DiveThru Therapy Booking

Project Background

DiveThru is a mental health startup with a modern and innovative approach to therapy. Its mission is to ensure no one struggles alone by connecting today’s generation with community, therapy and self-guided resources.

At the start of 2023, the startup adopted a hybrid business model by opening its first-ever therapy studio in Edmonton, Canada. With plans to offer in-person and virtual therapy across Alberta, I was responsible for designing a therapy booking platform for our users to get matched with compatible therapists and begin their therapy journey.  

With our first therapy studio opening, we needed an effective and personable way to connect our users with our qualified therapists. Ultimately to make the process of accessing mental health care simple and less daunting.

Defining Project Scope & Constraints

To work around the ambiguity and limited resources that often come with being a sole product designer at a startup, I had to be resourceful and facilitate cross-functional collaboration with internal stakeholders. 

DiveThru is an early-stage startup, so customer acquisition and conversion rates are important success metrics for investors and the business. It’s an indication that we’re providing value to our users.

So although we were working on a tight deadline to launch the MVP, KPIs and business metrics were still very much a priority while building out this product. 

Design Process

Initial Research & Objectives

Before diving into user research, I created a research plan and outlined the type of information I wanted to gather from our users. I was especially interested in responses around the following themes:

User Survey Insights

Once I had a research plan, I created a detailed survey to send to our users via our monthly newsletter. We received around 100 responses with valuable insights into the challenges around finding the right therapist and what's currently missing in the market. Some key findings from the survey included:

Armed with the data I collected from the user surveys, we created a user persona named "Rebecca" and made a user journey map detailing her predicted first-time experience using the therapist matching and booking feature on the DiveThru app. Using the data from the survey results, I hypothesized what her thoughts and feelings might be at each decision point and consequently identified opportunities for improvement.

User Journey Map - Visualizing the therapist matching and booking experience

Ideating Solutions

Drawing from the insights gathered from user research, I outlined the initial features + designs needed to create a seamless and intentional therapy booking experience for our users.

Wireframing & Prototyping

I then turned my lo-fi sketches into a lo-fi interactive prototype. I defined the visual hierarchy, UI elements and design patterns. A lot of detail went into deciding which questions to include in the therapist-matching questionnaire and in what order.

Constant communication with the development team during this phase helped to narrow down what was feasible to produce within the limited time frame. 

Usability Testing - What are the most critical UX issues?

Next, I used the prototype to conduct two rounds of usability tests with 6 users. I asked the users to perform specific tasks, identify clickable parts within the prototype and give their honest feedback on the overall experience.

I formed an overarching question, which acted as a guide throughout the testing.

Examples of some of the questions I asked:

Usability Findings

The usability tests revealed that the therapy matching and booking feature would be easier to manage if it was a part of the bottom navigation menu. I updated the design and created a dedicated “Therapy” tab within the app and website.

It was interesting to hear that several users also wanted the option to “Browse Therapists” instead of going through the matching questionnaire. This prompted me to add a “Browse Therapists” button on the matching questionnaire overview screen.

I discovered a few inconsistencies with the interaction details while conducting the tests. These discoveries prompted me to make further updates to the design to ensure a seamless user experience.

UI Kit

Final Solution

Interactive Prototype (Mobile)

Click Here to try the live web version.

Evaluating the Results

To quantify the impact and success of the new feature, we referred to the KPIs we set ahead of time. Here are the results we’ve seen:

• 350+ therapy appointment bookings within the 1st month of launch.

• An increase in website traffic: The launch of the therapy platform brought an influx of traffic to our website. We used this data to calculate our conversion rate, which indicated that we seemed to be attracting the right clients.

• An increase in conversation rate: There’s been a steady increase in our conversation rate which indicates a seamless user experience.

Next Steps

As with any good product, there are continuous improvements to be made. We received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback with the new therapy matching and booking feature, but this first launch was just the MVP. Here’s what we plan to do to scale the business and therapy platform:

• Expanding the virtual therapy experience across Canada

• Providing a low-cost or reduced-rate option to therapy clients

• Hiring more therapists to meet increasing demands

Design System Case Study >

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