CONSUMER COACHING PLATFORM
Increasing retention with personalized Gen AI lesson plans
PRODUCT DESIGN
RETENTION STRATEGY
MOBILE APP
GEN AI
Role
Lead Product Designer
Responsibilities
End-to-end UX & UI Design Process
Team
Product Manger
Engineering
Timeline
Q1 2026
Tools
Figma
Claude
AT A GLANCE
Overview
SwingTweaks is a mobile golf coaching platform connecting everyday golfers with PGA professionals for personalized swing analysis. As Lead Product Designer, I led an end-to-end redesign effort focused on lesson retention. First-purchase conversion was strong at 25%, but only 20% of golfers returned for a second lesson. Partnering with product and engineering, I used hypothesis-driven research to identify post-lesson uncertainty as the core retention barrier, then designed an AI-powered Practice Plan feature that turned coaching feedback into structured weekly training, creating a clear, motivating path back to the next lesson.
Goals
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Replace assumptions about churn with evidence from real user research
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Give golfers clear direction on what to do between lessons, not just after one
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Use AI to connect a coach's personalized video analysis to specific drills and sessions, turning feedback into actionable practice instead of a one-time video a golfer watches once and forgets
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Design a scalable solution that doesn't multiply coaching costs per golfer
The Challenge
BUSINESS NEEDS
Grow "tweaks per tweaker per year." Golfers averaged just 1.2 lessons annually, meaning most never returned after a first session.
USER NEEDS
Golfers needed a clear sense of what to practice and when to come back. Without it, even a positive lesson experience faded into inaction.
PROBLEM TO SOLVE
Golfers who complete a lesson often don't know what to do next, leaving them without a clear reason, or a clear plan, to return.
RESEARCH
Gathering Insights
While it would have been easy to assume users weren't satisfied with their lessons, we wanted to understand the root cause before jumping to solutions. We needed to move from assumptions to evidence.
Two Cohorts Interviewed:
REPEAT CUSTOMERS
Highly motivated, self-directed, actively practiced between lessons, sought ongoing feedback.
ONE-TIME CUSTOMERS
Satisfied with the lesson, but uncertain what to practice next, unsure when to return, no structure between sessions.
Key Themes and Insights
These insights drove the prioritization of features and ensured alignment of goals.
DIRECTION,
NOT MOTIVATION
Golfers who churned weren't unmotivated. They were uncertain what to do next.
STRUCTURE BUILDS CONTINUITY
Golfers who did self-directed practice between lessons correlated with repeat bookings.
VALUE
PERCEPTION
Some churn wasn't about experience quality. Rather golfers believed the original problem was already solved.
HOW MIGHT WE
How might we give golfers a clear, structured path between lessons, so uncertainty doesn't become the reason they don't return?
IDEATION
Hypothesis, Tradeoffs & Design Focus
While it would have been easy to assume users weren't satisfied with their lessons, we wanted to understand the root cause before jumping to solutions. We needed to move from assumptions to evidence.
HYPOTHESIS ONE
A clear call to action for when to return would increase repeat purchases.
HYPOTHESIS TWO
Structured practice tasks would remove ambiguity between lessons.
Design Focus
To meet tight deadlines, we prioritized rapid iteration, starting with highfidelity mockups with a priority focus.
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Replace assumptions about churn with evidence from real user research​
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Turn coaching feedback into clear, actionable next steps
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Keep golfers motivated between lessons
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Reduce cognitive load during practice
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Create a natural return point for additional coaching
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Deliver a consistent experience across different coaching styles
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Use AI to connect personalized coach feedback to relevant drills and practice sessions
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Design a scalable solution without increasing coaching costs per golfer
Evaluating Interventions
We explored several approaches, balancing impact with effort and business constraints. The Practice Plan emerged as the strongest opportunity. It directly addressed the core problem of uncertainty after the lesson ended.
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The catch! Manually building a personalized plan for every golfer would significantly raise coaching costs. We partnered with engineering to solve this with an AI-assisted approach instead.
Evaluating Interventions
We explored several approaches, balancing impact with effort and business constraints. The Practice Plan emerged as the strongest opportunity. It directly addressed the core problem of uncertainty after the lesson ended.
​
The catch! Manually building a personalized plan for every golfer would significantly raise coaching costs. We partnered with engineering to solve this with an AI-assisted approach instead.
HOW IT WORKS
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The golfer receives a personalized video analysis from their PGA pro after they submit their "Swingtweak"
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An LLM analyzes that feedback and connects it to specific drills and sessions
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A personalized 3-week practice plan is generated, linking the coach's actual feedback to concrete practice
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The golfer receives structured weekly exercises and a clear finish line: a defined point of completion that prompts them to book their next lesson.
Trade-offs
Key decisions we made to balance user needs, business goals, and delivery constraints.
SCALE VS COST
Saclable AI-generated plans vs. the cost of creating plans manually
CLARITY VS FELXIBLITY
A clear, fixed 3-week structure vs. a more flexible, adaptive experience
SPEED VS DEPTH
Faster feature delivery vs. more extensive user validation
USER TESTING
Testing The Solution
While it would have been easy to assume users weren't satisfied with their lessons, we wanted to understand the root cause before jumping to solutions. We needed to move from assumptions to evidence.
FINAL DESIGN
The MVP Design
While it would have been easy to assume users weren't satisfied with their lessons, we wanted to understand the root cause before jumping to solutions. We needed to move from assumptions to evidence.
Homepage Key Considerations
SEE WHAT'S NEXT
See what to practice next in your lesson plan
QUICK ACCESS
Drills, coach feedback and recent tweaks in one place
LESS FRICTION
Fewer steps between feedback and practice
SUBMIT YOUR SWING
A clear path back to coaching
Lesson Plan Key Considerations
ACTIONABLE FEEDBACK
Turn coaching feedback into clear next steps
BETWEEN-LESSON MOTIVATION
Keep golfers engaged and practicing between lessons
CONSISTENT EXPERIENCE
Create a reliable experience across coaching styles
SCALABLE
AI supports personalized practice without increasing coaching costs
SUCCESS METRICS
Measurable Impact
+40% Engagement
Increase in repeat lesson engagement
25% Increase In Sales
Tweaks sold per golfer per year
2 User Cohorts
Interviewed to identify retention barriers
PROCESS & APPROACH
Process & Approach
Evaluating Interventions
3. Evaluating Interventions
Rather than jumping directly into a solution, we explored several approaches and weighed their potential impact against implementation effort and business constraints.
WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME?
The Solution
Research revealed that many golfers weren't failing to improve because they lacked motivation. They were struggling because they lacked direction. To address this, we introduced Practice Plans, an AI-powered feature that transformed coaching feedback into structured weekly training plans. The goal was to remove ambiguity between lessons and create a stronger connection between coaching sessions.
By converting a completed lesson into actionable next steps, golfers received:
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Clear practice goals
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Weekly training activities
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A structured learning path
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Defined milestones for returning to coaching
A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
Next Steps
Given the time constraints, our team delivered an exceptional product. However, if the engagement were extended, my approach would focus on further validation, refinement, and iteration to maximize usability and adoption. Ensuring the product is not only functional but also optimized for real-world use, driving long-term value and business impact.
Lessons Learned
Users weren't asking for more coaching. They were asking for more direction. By looking beyond acquisition metrics and focusing on retention, we uncovered a gap between receiving feedback and knowing how to act on it. The resulting Practice Plan feature increased repeat lesson engagement, validating our hypothesis, but also revealed that improving a metric and solving a business challenge are two different milestones. The work succeeded, but it also clarified what problems still remained to be solved.
What's Next
The Practice Plan feature successfully increased lessons per golfer from 1.2 to 1.5, validating our hypothesis that golfers needed more structure and guidance between coaching sessions. While the results were encouraging, they also revealed that improving retention would require more than a single intervention.
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Future exploration would focus on helping golfers build lasting practice habits through progress tracking, personalized coaching journeys, and stronger accountability mechanisms. The next challenge wasn't helping users understand what to do next, but helping them consistently follow through and return as part of an ongoing improvement journey.
LOOK, THERE'S MORE!
