Growing Pumpkin Wellness Club

Optimizing the funnel for Pumpkin's new standalone wellness offering with more effective messaging.

Growth
Research
UX
UI

Timeline

Oct 2024 - Nov 2024

Company

Pumpkin

Platform

Web

00
Context

We launched an MVP site in August 2024

I joined the Wellness Club team in September 2024, following the initial launch of the MVP by the original designer. With the product live, we had the opportunity to analyze its performance, gather insights, and experiment with optimizations to drive growth.

Screenshots from the original version of the site—the hero and section immediately below it.

01
Discovery

Users were dropping off quickly—but why?

I worked with my product partner to gather and review the data we had collected on the site's performance so far. Something we immediately noticed was the significant drop-off (over 80%) between the homepage and the plan selection page, signaling a key friction point.

Uncovering critical issues through user testing

To better understand users' experience with the current site, including potential reasons for the high drop-off rate, I planned and conducted a series of user tests. After completing the tests, I synthesized the feedback into key findings, ranking insights by frequency and severity. Two issues in particular stood out:

At first glance, users struggled to understand the concept of a "wellness club"

Many users confused the wellness plan with pet insurance, calling it “like an insurance plan” or “wellness insurance.” Users also interpreted “club” in unexpected ways, leaving them unclear on what they were signing up for.

Once understood, users struggled to understand the details on what would be covered

Users were unclear on what a membership might cover, whether it included grooming, food, or emergency care, and how pricing worked, making it harder to commit.

Connecting the dots: misaligned messaging as the reason for drop-off

Our findings from user testing directly explained the high drop-off rate—users weren’t clicking through because they didn’t fully understand what the Wellness Club was or how it worked. This misalignment in messaging and clarity became the key problem to solve.

02
Framing

Reframing the problem: what needed to change?

How might we help users quickly grasp what Pumpkin Wellness Club is—building just enough confidence to spark their interest and encourage them to explore further?

Narrowing in on the homepage

Specifically, I focused my design efforts on the hero section and the content just below the fold. This decision was directly informed by our discovery phase: users lacked a clear understanding of the product upfront, making them less confident in moving forward. To address this, we needed to ensure they grasped the value of the plan immediately upon landing on the site.

My hypothesis

If we clearly communicate what Pumpkin Wellness Club is upfront, highlight its most compelling benefits, and provide visual cues that make joining & using the product feel approachable, then more users will engage with the site, progress further in the funnel, and ultimately consider signing up.

Defining success

I worked with my partner on the product team to set success metrics for this project:

Primary: Decrease in drop-off rate between homepage and plan page

Secondary: Increase conversion rate

03
Exemplar Collection

Auditing effective heroes from analogous brands

Four groupings emerged in the exemplar heroes:

Visual Focus/No Product Info

Ex: Soho House, Equinox

Could work for a brand with a strong existing recognition. Less effective for unknown brands.

Simple Product Description

Ex: Rent the Runway, Farmer's Dog, Curology

Works best for brands with an easy-to-understand offering (e.g., a physical product) or highly relatable problem.

More Product Detail

Ex: Dutch, Dropbox, Oscar

Works well for a novel product concept that solves a more complicated or nuanced problem.

Interactive/Driver

Ex: MasterClass, Betterhelp, Carbon Health

Works well for brands that address multiple user needs. Interactive elements help customers to understand through action.

04
Design

Moving towards a solution

Laying out options for a new hero structure

These 3 directions in particular echoed three of the groupings that I found when looking at other heroes.

Simple Product Description

More Product Detail

Interactive/Driver

I shared these options in a critique with other designers. The last two in particular resonated with the group, so I decided to explore them further.

Exploring through design

Next, I explored multiple hero variations in Figma. Some worked well; others fell flat. By trying out different approaches, I was able to quickly identify what worked and what didn't.

I originally liked the idea of having users select their pet's species earlier as a way to keep them moving, but designing out options helped me see two downsides:

  • Competing Priorities: The prominent buttons immediately drew attention, distracting from the hero’s primary goal—clarifying what the product offers.
  • Reduced Brand Identity: The buttons took up significant space in the hero, limiting room for visuals that help reinforce Pumpkin Wellness Club's identity.

Refining the content

As I honed in on a direction, I worked closely with my partner on the copywriting team to tighten the messaging. This included writing a creative brief to lay out goals and considerations.

05
Solution

The final design

See it Live (Maybe)

🎲 Since we're still testing, you'll only see this version 50% of the time.

Why it works

  • Clarifies What the Product Is: The messaging explicitly communicates that this plan helps users save on wellness care at the vet.
  • Highlights the Most Compelling Benefits: Dental cleanings and access to the pet health helpline stood out as highly valued by customers, so we ensured they were prominently featured to build interest.
  • Uses Visuals to Simplify the Experience: A revamped "How It Works" section, placed just below the hero, visually breaks down key steps in purchasing and using Wellness Club. This helps a new and unfamiliar product feel more tangible and approachable.

Handoff and QA

I provided detailed specifications to my engineering partners and collaborated closely through multiple rounds of QA to refine and perfect the implementation.

06
Impact

We achieved a 31% (stat sig) decrease in drop-off rate between the home and plan pages.

In other words, 75% more users in the test group reached the plan page compared to users in the control group.

Next Steps

We are planning on turning on the test variant for all users in mid-February.

We are still waiting to see a statistically significant impact on CVR. Nevertheless, this was not the metric we were optimizing for, and I think changes further down the funnel (e.g., to the plan page and checkout) are more likely to move the needle on conversion rate.

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