An Online Booking Experience for At-Home Veterinary Care
A booking experience that helps pet owners schedule home veterinary visits in a clear, simple, and accessible way.
My Role:
Research
UX Design
UI Design
Project Overview
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The Vets provides at-home veterinary care, helping pets receive treatment in a familiar, comfortable environment instead of a stressful clinic setting.
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We created a web-based booking system and an iOS app to support the appointment experience, from scheduling a visit to managing visit details.
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My goal was to design a booking journey that makes scheduling a home visit feel clear, guided, and trustworthy - helping users move from choosing the type of care they need to confirming an appointment with confidence.
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This case study focuses on the web booking system, with a closer look at the UX differences between new and returning user flows.
The Challenge
The service promised a calmer vet visit - the booking flow needed to feel just as simple.
Clinic visits can be stressful for pets, especially when they involve unfamiliar environments, long wait times, or exposure to other animals. For pet owners, scheduling and transportation can add another layer of friction.
The challenge was to design a booking experience that made at-home vet care easy to access, from choosing the type of care to confirming a visit with clarity and confidence.
Research & Discovery
Learning from Similar Booking Experiences
As part of the discovery process, we reviewed similar at-home veterinary and pet-care services to understand how they structured their booking flows.
We focused on key experience elements such as multi-pet support, emergency visit handling, veterinarian selection, and communication options. This helped us identify common market patterns and opportunities to make The Vets’ booking experience clearer and more supportive.
Key Takeaway
Most services supported multi-pet care and veterinarian selection, but the way these options appeared in the booking flow was often unclear or inconsistent. This highlighted an opportunity to make key decisions more visible and easier to complete.
Mapping the Pet Owner Journey
Key Takeaway
The experience needed to reduce both emotional stress and logistical effort — making it easy for pet owners to understand the service, choose the right type of care, and book a visit with confidence.
Together with the Product Manager, we explored the challenges pet owners face when scheduling and attending vet visits - from getting an anxious pet into a carrier to finding a convenient appointment time.
This helped us map the emotional and logistical friction in the current experience, and identify where an at-home visit could create a calmer, more convenient alternative.
Primary User Persona
Based on user research and web analytics, we created a persona to represent busy pet owners looking for a more convenient way to manage routine veterinary care.
Booking Flow Architecture
Based on the persona needs and booking requirements, we mapped the appointment flow around two main user states: new clients who need more guidance, and returning clients who can move faster using saved details.
Key Takeaway
The flow needed to balance guidance and efficiency - helping new clients complete all required steps while allowing returning clients to book with less repetition.
The Solution
I designed the booking flow around four key product decisions:
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Separate paths for new and returning clients
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Pet-first selection to support single and multi-pet visits
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Flexible scheduling with a waitlist option
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A review step before confirming the appointment
To keep the experience aligned with The Vets’ brand while supporting a more complex booking flow, I extended the visual palette with neutral gray tones for structure and readability.
I also introduced secondary colors for important UI moments, such as promotions, notifications, subscription plans, and other messages that needed to stand out.
Fonts
Main title - H1
Berlingske serif Xcn
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Secondary title + Paragraph - H2 + P
Basis grotesque regular
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Basis grotesque medium
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Basis grotesque bold
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Colors
Primary
Dark green
#023F47
Green
#0F856B
Red
#FF0032
Grey
#EEEFF2
Grey
#F8F9FC
Secondary
Orange
#FF9D27
Purple
#5C73B8
Brand-Aligned UI Foundation
Bringing the Booking Flow to Life
After defining the booking flow, I designed key screens across the appointment journey - from selecting a pet and reason for visit to choosing a time and confirming the visit.
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Designing for New and Returning Clients
New Client
Needs guidance, context, and reassurance while completing the booking process for the first time.
Returning Client
Needs speed, personalization, and fewer repeated steps by using saved details, existing pet profiles, and previous visit information.
Choosing the Pet That Needs Care
New clients add their pet’s name and type as part of the booking flow, while returning clients can choose from pets already saved in their account.
This supports both first-time booking and multi-pet households, while reducing repeated steps for returning clients.
Returning client
New client
Helping Users Choose the Right Type of Care
The reason-for-visit step helps users understand which type of care best matches their pet’s needs.
Each option includes a short explanation of typical cases, and emergency guidance is shown to direct users to an emergency hospital when needed.
Making Scheduling More Flexible
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Users can switch between weekly and monthly calendar views to find a convenient appointment time.
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For returning clients, the flow also supports choosing a preferred veterinarian based on previous visits.
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When availability is limited, contextual messages help users understand which slots may fill up quickly, while the waitlist option keeps them in the flow when no suitable time is available.
Returning client
New client
Reviewing Details Before Confirmation
Before confirming the appointment, users can review the visit details, address, contact information, selected service, and pricing.
For returning clients, saved information is prefilled, so the summary mainly works as a final check.
For new clients, it helps build confidence by making all appointment details visible before booking.
Returning client
New client
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The Final Booking Experience
The booking experience made the path to scheduling an at-home vet visit clearer and easier to complete, while adapting to the needs of both new and returning clients.
The main UX improvements included guided service selection, multi-pet support, flexible scheduling, saved details for returning users, and a final review step before confirmation.
Looking back, this project helped me understand how a booking flow can do more than collect information - it can reduce uncertainty, build trust, and make a service feel more personal.
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