Redbox Quick Reserve

Lead User Experience Designer
Duration: 60 days

Overview

Redbox’s weekly “New Videos” email was one of the company’s highest-performing marketing channels, yet it drove limited direct reservations. Customers could see what was available, but the path from email to kiosk checkout required too many steps and too much effort. The Quick Reserve project reimagined that journey to make reserving a movie as immediate and simple as tapping a single link.

Final Screens

The Challenge

Customers regularly received emails featuring newly released DVDs available at nearby kiosks. Interest was high, but follow-through was low.

Key Pain Points

The email linked only to a video detail page, not to a reservation flow

Users had to manually add titles to a cart and complete checkout

No way to set a preferred kiosk or store payment for faster rentals

By the time customers reached a kiosk, popular titles were often gone

Friction led to abandonment and lost revenue opportunities

The experience was informative, but not actionable

Goal

Create a seamless path from marketing email to confirmed kiosk pickup with minimal clicks, enabling customers to reserve featured titles instantly and increasing overall cart size.

My Role

As Lead UX Designer, I owned the end-to-end experience design:

Defined the happy-path workflow from email to kiosk pickup

Designed user flows and wireframes

Partnered with engineering on technical feasibility

Collaborated with Business Intelligence to validate metrics

Shaped new capabilities such as preferred kiosk and saved payment

Process

Collaborative discovery
A three-day whiteboard session with engineering mapped the existing journey and identified friction points. Together we designed a new flow that allowed users to jump directly from email to a pre-populated reservation.

Experience design

Created detailed user flows outlining email, web, and kiosk touchpoints

Developed wireframes to test interaction models

Iterated with Business Intelligence to align with data and tracking needs

Validation and delivery
Refined prototypes were reviewed across product, engineering, and BI teams before moving into development, QA, and launch.

The Solution

Quick Reserve introduced a one-tap path from email to checkout

Email links opened a reservation flow with the selected title already added

Users could set a preferred kiosk for faster fulfillment

Option to store credit card for one-step checkout

Clear confirmation and pickup instructions

Streamlined “happy path” requiring only a few interactions

The design connected marketing intent directly to transaction with almost no friction

Results

+50% increase in cart size

Previous average:
1 video per transaction

After launch:
1.5 videos per transaction

Additional Impact

Higher conversion from email campaigns

Reduced abandonment during checkout

Greater customer confidence in title availability

Stronger alignment between marketing and product experience

Outcome

Quick Reserve transformed a passive marketing email into an active commerce channel. By designing around real customer behavior and partnering closely with engineering and analytics, we created a feature that delivered measurable revenue growth and a smoother, more reliable experience for millions of Redbox users.

User Flows

Initial Team Sandbox session

Refined User Flow