elevating Wellness Experiences: Designing Canyon Ranch's Digital Transformation
Challenge
Canyon Ranch, a premier wellness resort with a 40-year legacy, faced a critical juncture in its customer experience journey. As they prepared for the next four decades, they recognized the need for significant digital transformation to expand revenue and enhance customer satisfaction. The existing system had several pain points:
Activities and services were provided in paper booklets
Guests had to book through Wellness Guides, either in person or by phone
This process was tedious for guests and reduced Wellness Guides to order-takers
Opportunities for personalized recommendations and strategic conversations were limited
As the UX lead, I was tasked with designing and building a mobile application that would:
Solve guest problems and increase NPS scores
Boost ancillary spend on the ranch
Free up Wellness Guides for more strategic interactions
The challenge was to create a digital solution that enhanced the guest experience without disrupting the immersive wellness atmosphere that Canyon Ranch was known for.
What I Did
Leading a diverse team of 9 professionals, including a Delivery Director, 2 Product Strategists, 4 engineers (2 offshore), and a designer, I spearheaded the following actions:
Conducted extensive user research to understand guest needs and pain points
Developed a comprehensive product strategy aligned with Canyon Ranch's digital transformation goals
Created and iterated on interaction and visual designs for the mobile application
Designed service blueprints to ensure seamless integration of the digital solution with existing Canyon Ranch operations
Implemented rapid experimentation techniques to validate design decisions
Oversaw the development of a native iOS application, ensuring it met both technical and user experience standards
Integrated multiple third-party APIs and Segment Data Analytics for a robust, data-driven solution
Throughout the process, I emphasized the importance of maintaining Canyon Ranch's premium brand experience while introducing digital convenience.
Outcome
Our efforts resulted in the successful launch of a beta version in June 2022, delivering significant improvements:
Increased ease of use for booking services
Enhanced customer satisfaction and NPS scores
Boosted ancillary spend on the ranch
Freed up Wellness Guides to engage in more strategic, personalized interactions with guests
The native iOS application allowed guests to discover new activities and book services seamlessly, aligning perfectly with Canyon Ranch's immersive wellness experience.
"You have such an amazing and rigorous process for brainstorming, synthesis and gathering customer feedback. It really is amazing watching you work.”
– Mike Fulkerson, Canyon Ranch CMO
