Client
Role
Work
Challenge
Redesigning the booking experience to reduce no-shows
Dreemhealth is a US-based digital sleep clinic that connects patients with certified sleep specialists.
As part of the Product Design team, I led the redesign of the appointment booking flow to address a major business issue: high no-show rates among self-paying patients.
This project was not just about UX optimization, it was about aligning patient trust, business sustainability, and medical operations through thoughtful product design.
Context
Dreemhealth helps patients access professional sleep care directly online.
While the booking flow made scheduling fast and simple, we noticed a recurring issue: many patients booked appointments but never showed up.
This wasn’t only a logistical inconvenience, it disrupted the entire care experience:
Providers lost valuable consultation time.
Other patients faced reduced availability.
And the platform’s operations became harder to manage efficiently.
We needed to strengthen the sense of engagement and accountability in the booking process, but in a way that felt transparent, supportive, and fair to the patient.
The challenge was to encourage reliability without introducing friction or anxiety in the journey.
Research & Insights
We wanted to understand the dynamics behind missed appointments.
We combined quantitative analysis and exploratory interviews:
A data audit helped identify patterns related to appointment timing and payment type.
Conversations with support teams and a few patients helped us explore how people experienced the booking process, particularly for those paying out of pocket (“self-pay”).
We also benchmarked other telehealth experiences (ZocDoc, One Medical) to understand how they handled booking guarantees and cancellations.
Key insight:
Patients were not required to pay at the time of booking, only at the consultation. This created low commitment at the moment of booking and increased operational risk.
We saw an opportunity to introduce a gentle pre-payment mechanism that encourages commitment while remaining transparent and frictionless for patients.
Design & Solution
Pre-Payment flows for self-pay patients
Based on the insight that self-pay patients weren’t required to pay at booking, I redesigned the experience around two pre-payment flows adapted to appointment timing.
The goal was to increase commitment while keeping the booking experience transparent, calm, and medically trustworthy.
I created two self-pay flows:
Short-notice booking (<48h)
Immediate payment required to secure the appointment.
I added a payment step directly in the flow:
Appointment recap
Secure card entry
Consent to the <48h cancellation policy
“Confirm & Pay $149”
To ensure trust, I designed dedicated states for:
Payment processing
Payment confirmation
Payment failure
Slot taken mid-flow
Technical issues (with explicit reassurance that no payment was processed)
Longer-notice booking (>48h)
Card collected now, no charge today.
Here, the flow focuses on clarity and reassurance:
Appointment recap
Card collection with “No charges today, reschedule anytime”
Consent to the no-show policy
“Confirm booking”
I also added a collapsible Credit Card Policy to explain exactly when the card may be charged.
Design principles
Transparency: clear explanation of when payment is taken
Low friction: short forms, minimal steps
Reassurance: microcopy protecting trust during payment
Reliability: robust error handling for real-world scenarios
Outcome
Improved appointment reliability
Early data and behavioral indicators showed a substantial improvement in appointment reliability among self-pay patients:
40–60% reduction in no-shows, driven mainly by the <48h pre-payment flow
A significant drop in last-minute cancellations
More stable and predictable provider schedules
Higher patient confidence thanks to clearer expectations and transparent policies
These early signals confirmed that introducing pre-payment flows created a more reliable and trustworthy booking experience without adding friction.