Play ball!
I work part time at a ballpark and recently promoted the Kids Club membership program. 16 parents interested in signing up were confused during many steps in the process, which inspired me to think about how I would rewrite the information to be more human friendly.
What People Are Saying:
“What is this?”
“Why does it want me to buy seats?”
“Ok, I did it, what happens now?”
— Frustrated parents trying to sign up for Kids Club Membership
Current screens parents will see when signing up
Below shows what user’s see when they enter the website to buy their Kids Club membership
Ideation and writing process
From confusion to clear skies
What I can change:
Landing page copy/layout
Prompt letting parents know they aren’t purchasing seats but will see those screens
Indication of next steps once the purchase is complete
What I cannot change:
The actual check out process
Parents will still be prompted to select seats
First pitch:
This screen would be the first page a parent comes to when they want more information on the Kids Club membership. I opted for simplicity with this version and hoped that it would be easy for a parent to quickly purchase a membership.
Critique:
This was perhaps too simple. I was unsure how I would connect this screen to a “learn more” screen that was still clear and concise. The ideation continued!
Second pitch:
This screen was designed as an alternative landing page to quickly show:
Price (plus tax)
Basic things that come with a membership
Call to action to learn more
Call to action to buy a membership
Critique:
This list was short and to the point. I made the CTA “learn more” to save space and not overwhelm the parent trying to make a decision. Should they choose to join the club, they’ll be directed to the ticketing screens shown above.
Third pitch:
I created this page to briefly add more information and add aviation-themed language to improve the branding and tone (just a little bit).
“In-flight perks” sounded more aviation-themed while letting parents understand this is the section that explains what they get, what happens next, and what happens if they need more help.
“Booking your membership” was added to help users with the confusion of the next step in the process. Since I can’t change the structure of the platform, I needed to figure out a way to inform users they’re on the right track.
“You’re cleared for takeoff” was added as a friendly sign off that was aviation themed and let parents know they’re all set with booking.
Critique:
This page was ideated and designed rather fast. In future iterations, I would change the order of the final items and test if they’re a) helpful and b) useful.
Next steps
Iterate, iterate, iterate
This idea came to be in the span of a few hours. I definitely want to continue to gather more insight from parents as this was a confusing, time consuming task. How might I be able to quickly suggest improvements? How might we make this easier for parents?
Collaboration
The best ideas happen when different minds come together. I’d love to partner with designers, researchers, developers, and the ballpark staff to actually make this idea a reality. Parents just wanted the Kids Club perks!
Consistency
This project was based off of past and present information found on the ballpark’s website. There isn’t a style guide, so I took my best guess at voice and tone. Details like consistent case style and punctuation are inconsistent in this project, but if I were to take another pass I would certainly define style early and update throughout the next round of design and writing updates.
In all, this was a fun test to learn from real people, in real time what worked and what didn’t about their experience.
I’m fortunate that I work closely with the Kids Club Coordinator and the team that can make these changes come alive. I’m going to continue to learn more from parents, iterate on these ideas then present them when the time is right.