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A mixed-method study on why members booked yoga classes but didn't always show up — and what it revealed about trust across a two-sided marketplace.
Rebuilding trust
in the booking experience
Booking a yoga class should feel effortless. The numbers said it was working — until
I looked closer.
I combined survey and interviews — each answering a different half of the question.
Four takeaways, one common thread.
If members accepted the rules, what made the experience feel unfair?
They wanted to understand what to expect.
When time matters more than credits.
Flexibility is the strongest value proposition.
Fairness matters more than the penalties themselves.
Perceived fairness drives retention.
Partner trust depends on transparency.
~1 in 3
19%
4 / 4
41%
44%
3 / 4
38%
3.2 / 6
2 / 4
People weren't struggling to book classes.
They were losing confidence in what happened after booking.
Booking activity stayed healthy, members kept exploring different studios, and the credit-based subscription delivered the flexibility it promised. On paper, the experience looked fine. But support tickets kept mentioning unexpected cancellations. App reviews described frustration over incorrect attendance penalties. And partner studios raised growing concerns about payout transparency. At first these looked like unrelated operational issues.
The survey mapped how widespread each friction point was across 214 active members: what they did, how often issues occurred, and where friction appeared most. Interviews uncovered the why — the motivations, expectations, and frustrations behind those behaviours. I deliberately added the studio side to scope. Payout is the root of a problem members eventually feel: when studios cut slots, availability drops, and attendance falls with it. Segmenting by tenure (New vs Tenured) and frequency (Casual vs Committed) let me test a hypothesis — that the most loyal members were the most exposed to unilateral cancellations. The data confirmed it.
Trade-off I made: four partner studios traded breadth for depth. For a full payout-policy decision this needs quantitative follow-up — which I flagged explicitly in the recommendations.
Whenever a studio cancelled, members were refunded automatically — so from a system view, the transaction was resolved. But the refund was rarely the real loss. Members had already rearranged work, planned a commute, skipped other commitments. Sometimes they'd already arrived.
Very few members questioned why penalties existed. The friction came when the system recorded attendance incorrectly — arriving on time, checking in, and still getting a no-show penalty. The financial impact was small. The emotional impact wasn't.
Partners recognised the value YogaPass brought — new customers, visibility, filled off-peak capacity. But conversations kept returning to one question: “How is this number calculated?” No studio wanted to leave because payouts were low. They wanted to understand the logic behind them.
Members weren't asking for unlimited flexibility. Partner studios weren't asking for unlimited revenue. Both wanted something simpler.
Unexpected cancellations disrupted routines. Incorrect records created uncertainty. Opaque payouts weakened confidence. Different touchpoints — one shared consequence: the marketplace felt less predictable. Trust isn't a single feature. It's an outcome created across every interaction.
Each recommendation targets a different part of confidence in the booking experience — held together by one principle: every interaction should reinforce members' and partners' confidence in the platform.
Trust is rarely built through a single feature. It's built through repeated experiences that feel predictable, transparent, and fair.
If I ran this again, I'd instrument behavioural check-in logs earlier to triangulate the incorrect-penalty reports against system data, rather than relying on self-report alone. My biggest takeaway: bringing the studio side into scope turned this from “a member complaint” into “a systemic risk” — and that reframing is what made the recommendations land.
The refund addressed the transaction. It did not address the experience — the difference between financial fairness and experiential fairness.
The interesting part wasn't the penalty — it was the uncertainty. Once members doubted the system could recognise reality, every future booking carried a little doubt. Members trusted the policy more than they trusted its execution.
This is an ecosystem loop: unclear payout → studios cut slots → availability drops → member attendance and retention fall. Insight 03 quietly connects back to the funnel at the top of this page.
How might we reduce the impact of last-minute cancellations so members feel both their credits and their time are protected?
How might we help members feel confident their attendance was accurately recorded before any penalty is applied?
How might we make payout decisions easier for partner studios to understand and trust?
“Getting the credit back doesn't really solve the problem. I've already planned my evening around that class.” -The Regular · Tenured · 2 classes/week
“I arrived ten minutes early, sat through the whole class, and still got a no-show penalty. Sorting it out took four days.” -The Explorer · New · 1 class/week
“My class is full of YogaPass members, but what reaches the studio is very small. If it stays like this, I'll have to cap their slots.” -Boutique studio owner · partner for 8 months
members hit a unilateral cancellation
penalised despite arriving on time
studios: payout below normal rate
got no or late notification
from a failed check-in scan
found the calculation unclear
of cases were early-morning classes
lowest score: dispute handling
considered cutting YogaPass slots
Studio variety and scheduling flexibility were the main reasons members chose YogaPass over single-studio memberships. It should be protected as the marketplace grows.
Members understood why penalties existed. What hurt confidence was the system applying those rules incorrectly.
Studio variety and scheduling flexibility were the main reasons members chose YogaPass over single-studio memberships. It should be protected as the marketplace grows.
Studios didn't just want higher payouts — they wanted to understand how payouts were calculated in the first place.
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03
That became the starting point of this research — and the reason I brought both members and partner studios into scope.
why this research?
my approach
what i learned
the three friction points, up close
connecting the dots
strategic recommendations
learnings
inisght 01
The rules weren't the problem.
Transparency builds better partnerships.
inisght 02
inisght 03
Protect members' time — not only their credits.
Design for confidence before enforcement.
Make marketplace decisions easier to understand.
Members measured cancellations in lost time, not lost credits. Reduce the cost of recovering from a cancellation, not just the refund.
The challenge isn't explaining policy — it's operational confidence. Members should trust attendance is recorded correctly before any penalty applies.
Transparency strengthens confidence even when the payout amount stays the same. Show partners how earnings are determined.
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03
Earlier cancellation alerts
Dual check-in (QR + studio)
Payout breakdowns
Replacement-class suggestions
Visible check-in confirmation
Calculation explanations
Low-effort recovery flow
Flag repeat-offender studios
1-tap dispute
Less manual proof
Clearer reporting
Proactive payout comms
Sample case study. YogaPass is a fictional product created for portfolio purposes; all figures, quotes, and participants are illustrative and do not represent any real company.