Uncovercity is a Spanish startup aiming to revolutionize both the way we gift experiences and how we enjoy gastronomy. The result is surprise dining experiences where the recipient knows when and with whom they will dine, but not where or what they will eat.

This way, customers enjoy a dining experience tailored to their tastes, where they must guess their restaurant through a series of clues. Their vision: each customer in the right restaurant, with the right menu, with minimal friction.

Despite Uncovercity having an extremely high NPS and a 4.9 rating on Google Reviews (making it the best-rated experience company on Google), its purchasing experience was a problem that directly impacted revenue, especially for new customers unfamiliar with the brand. To address this, we first sought to better understand the context and how customers interacted with the website.

User testing confirmed that the booking and purchasing process posed usability and trust issues, particularly when users had to enter their payment details.

Additionally, heatmaps and cart abandonment data revealed that most customers had questions about the experience, leading them to either abandon the purchase or, at best, interrupt it to ask questions via our customer support chat.

Finally, to build solutions on a solid foundation, we conducted a benchmark analysis to identify common design patterns, conversion-boosting elements, and UX/UI inspiration to improve the purchasing experience.

To address the main issues, we gathered the most common customer questions that acted as blockers in the purchase process and integrated their answers organically into the design—covering topics like the post-purchase process, what the menu includes, and how redemption works. We sourced this information from customer support feedback and surveys used in our product discovery process.

Adding this information at key moments (such as experience selection or payment) helped reduce the load on customer support.

The high bounce and cart abandonment rates pointed to another key issue: the lack of trust and perceived reliability of the brand.

To address this, we designed a new interface aimed at reducing cognitive load. By analyzing the most common purchasing scenarios (number of guests, type of experience, etc.), we pre-selected certain options and minimized the number of steps required, lowering friction.

Additionally, this new interface made key information easier to digest, reducing user hesitation and the likelihood of errors that could lead to operational issues and impact profit margins.

Being involved in both the design and development allowed me to oversee the entire process, taking technical constraints into account to make more optimal design decisions that reduced costs and improved time to value. I used Bubble, a no-code tool, for development, as it was the platform where the payment infrastructure was built.

Ultimately, strong design decisions, cross-team collaboration, and a deep understanding of key objectives and pain points led to a highly successful project. From the first month of implementation, all key metrics improved—especially the conversion rate—allowing customers to book and purchase their Uncovercity experience with less friction, greater confidence, and in less time.