Curb.Health is a health tech SaaS platform that uses machine learning to help people manage cravings through Just‑in‑Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAI), supporting individuals, clinicians, and employers in reducing alcohol‑related harm. For this project, the goal was to redesign the marketing site and app onboarding flow to increase waitlist sign‑ups and demonstrate product value across three distinct user segments.
As Lead UX Designer, the remit covered end‑to‑end discovery, information architecture, interaction design, and UX writing, with a strong focus on measurable outcomes such as engagement, activation, and conversion to the app waitlist.
Ahead of launch, Curb.Health introduced a waitlist on its website, but engagement was low and visitors struggled to understand what the product did, who it was for, and why they should sign up. The existing site offered unclear messaging, weak calls to action, and a fragmented user journey, resulting in missed opportunities to validate the product and build an early adopter base.
The product serves three audiences—individuals managing cravings, clinicians providing remote support, and companies investing in employee wellbeing—yet the previous experience failed to communicate differentiated value for each group, limiting its effectiveness as a SaaS acquisition funnel.
- No clear, outcome‑driven call to action or onboarding journey from landing to waitlist confirmation.
- Confusing layout and information hierarchy that did not answer basic questions such as “What is the product?” and “How does it help me?”.
- Sensitive safeguarding topics and a biased recruitment pool (patients, friends, collaborators) made it difficult to gather unbiased research insights on cravings and alcohol use.
From a SaaS perspective, these issues translated into low activation, poor lead quality, and limited product learning ahead of launch
This is the client's former website which failed to create user engagement and gather subscribers for the launching of the new coming mobile application.
The work followed a Design Thinking process anchored in the Double Diamond framework, moving from discovery to delivery with clear checkpoints.
Key activities
- Stakeholder workshops to align on business goals, user groups, and success metrics such as waitlist - conversion, engagement rate, and navigation time.
- Heuristic evaluation and analytics review of the existing site to surface UX and conversion issues.
- Competitor and market analysis across health and wellness SaaS products to benchmark onboarding patterns and trust signals.
- User interviews with individuals affected by cravings, plus clinicians and corporate stakeholders, to understand needs, language, and emotional triggers.
- Card sorting and IA redesign to create a clearer, more scalable content structure across personas.
- Low‑fidelity wireframes and moderated usability tests to compare two prototypes:
* Prototype A: a refined version of the existing site structure.
* Prototype B: a new concept informed by research and competitive insights, with clear CTAs and focused benefit‑led messaging.
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Prototype A preserved much of the original layout, allowing direct comparison of navigation and comprehension.
Prototype B introduced:
Persona‑specific narratives (Individual, Clinician, Employer) with tailored value propositions and outcomes.
A simplified, linear onboarding flow from hero section to waitlist sign‑up, minimising friction points.
Clear, benefit‑led CTAs that emphasised early access, support during cravings, and access to clinician‑approved methods.
Trust‑building elements such as confidentiality assurances, references to evidence‑based psychiatry, and transparent explanation of AI‑driven interventions
After synthesising findings, a high‑fidelity prototype was created and tested with users to validate the new IA, microcopy, and interaction patterns. The focus was on comprehension, perceived safety, and motivational triggers around signing up.
The research highlighted several critical themes:
- Language matters: users responded better when the experience framed “cravings” rather than “addiction”, reducing stigma and making it easier to self‑identify with the problem space.
- Trust and confidentiality were non‑negotiable, especially given the sensitivity of alcohol‑related behaviour; users wanted clarity on data use, availability of support, and the credibility of the underlying methodology.
- Users needed to see “quick wins” and tangible benefits of the app before committing to the waitlist, such as 24/7 support, structured interventions, and access to clinician‑informed content.
These insights directly informed the IA, messaging, and the design of the onboarding flow, ensuring the SaaS proposition felt both safe and valuable.
The final solution positioned Curb.Health clearly as an AI‑powered health SaaS platform that delivers:
- A seamless, low‑friction onboarding journey to the app waitlist, with a single, prominent CTA and minimal - cognitive load.
- Segment‑specific value messaging for individuals, clinicians, and employers, aligned to their goals (support during cravings, remote monitoring, and reduced absenteeism respectively).
- Strong trust signals: 24/7 support, confidential data handling, evidence‑based JITAI methodology, and content developed by psychiatrists.
- A transparent explanation of how the machine‑learning driven interventions work in practice, helping users understand why the product is different from generic wellness apps.
This repositioned the website from a static marketing page into a measurable acquisition and education layer for the SaaS product.
Post‑launch, the optimised experience delivered clear improvements across key SaaS metrics:
These changes indicated stronger product fit communication, deeper user exploration, and significantly improved conversion into the waitlist funnel—critical for validating the app and training its ML‑driven features with real user data.
Throughout the project, the work demonstrated a range of UX and product skills relevant to SaaS teams:
Early access page - We wanted to impact with the message and make the call to action intuitive and seamless showing glances of the App’s features plus the benefits of signing in for early access.
The project reinforced the importance of:
- Treating onboarding as a core SaaS feature, not an afterthought; it directly affects activation, retention, and perception of product value.
- Designing research strategies that balance sensitivity and rigour, especially when dealing with mental health and substance‑related topics.
- Using clear, non‑stigmatising language and trust‑first design patterns to encourage engagement in high‑vulnerability contexts.
- Maintaining close collaboration with stakeholders to connect UX outcomes (like engagement and clarity) to business metrics (like sign‑ups and retention).
This project demonstrated how a research‑driven, ethically sensitive UX approach can transform a healthtech SaaS onboarding from low clarity and poor engagement into a high‑performing acquisition funnel. By reframing the language around cravings, restructuring the information architecture, and designing a trust‑centred waitlist journey, the experience now better reflects users’ emotional realities while supporting Curb.Health’s product and growth goals. The measurable uplift in engagement and waitlist sign‑ups validates the value of thoughtful UX in de‑risking launch, strengthening stakeholder confidence, and laying foundations for future product iterations.
