SOOTHE
For a company like Soothe, who had already established themselves with a large number of users, it was important to polish and enhance their current look without being too distracting to the current user base. I wanted a user to notice an improvement in style and usability but I didn’t want it to feel like Soothe was a completely new company. I chose to remove some pieces and colors that weren’t working, and keep some of the best parts that were. I added some style and unified all user-facing pieces so their branding was more cohesive and effective.
BRANDING.
The branding for Soothe previously was dark and night-clubesque, I really felt they needed to get back to the basics and back to nature to really solidify their look. I chose only 3 colors to help establish them against competition, and kept the parts that were working, such as the logo.
The number one complaint from the start was that users felt like they were getting involved with a nightclub instead of a spa. The overall look at feel didn't match its target audience at all.
MAIN PROBLEMS.
Mood
FELT LIKE A SPA
The new look and feel completely stopped all of the wariness of the type of company a user would be getting involved with. While maintaining an elite feeling, we were still able to create a design that felt like a calm and soothing spa.
FEWER SUPPORT CALLS
The Therapist Tracker and appointment management changes and additions removed call volume by 17% simply because users were more aware of what was going on and could manage their appointments from the app.
MORE BOOKINGS
Soothe would only be profitable if users booked at least 3 appointments during the year. So the excitement about getting on needed to be there, and the experience needed to help keep the excitement up all through the engagement. The simplified experience and new look got us 12% more finished bookings.
Once massages were booked, Soothe was still getting a lot of calls into their call center. So much so that it was becoming the most expensive part of the business. We needed to reduce this call volume and keep users aware of what was going on with their bookings.
Call Center Frequency
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WIREFRAMES & USERFLOWS Many options were considered so a user wouldn't be tapping too much.
USER
INTERFACE.
The UI was built off our new branding colors and everything was made more modern and clean.
INITIAL
RESULTS.
One issue we would never get around is the cost of the massages. While it wasn't outrageous, the costs were always more than local locations and would need to be less front and center.
Purchase Dropoff
CONCLUSION.
I really loved working on Soothe and establishing something from very little. There was a lot to think about with this project since it included users, therapists, and the company itself. It’s much bigger than just the app so the challenges were rewarding and enlightening. It was great to be able to make an entire company’s branding come together and serve a common theme and watch users enjoy the product even more.
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MORE
STUDIES.
PHOTOGRAPHY
DIRECTION.
One major focus for Soothe was their presence in social media. I wanted to have a few photoshoots that really helped create some “thumb-stoppers” for their posts, and one idea was to illustrate this idea of massage anywhere – even in the middle of the desert.
COLORS I chose 3 colors to help establish the brand and send a message right away. A light teal looks great on both black and white and hints to nature, rejuvenation, and calm.
FONTS Simplicity is the name of the game here, so the message and options were clear and easy to see across all pieces. I love the look of serifed fonts and think it could fit here well but it wouldn’t work on an app quite as well, so sans-serif it is.
LOGO The logo was kept simple and clear. Calm, soothing hands create a heart in the negative space furthering the feeling of care and expertise through massage therapist’s hands.
USER
EXPERIENCE.
The heart and soul of Soothe is obviously the mobile app so that got the most attention. A complete audit was completed and I simplified each flow as much as possible. User flows, wireframes, prototypes, and many designs were created and run by our users.
SOLUTION
SEE YOUR THERAPIST
All over the app I wanted users to feel like they knew who were coming to their house. The dark blues and purples of the previous design that felt more like a night club were replaced with the new elite look of black and white, as well as the soothing teal.
Secondly, I wanted you to see smiling therapists all over the app. Real people, real professionals, the ones coming to make you feel your best.
SOLUTION
APPOINTMENT TRACKER
Up to date awareness and clear communication was the best solution I came to for reducing call center volume. Simple things like an appointment tracker for users to see their therapists were on the way, and having simple parking instructions helped keep communication between Soothe therapists and users easy and understood.
SOLUTION
KEEPING UP THE EXCITMENT
Since there was no way we would be able to bring the cost of the massages down, we needed to keep the excitement of the massage up. So my solution was to keep interactions limited, and screens during tasks as few as possible.
Also saving the cost until the very end instead of up front and center also helped increase excitement.
WEB
DESIGN.
The focus of their website was to make sure someone visiting booked an appointment. In their case I wanted to make sure the branding came through and looked just like the app, and the calls to action were obvious and in effective locations on the page. I reduced the content and simplified the structure and content to put focus on the conversion.
PROTOTYPES AND INTERACTIONS
TESTING
Along with all the changes to the UX in terms of user-flows and user-tasks, as well as the changes in UI to include more visuals of the actual Soothe therapists, I wanted to test what interactions and animations could bring more interest to the product and company itself, and tested regularly so see what worked best.
