Reimagined Class Registration Experience Cultivates Community
Client
YMCAAbout
The YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties provides opportunities for children and adults in Western Washington to live healthier, stronger lives through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. We have partnered with the Y since 2015 and helped make the online class registration system simple and efficient across nine locations.
The Challenge
Registering for classes on the Y website was a difficult task, even members of our own team experienced the frustrations of registration for swim classes. Our goal was to improve the registration system and create a responsive design and launch a seamless experience.
Identifying the Problem
To get to the root of our problem, the GearLab team conducted usability tests, interviews, surveys, on-site observations and content reviews with YMCA members. We created prototypes of the registration system and continued to refine it until it was a lean, mean, online registration machine that delivered the best mobile experience.
60%
task success rate on the old website
91%
task success rate on the improved prototype
Integrating with Daxko
A key element of improving the registration system was integrated with Daxko, a third-party system that manages the Y class information. We integrated with Daxo’s API using proper code to display data that allowed for seamless user experience.
Consistency is Key
During user research, we found that searching and registering for classes at the wrong location was a common problem. To solve this we added a location selector and made it the first step during the registration process. We also made sure the class names, descriptions, and categories were the same across all nine branch locations.
Before and After
The outcome for the Y is a responsive, mobile-optimized design with improved navigation, consistent branch and class information and a streamlined registration process. After launching, we conducted usability tests with the new registration system. Using a satisfaction scale of 1 – 7 (very unsatisfied to very satisfied), we found that users reported an above-average satisfaction level of 5.42 compared to 4.0 using the old system.
