Enhancing the Aesthetics Clinic Experience with an end-to-end process
Setting the Stage: Introducing Prettypolly's App Vision
Prettypolly is an aesthetics clinic that wants an app to allow users to get information on treatments, book and manage appointments and in the future could cater to collect stamps (loyalty) and communication with aestheticians.
Project brief: To create a concept for an app that allows users to get informed on treatments available at the clinic as well as booking appointments.
Solution: Designed an end to end journey with a high fidelity prototype with an emphasis on allowing the business to create an approachable service, breaking down content to make it more digestible.
My role : Sole UX designer
Time frame: 2 weeks
UX Activities:
Depth interviews, Personas, User / Wire flow diagrams, Sketches, High fidelity Prototype, Usability testing
Uncovering Insights: Deep Dive into Business and User Needs
Kicking off the project, I dove into a depth interview to grasp the business's pains, needs, and objectives. We delved into why they were keen on an app over a website.
Why an App?: Understanding the Value Proposition
The owner highlighted that the app would complement their website, catering more to their loyal customers. Given that most treatments require multiple sessions, the idea was that first-timers would likely become regulars.
Scoping the Field: Competitor Analysis and Market Trends
Scoping out the competition, I spotted several aggregator apps for beauty/skin clinics. However, many were bogged down by:
Potential Benefits of an App
Crafting Personas: Bringing Users to Life
Drawing insights from staff and customer feedback, I crafted three personas: Business, Regular Customers, and New Customers.
Interestingly, the owner noted that first-timers were likely to morph into regulars over time as most treatments required 3 or more sessions to get the optimum effects.
Mapping the Landscape: Persona-driven User Flows
I meticulously charted out the user flow, dissecting each step and ironing out any questions with the business owner to streamline the journey.
Before diving into ideation, I outlined the requisite screens and patterns based on the user flow, ensuring clarity on content and actions for each screen.
From Insights to Action: MVP-first Approach
To focus our efforts, I advocated for an MVP-first approach, prioritising three core journeys in the initial phase:
Subsequent phases would tackle loyalty programmes, content refinement, and future-proofing with enhanced personalisation.
Designing for Clarity: Sketching, Wireframing and UI Ideation
Crafting designs centred around addressing overarching issues for all personas, I strived for journeys that were conversational, comprehensible, and reassuring for users.
Building a Seamless Experience: Mid to High Fidelity Prototyping
After presenting the sketches to the client, further questions emerged, necessitating a deeper dive. Then, I opted for mid to high fidelity wireframes to test the user journey effectively.
Sign up, Onboarding & Match me to a treatment
Matching customers to a treatment
Booking a treatment
Iterative Refinement: Prototyping and Usability Testing
The Prototype
Feedback and Reflection: Insights from Usability Testing
Overall the feedback received from usability testing the prototype was postive and the business was pleased with the reception to the possibility of the app.
The participants liked that
the feel was inviting and simple to understand
the “match me to a treatment” journey was well received and 2 users shared they had previously felt discouraged from walking into a skin clinic because it felt too intimidating and the idea of being matched to a treatment, took the anxiety away
That said, I was able to gain some constructive insights and questions from customers such as:
The content on the treatment details page still being hard to understand and follow
Wanting to be able to access the treatment matching again
Celebrating Success: Outcomes and Achievements
The business was happy with the result of the project and we were able to pin point potential next steps for the project
Looking Ahead: Next Steps and Future Considerations
Revisit the copy on treatment details page and how this is presented
Revisit checkout journey and more work into payment processes - pre-payment
Loyalty journey and feature
Personal Growth: Reflections and Learnings
Improvement of UI Skills
I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project as I was able to hone my UI skills which I have often been apprehensive of. Previously I have had the comfort of using design systems or UI Kits but working with PrettyPolly challenged me and I saw rapid improvements.
Regular Check ins and Collaboration with the business
As this was a smaller project with a strong vision behind it, I felt it important to keep up active communication with the business to ensure it aligned with their vision. Keeping them involved, but also justifying design decisions and gaining buy in was a happy challenge. I really felt as though I stretched my stakeholder management skills that extra mile.