Transforming high-intent product discovery into seamless retailer appointments.
EMBEDDED APPOINTMENT BOOKINGS
MY ROLE:
Digital Product Designer
TIMELINE:
2 Months
PLATFORM:
Responsive Web
OUTCOME:
Increased monthly appointment requests by 100% over the previous record.
PROJECT SUMMARY ✦
Brides frequently begin their dress-shopping journey online before visiting an authorized retailer. However, requesting an appointment required leaving the shopping experience, navigating to a separate Store Locator, selecting a retailer, and completing a form.
I redesigned the journey by embedding retailer discovery and appointment booking directly into product exploration. The new experience preserved browsing context, captured the dress that inspired the request, and contributed to a 100% increase in monthly appointment requests over the previous record.
THE CONTEXT ✦
THE PROBLEM
80%
of users who began the appointment journey abandoned it before submitting a request.
Justin Alexander successfully drove users toward high-intent actions such as Find a Store and Request an Appointment, but analytics revealed a major conversion breakdown before form completion.
Leadership challenged the product team to identify why users were dropping off and improve completed appointment requests without disrupting the shopping journey.
EXISTING USER JOURNEY
PAIN POINTS →
Interrupted momentum: users left the dress that motivated the appointment.
Fragmented flow: retailer discovery and appointment booking became a separate task.
Missing retailer context: stores received the request without automatically knowing which dress inspired it.
PROJECT GOALS
⚡ Reduce friction by allowing users to request appointments without leaving their shopping journey.
🎯 Increase appointment completions by streamlining the path from product discovery to appointment request.
🛍️ Preserve shopping momentum by keeping users engaged with the dresses they're actively exploring.
🤝 Improve retailer preparation by capturing users' favorite styles and providing richer context before appointments.
🧩 Build a scalable booking experience by designing a reusable appointment widget that could extend beyond Product Detail Pages to support the entire website.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Designing for the moment of highest intent.
The strongest purchase intent wasn't on the Store Locator page; it was the moment a bride found a dress she wanted to try on. Requiring users to leave that experience interrupted their emotional momentum and created unnecessary friction before completing an appointment request.
Unlocking richer customer context.
Keeping appointment booking connected to the Product Detail Page also created an opportunity to automatically send the viewed style to retailers, allowing consultants to prepare relevant inventory before appointments and create a more personalized in-store experience.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
INSPIRATION
I looked beyond bridal retail to understand how leading ecommerce experiences reduce friction during high-intent moments. One pattern stood out: slide-out shopping carts preserve browsing context by allowing users to complete key actions without leaving the page. I saw an opportunity to apply this same interaction model to appointment booking.
DESIGN DIRECTIONS
Rather than relying on a single redesign, I identified multiple opportunities to improve the appointment booking experience across the customer journey.
1. Increase CTA Visibility
🎯 Increase appointment completions
2. Improve Store Discovery
🎯 Increase appointment completions
3. Embedded Widget
⚡ Reduce friction
🎯 Increase appointment completions
🛍️ Preserve shopping momentum
🤝 Improve retailer preparation
🧩 Build a scalable booking experience
The final solution combined all three strategies into one cohesive appointment experience.
CHALLENGES
The challenge wasn't shrinking the Store Locator; it was determining which information users needed immediately and which could be progressively revealed within a smaller viewport.
SCALING
During collaboration with the Digital Product Owner, the concept evolved beyond the Product Detail Page into a floating appointment widget that could be accessed from anywhere across the website while preserving the same contextual booking experience.
THE FINAL SOLUTION
Increased CTA Visibility & Improved Store Visibility
PREVIOUS
NEW
Embedded Side Widget
DESKTOP
MOBILE
Scalable Floating Widget
DESKTOP
MOBILE
THE IMPACT
KEY OUTCOMES
⚡ Embedded appointment booking directly into the shopping journey, eliminating the need for users to leave the Product Detail Page and reducing friction at one of the highest-intent moments in the customer experience.
🤝 Created richer retailer context by automatically passing the viewed dress as a "favorite" with appointment requests, enabling consultants to better prepare for each bride before her visit.
🧩 Designed a scalable booking experience that evolved from a Product Detail Page interaction into a reusable floating widget, making appointment requests accessible throughout the website.
📈 Contributed to a 100% increase in monthly appointment requests over the previous record, demonstrating how strategic UX improvements can directly impact business outcomes.
WHAT I LEARNED
🧠 Design for moments of intent, not just user flows. The biggest opportunity wasn't redesigning the appointment form; it was preserving the emotional momentum immediately after a user found a dress they loved.
🔄 Great product experiences often come from adapting familiar interaction patterns. Borrowing the mental model of ecommerce slide-out shopping carts helped create a booking experience that felt intuitive without introducing new behaviors.
🤝 Cross-functional collaboration creates opportunities beyond UX. Working alongside Product and Data Science transformed a navigation improvement into a richer data experience that benefited both customers and retailers.
🧭 The most impactful solutions rarely come from a single feature. Improving CTA visibility, optimizing the Store Locator, and embedding appointment booking each addressed different points of friction, but together they created a more cohesive customer journey.