I ran two tracks in parallel: quick wins on the live journey, and research for a better one.
With conversion this low, waiting months for a redesign wasn't an option. I mapped the existing journey screen by screen with the team, annotating where we believed clients were dropping out and what data we had at each stage.
From that map I framed three testable hypotheses. The first two were tactical fixes to the live flow that we could ship and measure quickly. The third was strategic: a shorter, smoother journey, shaped by the learning from the first two tests and the wider research running alongside them.
Process
Insight 1
Insight 12
The journey asked before it gave. Requesting personal details on the first step, before clients knew what they were getting, created doubt right at the start.
Tools used
Solutions
Rather than wait for a full redesign, we tested our way toward it — three hypotheses, from tactical to strategic.
Shorten the journey end to end (strategic) We believe a shorter journey that shows value first, asks for details later and lets clients book a first session before choosing a plan will lift overall conversion. We'll know it worked when end-to-end conversion rises above the 10% baseline and stays there.
Using what we learned from the first two tests, we designed a streamlined flow: choose your gym and time, see the offer and price, pay, then confirm and download the app. Plan selection moved after the first session, when clients had a reason to commit.
Explain the price as one simple story
We believe that showing what clients pay today, what happens after the trial and how to cancel — with single sessions and the block plan side by side — will reduce drop-off at the offer and membership steps. We'll know it worked when fewer clients abandon between Clear Offer and Payment.
Clients had misunderstood how the trial, single sessions and the 8-week block plan fitted together. We rewrote the offer and plan screens in plain language, and made the weekly cost of each option directly comparable.
Make choosing a time easier, and give people a reason to choose now
We believe that clearer date and time selection, with honest urgency ("3 spaces left", soonest sessions first), will help clients commit to a session faster. We'll know it worked when more clients move from Select a time through to payment.
We redesigned the time picker so available sessions were easy to scan by day, and surfaced real, live availability. Because availability varied by gym, urgency was always based on actual spaces, never invented.
Results
Booking conversion up from a 10% baseline across partner gyms: a 32-point lift, more than four times the original rate.
