Fun SaaS platform for travel and community

A ground-up transformation turned this project’s outstanding content into a rewarding user experience

Project launch: October 2018

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Project Scope

Website design

UX & digital product design

Subscription and payment

Membership and rewards system

Technologies

About the Client

Driving with Dogs is a membership website that lists places to walk your dog. It focuses on walks near motorway junctions so you can find a really good spot to walk your dogs on long journeys, instead of making do with a service station car park. Their problem was a 10 year old website that was creaking and on the verge of collapse, and well overdue for an upgrade.

Complete overhaul of structure and processes
Online membership and subscriptions
Rewards for engagement
Mobile-friendly, fast and UX optimised

The Challenge

While we wanted to completely reinvent how the website worked, we also wanted to ensure that its current loyal members weren’t ostracised or alienated from the new process, so we tried to get them involved as soon as possible.

Early discussions revealed a lot of options available, so we started with a survey to find out what the current membership thought.

The results showed that users wanted to find walks on the move, but still be able to plan journeys in advance from home. Based on these results, we knew we needed to rethink the entire project from scratch, improve User Experience and make finding walks a quick, simple task whether you’re sat at a desk at home or a passenger in a car on your mobile.

A new, modern brand

We all agreed that the Driving with Dogs lacked a real sense of identity. There was an existing logo that was not really workable at smaller sizes or in print, and the visual branding didn’t really extend beyond it.

Using the insights gained from our customer research, we developed a new brand identity that was playful and fun, just the right tone for their target audience - but still in keeping with the style current members had loved.

Route planner & rewards system

User experience was the key to success with this website. The whole strategy was to make it simple, easy and fun to be part of the DwD community. We developed a route planner with GPS technology to make finding walks easy, both in advance and on the move.

We also introduced a “treats” reward system to encourage users to engage by contributing their own reviews, photos and new walks. This includes a leaderboard for the most active members, and rewards for every 100 Treat points earned.

Integrations and APIs

The Driving with Dogs website required a range of different integrations. From the Content Delivery Network speeding up loading times, map APIs to provide route planning and location based search, and payment providers Stripe and Paypal.

We also used a range of integrations to improve usability and security, such as Google and Facebook sign-in features, reCaptcha to protect forms and SendGrid and Mailjet to send notifications.

Diagram showing integration and APIs used in the Driving with Dogs project

drivingwithdogs.co.uk
Route planner
drivingwithdogs.co.uk
Search results
drivingwithdogs.co.uk
Homepage
drivingwithdogs.co.uk
Walking route
drivingwithdogs.co.uk
Treats
drivingwithdogs.co.uk
Packages

The Outcomes

In the first 12 months after launch, the new website had revitalised the Driving with Dogs membership base, with a big influx of new subscribing members too.

The huge improvements in User Experience and SEO have made it incredibly simple to subscribe and start using the website, and the restructure of pricing and new rewards system has given people extra incentives to be part of the community.