I improved mobile scheduling functionality in a small business management app by adapting a desktop feature for mobile, enabling users to view their full schedules during the rescheduling and rebooking flow. This enhancement, along with the addition of a new “quick actions” menu and small UI tweaks, has received positive feedback from businesses. A broader strategy to modernize the app and improve navigation is underway.
Business Objective
Improve core features of the product to improve customer satisfaction and increase retention over time.
BACKGROUND
Reviewing Customer Needs and Pain Points
At Schedulicity, we continuously track customer needs and pain points through regular user interviews, customer service chats, and surveys. I set up a Confluence research repository to track these insights. One common theme I noticed in these insights pertained to opportunities for the way our mobile calendar supports users in the management of their schedules. As a core feature and over 60% of our users on mobile, this was an important issue to address.
THE PROBLEM
Poor Rescheduling and Rebooking Experience
Users have consistently expressed that the rescheduling and rebooking features were not useful on mobile web because they don’t allow them to see their full calendars.
Many of our users have flexibility in their schedules. They may know that a certain client doesn’t take as long as scheduled, for example, so they need to be able to see their full calendar.
Prior to this project, users had to select a time and hope that it didn’t conflict with an existing appointment. The ability to skip ahead a certain number of weeks was also a barrier to rebooking an appointment.
Reducing Effort By Utilizing Existing Functionality
On desktop, we have an existing feature that allows users to move appointments to a holding area, the appointment clipboard, while rescheduling appointments. As a team, we decided to utilize this feature to reduce unnecessary development time and benefit from user familiarity.
To make this work, I had to adapt it for the small screen and reimagine the rescheduling and book again flows using the new mobile clipboard.
Design Objectives
DESIGN EXPLORATION
I explored several options for the mobile clipboard UI: a button with a menu-like pop-out, a bottom sheet that can be raised and lowered, a devoted space at the top of the screen, etc.
Ultimately, in collaboration with the developers, I opted for a split screen view with the clipboard at the bottom for usability testing. This choice allows the user to drag and drop appointments, striking the right balance between easy access to both the clipboard and the calendar.
Shifting to User Flow and Quick Wins
There are several related areas of the product that were not in scope for this project: the outdated calendar UI and app navigation for example. However, I found a few places in the user flow that I could impact. First, was the introduction of the “quick actions” menu that appears upon tapping an appointment. The original intent was to allow access to the new clipboard (by selecting “reschedule” or “book again”) without interfering with day to day calendar activity.
The addition of this menu allowed me to explore additional functionality that could be included. Viewing client details, cancelling, and checking out are all actions that our users take on a regular basis and quick access to these features is crucial. Implementation of this new menu was simple in terms of development and did not increase the scope too much.
The other area within scope was the add/edit appointment screen. This screen needed some changes for the book again flow anyway, so I suggested minor spacing and layout updates to simplify the UI.
Successful Usability Testing
Usability testing was done in two stages. First, I focused on the rescheduling flow. I opted for moderated testing with a high fidelity Figma prototype. While the drag and drop interaction was simulated, this test procedure allowed us to get a better idea of how intuitive it felt for users.
Overall, designs tested well! No users failed the tasks or took longer than expected. A few errors led me to update copy and make minor edits to the design of the draggable area.
After this refinement, I moved onto the book again flow. This adds a step to confirm appointment details and select the timeframe for viewing the calendar (which includes the new skip ahead feature). I validated these designs with unmoderated testing using Maze since we had already done more extensive testing of the clipboard.
Final Designs
Quick Action Sheet
Small UI Tweaks
Quick Jumps
Appointment Clipboard
Results and Impact
While our data analysts continue to monitor retention rates closely, the feedback voiced by our businesses through customer service interactions and social media highlights the positive impact of this project.
CX Testimonials
Social Media
NEXT STEPS
App Wide Navigation
I am currently working on an initiative to switch to bottom tab navigation as our team works on moving to a single codebase. This is already underway and should be implemented within the next couple months.
Calendar Modernization & Navigation
We will also begin working on modernizing the calendar and improving navigation and interaction. This is in the early planning stages.
