How Would You Build the Sports Court Booking Experience?

Product Strategy: You’re the PM for a court-booking app (e.g., for badminton, football). How would you design the end-to-end user journey, acquire users, and drive repeat bookings?

Framework:

We’ll answer this across six key dimensions:

1. User Acquisition

2. User Journey: First-Time Booking

3. Conversion Funnel Optimization

4. Repeat Booking & Power Users

5. Monetization & Pricing Strategy

6. Post-Purchase Flow & Product Stickiness

---

1. User Acquisition – How Would You Get Users to Book Courts?

Acquiring users requires a mix of hyperlocal targeting, sports community engagement, and performance marketing. The strategy should cover awareness, intent capture, and referral-based growth. Let’s break it down across channels:

A. Organic Acquisition

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Build landing pages by city & sport type:
  E.g., “Badminton court in Indiranagar” or “5-a-side football turf in Bandra”

• Use schema markup and rich snippets for location, timing, and price

2. App Store Optimization (ASO)

• Optimize for keywords like:

  • "Book badminton court"

  • "Football turf near me"

  • "Sports venue booking"

• Include location-based screenshots and reviews to improve conversions

3. Content Marketing

• Start a blog or Instagram series:
  “Top 5 Affordable Badminton Courts in Mumbai”
  “Weekend Turf Matches in Bangalore”
  “Fitness through 5-a-side Football: Here’s Where to Play”

---

B. Paid Acquisition

1. Google Search Ads (High Intent)

• Bid on local + intent-based keywords:

  • “book badminton court near me”

  • “football turf for rent Mumbai tonight”

• Geo-fence ads to appear only in 5–10km radius of serviceable locations

2. Meta Ads (Interest-based)

• Target sports communities:

  • Interests: badminton, futsal, fitness

  • Behaviors: app downloads, event attendance, sports shopping

• Carousel ad examples:
  “Book your Saturday game now 🎾”
  “Late-night turfs open till 1 AM”

3. YouTube & Reels (Brand Awareness)

• 15s video spots showing how easy it is to book a court

• Use creators/influencers to narrate a day in the life of a turf player

---

C. Referral & Word of Mouth

1. Peer-based Referral Program

• “Play with friends, earn rewards.”

  • ₹100 coupon if a friend books using your code

  • Bonus: cashback after friend completes booking

2. Team Play Discounts

• Group discount for 4+ players

• Incentivize team captains with free booking every 5th time they book for others

3. Post-match Share Feature

• Let users share their match scorecard, team photo, or booking highlight → embeds branding + link to app

---

D. Community, Partnerships

1. Partner with Local Sports Academies & Gyms

• Co-branded booking discounts

• Install QR codes inside gyms for instant court booking

2. College & Corporate Tie-ups

• Offer special pricing to student groups or corporate leagues

• Sponsor intra-college tournaments or host “PMF (Product Market Fit) Games” with app-based registrations

---

E. Retargeting & Retention Hooks

• Users who dropped off after browsing → retarget with:

  • “Your favorite slot is available again!”

  • “50% off on your next booking”

• Cart abandonment retargeting via push, email, or in-app banners

---

2. User Journey – First-Time Court Booking Flow

Designing the first-time user journey for a sports court booking app is all about reducing friction, building trust, and guiding the user toward completing their first successful booking—as quickly and confidently as possible.

We’ll walk through the full end-to-end experience from ad click → confirmed booking and outline best practices to improve conversion.

---

Step-by-Step Journey:

Step 1: Entry Point – User Lands on the Platform

Scenarios:

• Clicks on a Google/Meta ad ("Book Badminton Near Indiranagar")

• Lands via a friend’s referral link

• Finds the app via organic search and installs it

Ensure contextual landing:
→ If user clicked “Book Football Turf in Bandra,” land them directly on pre-filtered turf listings for Bandra, not a generic homepage.

---

Step 2: Select Sport

Let users select their sport of interest:

• Badminton 🏸

• Football ⚽

• Tennis 🎾

• Cricket 🏏

Best Practice: Personalize based on location popularity or user’s past-selection / browsing history (if logged in)

---

Step 3: Choose Location & Court

User chooses:

• Area / Locality (auto-detect via GPS)

• Preferred venue / court

• Filters by:

  • Ratings

  • Pricing

  • Distance

  • Amenities (e.g., parking, changing room)

UX Tip: Add “Show courts near me” shortcut
Highlight popular or trending courts in that area

---

Step 4: Choose Date & Time Slot

User picks:

• Date

• Time slot (with real-time availability)

Micro-conversion tip:
Highlight “Only 2 slots left” or “High demand” badges to create urgency

---

Step 5: Add Number of Players & Rentals (Optional)

Ask:

• No. of players (auto-suggest based on sport)

• Equipment rentals (e.g., racquets, shoes, balls)

Monetization Tip: Cross-sell rentals here, e.g., “Rent 2 racquets for ₹50”

---

Step 6: Fill Player Details or Quick Sign-Up

User signs up or logs in to proceed:

• Mobile number (OTP based login)

• Name / age (minimal info to begin)

Friction-reduction tip: Allow guest checkout or “Continue with Google” / WhatsApp

---

Step 7: Make Payment

User proceeds to pay:

• Pricing based on slot, duration, and any rentals

• Multiple payment options:

  • UPI

  • Wallet

  • Credit/Debit Card

  • Netbanking

Optimization Tip:

• Offer 1st-time discount (e.g., “Use code FIRST100”)

• Allow partial wallet prepayment to reduce transaction drop-offs

• Display trust badges (“100% refund if court cancels”)

---

Step 8: Confirmation Screen

• Instant booking confirmation

• Summary of:

  • Venue

  • Time & date

  • Court details

  • Booking ID

  • Add to Calendar button

• CTA for next step:

  • “Invite your friends”

  • “Refer & Earn”

  • “Create your team”

Retention hooks:

• Push notification reminder 2 hrs before game

• Email summary with map, gear reminder, and cancellation policy

---

3. Conversion Funnel Optimization

Once you've acquired users and brought them into the app or landing page, the next critical job is to convert that intent into action—i.e., get them to complete a booking. Conversion funnel optimization is about identifying drop-offs, reducing friction, and guiding users from interest → booking with minimal effort and maximum trust.

What is the Booking Funnel?

A simplified view of the first-time booking funnel in a sports court booking app: