Gifted Studios
Increasing conversion and decreasing friction in the booking experience.
Gifted Studios provided shared music studios where digital creators could meet and collaborate. We carried out the top-to-bottom redesign of our website to deliver a delightful experience and minimize cognitive friction.
We conducted research, designed prototypes, and integrated solutions to streamline the booking experience so creators could forget about coordinating studio time and focus on their craft.
Discovering opportunity in friction.
We started Gifted Studios with the goal of fostering the city’s creative community by providing co-working spaces for music creators. After our marketing campaign, an influx of new creators exposed areas where our booking experience fell short.
The traditional approach was creating pain points interrupting customer goals. We set out to uncover those shortcomings, improve conversion, and deliver an easy experience so creators could forget about logistics and focus on creating.
Conducting research & testing assumptions.
We interviewed 13 creators to better understand their needs, how they take action, and where that journey leads them.
Our research found that the journey begins with a spark of inspiration that can be triggered by anything. A sound, smell, memory, or feeling. The sources of musical inspiration are endless.
Once they form an idea and they begin creating. If they don’t have access to recording tools or are inexperienced they search for help. Their search for music studios usually begins on Google, they search for ‘studios near me’ then begin calling or emailing.
Ideas, wireframes, and prototypes.
I began wire-framing homepages, web tours, and sign-up pages that we could test to gather feedback and solidify our hypotheses. We studied online shopping experiences and focused on essential features needed to accomplish our customer's primary goals. We set out to define how we might automate processes, reduce the time it takes to book studio time and remove friction in the creative process.
Testing, 1, 2, 3…
Once we locked down the essential flows and features needed to achieve our user’s goals, we designed high-fidelity Invision prototypes to unify the look and feel with the brand and prepare for the Implementation on our Wordpress CMS.
Streamlining bookings & taking the hassle out of payments.
Booking studio time was at the top of our user’s goals. We integrated Setmore, an online scheduling and payment solution, enabling customers to view availability and book instantly. This integration added measurable indicators, more information about our customers, and insight into their booking habits.
Live communication with customers.
To reduce time spent on calls and convert more website visitors into leads we integrated Drift, a conversational marketing tool. Our chat enabled visitors to have real-time conversations with our team, find FAQs, and book time.
Memberships with Stripe.
Members signed up, setup billing and were charged each month, opening a whole new revenue stream that was completely automated.
Once members were orientated they gained access to a ‘members only’ page where they booked studio time. Members accessed the space via bluetooth with their phones.
Results.
We saw improvements immediately. Our analytics saw an increase in bookings by over 30% and a 100% decrease in ‘no-shows’.
Implementing a self-service model meant customers paid for studio time while booking. Before, customers paid at the end of their studio time.
At the height of our experiment we had 17 members, creating a passive income stream that was successful enough for me to work full-time on it for several years.