Analysis of the problem revealed a major frustration on the user side: the booking process was a source of frustration, requiring an excessive number of clicks to initiate a booking and not allowing for beat times or cancellations.
On the business side, this inefficiency had negative consequences:
Delays, leading to compromised service quality.
Revenue loss and frustration for the practitioner.
Compromise of the serenity promise from the first contact.
Increased administrative time to manage errors and delays, compromising service quality.
As UX/UI Designer, I was tasked with solving these problems. The project had to be delivered in a short timeframe with a limited budget. The challenge was to position Mompeu as a differentiating player in its local market.
The project had to be delivered within a tight 6-week timeline and on a limited budget. This meant that every decision, from research methods to the choice of technology, had to be ruthlessly prioritized to maximize impact without custom development.
To understand customers' pain points and motivations, I carried out research and analysis, which led to the creation of Claire and Sophie's personas.
Aware of the time constraints of the target clientele, we opted for a non-intrusive approach.
Methodology
An initial survey, though inconclusive in terms of participation, provided a valuable insight: it confirmed that an extra form was counterproductive for women seeking relaxation.
Key insight: The slightest friction is perceived as a major obstacle for this target audience. This observation strengthened my judgment and ability to adapt the methodology.
To gain an in-depth understanding of the motivations and barriers of potential customers, I conducted hybrid research, combining traditional methods with artificial intelligence tools.
I conducted in-depth user interviews with the founder, Diana, whose direct customer interactions provided priceless qualitative insights. Next, I used two different generative AI tools to conduct in-depth research on women's behaviors in Wallonia with regard to wellness services. These tools enabled me to synthesize existing qualitative and quantitative data and generate insights into motivations, barriers, digital expectations, and friction points specific to the Walloon market.
I then consolidated these results in NotebookLM to extract recurring themes and summary profiles. This enabled me to create personas based on broader data, which I was then able to validate and refine with direct feedback from the founder.
Key Insights
Frictionless Simplicity is Non-Negotiable: The primary user need is a fast, intuitive booking process (max 3-4 steps, no account needed) that mirrors the relaxation they seek. Any complexity is a major deterrent.
Trust is the Core Currency: Reassurance is paramount. Users rely heavily on social proof (reviews), an authentic presentation of the practitioner, and a clear, professional website to feel safe and build confidence.
Value Over Price: While price-aware, clients prioritize the overall experience like ambiance, trust, and convenience (local, easy parking) and are willing to pay for a high-quality, reassuring service.
Personas
Two personas were developed to embody these insights:
Claire (The Overwhelmed Executive): Demands efficiency and speed. Her emotional frustrations revolve around wasted time and the stress of complex processes. That's why the tagline, "Your moment. Quite simply," was chosen to immediately reassure her that she would enjoy a quality moment.
Sophie (The Weekend Athlete): Less tech-savvy, she seeks reassurance, human connection, and clarity. Her physical discomfort is exacerbated by a lack of digital fluidity and uncertainty. The fonts and illustrations were selected to create a reassuring, cozy atmosphere.
My empathy for these stressed users became the driving force behind my design decisions.
Based on the learnings from the research phase, I defined the core product problem, which came down to issues of fluidity and trust.
This strategic foundation paved the way for concrete solutions through a structured ideation process.
The UX problem was defined as: "How can we design a booking system that is both simple and efficient for busy clients, while ensuring appointment punctuality and transparent cancellation management, thereby creating a digital environment of trust and serenity?"
Our design objectives were therefore to:
Streamline booking
Inspire confidence
Improve brand identity
I explored options such as a fully custom solution or integrating third-party tools like Calendly. The choice of WordPress + Amelia was a strategic decision driven by the budget and the flexibility needed for buffer times. This allowed me to focus my design efforts where they mattered most.
User Journey Map
I mapped the journey of my persona, Sophie, from the initial need for a massage to the post-appointment experience. This artifact visually represents her emotional state, pain points, and the design opportunities at each stage. It serves as a direct bridge between the research and my design decisions, ensuring every feature addresses a real user need.
Sitemap & User Flow
The information architecture was simplified into a single-page site to optimize conversion. The section order (Homepage, Services, Gift Card, About, FAQ, Footer) was chosen to guide the user from discovery to action and finally to reassurance.
The decision for a single-page architecture was strategic. Based on our research, users like Claire are often multitasking on mobile during short breaks. A single, scrollable page reduces cognitive load and keeps them in a continuous discovery-to-action flow, minimizing potential exit points before they reach the main call-to-action.
The old system required up to 8 clicks to complete a booking. My design streamlined this to a maximum of 6 clicks. The Amelia plugin allows service categorization directly within the booking pop-up, keeping the user in a single, coherent flow.
This optimization potentially reduced booking time by 25%.
Design objectives
The user flow became a visual narrative and a guideline for the rest of the design.
How did I go from Idea to Interface?
Wireframing & Mobile-First Approach
I started with a "mobile-first" wireframing approach to prioritize the experience for mobile, knowing this is the main point of contact for customers. This allowed me to prioritize information hierarchy and strategically place calls to action, ensuring a clear and distraction-free user journey even on the smallest screen, before moving to a detailed UI design.
With the strategic foundation in place, I translated insights into an intuitive and functional interface, leveraging my expertise in both UX and UI design.
UI Design & Visual Language
Color Palette, Typography, and Logo Design
The visual identity was designed to carry over existing brand codes with a modern twist. The color palette was kept soft and natural to evoke a calming, cozy atmosphere. Lora (serif) for headings provides elegance and warmth, while Poppins (sans-serif) for body text ensures optimal readability.
The logo, featuring a subtle wave in the letter 'o', was crafted to symbolize both the fluid motion of massage and the equilibrium achieved post-treatment, creating a unique and meaningful brand identity.
Grid System
I applied a rigorous approach based on the 8px grid system for paddings, border-radius, and sizing, ensuring usability, readability, and professionalism. The content was entirely rewritten to speak directly to user emotions.
Key UX Writing & Social Proof
Strategic Messaging: I added a phrase of social proof like "Dozens of satisfied customers" to the Hero section to immediately build trust.
Core Content: Service descriptions were made concise and benefit-focused. The FAQ was rewritten to be warm and reassuring. Critical information about the female-only clientele was strategically integrated for maximum clarity. The cancellation policy was presented transparently.
Testimonials: The integration of 1 to 3 key testimonials reinforces social proof and builds trust, particularly for Sophie.
Mobile-First Approach & Prototyping
A Figma prototype (mobile-first) served as a key tool for user feedback and content validation with the client, allowing for rapid, iterative design adjustments.
The testing phase was crucial: a functional WordPress site was used for validation. Usability tests with five real clients and the owner ensured a fluid experience for both clients and the practitioner.
These guerrilla tests enabled rapid feedback and iterative adjustments to refine the final design. The test results were highly positive:
The average booking time was cut by 25%.
All participants found the journey "simple and reassuring".
The aesthetics were perceived as "warm" and "feminine".
Post-test iterations included:
Changing the font weight to improve readability.
Adding a summary of the services to the Amelia calendar for clarity. These adjustments ensured that the final solution was not only beautiful but also truly functional and useful.
The redesign of Momentia was a strategic success. The 25% reduction in booking time directly aims to reduce the abandonment rate and has the potential to increase the number of completed bookings.
By streamlining the journey, we estimate a potential 15% increase in monthly revenue and a reduction in administrative time spent on managing booking errors of about 2 hours per week for the practitioner. Design investment should be recovered in first 2 months through increased bookings.
Impact on Users:
A simplified and faster booking experience.
Reduced stress from delays and forgotten appointments.
Increased clarity and trust.
Impact on Business:
Better appointment management and reduced delays.
Fewer last-minute cancellations and no-shows.
Stronger brand equity, fostering differentiation.
Potential for increased bookings and customer retention.
Key lessons
What I learned:
This project highlighted the importance of adapting user research to specific constraints.
I learned how conciseness and clarity in UX Writing are essential for users with busy agendas.
The deep understanding of emotions and latent "pain points" transformed this project into a rich and meaningful user experience.
Next Steps
What I plan:
KPI: Implement Analytics to track key performance indicators, such as the relationship between website traffic and the booking conversion rate. This will allow us to measure the business impact of the streamlined user experience and validate our hypotheses.
Follow-up User Interviews: Conduct follow-up interviews with clients after 3 months to gather qualitative feedback on the new experience and identify further improvement opportunities.
Potential future enhancements (automated gift cards, client area).
Outcome
Next projects.
(2016-25©)
