Madison Reed: In-Salon Colorist App
Streamlining Front Desk Operations: How We Cut Wait Times by 50% While Managing 10x COVID Volume Surge
Overview: Madison Reed's Color Bar salons were struggling with fragmented operations systems that left reception staff juggling multiple tools for appointments, check-ins, sales transactions, and inventory management. When COVID hit, online volume surged to 10-12x normal levels while Buy Online Pickup in Store (BOPIS) became essential for business continuity. As Lead Product Designer, I redesigned the entire front desk operations platform to serve reception staff through a unified interface. Over 6 months of intense development, I consolidated appointment management, BOPIS fulfillment, POS systems, and sales reporting into a single app that could handle Madison Reed's explosive growth while improving both staff efficiency and customer experience.
Impact: Reduced salon wait times by 50%, successfully managed 10-12x volume surge during COVID (one Radiant Color Kit sold every 5 seconds at peak). Established comprehensive omnichannel operations supporting home delivery, in-salon services, and store pickup optionn.
Role
Sr. Product Designer
Duration
6 months
Team (Besides Me)
2 PM, 2 Eng, CTO, 10+ Money Coaches
Establishing Context
Why this project mattered for the business
Clarity: A single platform to view appointments, walk-ins, BOPIS orders, etc.
Transaction Efficiency due to streamlined POS system with intuitive product organization
Integrated sales stats and inventory visibility enabled staff to be more informed
Establishing Context
Key constraint: COVID Timeline Pressure and BOPIS Integration Complexity
The pandemic created urgent need for BOPIS functionality while we were simultaneously rebuilding core salon operations and POS systems. Additionally, integrating real-time sales data APIs with existing inventory systems added technical complexity under extreme time pressure.
MVP → v2: BOPIS Priority with Enhanced Operations
We prioritized essential BOPIS and POS functionality for immediate COVID response while planning enhanced sales analytics and reporting for post-reopening phases.
Key features prioritized for MVP:
Integrated BOPIS order management and immediate fulfillment workflow
Rebuilt POS system with improved product organization and search
Unified appointment scheduling and check-in system
Real-time sales stats and inventory visibility for managers
Key Outcomes
Key Outcome 1
We created a seamless BOPIS experience that eliminated inventory conflicts and customer disappointment.
This initiative mattered to the business because it enabled salons to serve as reliable fulfillment centers during supply chain disruptions while maintaining customer trust and preventing the awkward out-of-stock situations that were damaging the brand experience.
Intuitive Customer Ordering:
Customers could easily browse available salon inventory online and place orders with confidence, knowing items would be reserved immediately upon purchase rather than held until pickup arrival.
Structured Fulfillment Workflow:
We established a clear three-stage process - Order Placed (immediate inventory reservation), Order Ready (item prepared and bagged by reception staff), and Order Picked Up (customer notification and handoff) - ensuring every BOPIS order moved efficiently through the system.
Reception Organization System:
Built-in tools helped receptionists stay organized during high-volume periods, with clear visual indicators for order status, pickup timeframes, and customer communication requirements, preventing orders from getting lost or forgotten during busy salon periods.
Key Outcome 2
We delivered organizational streamlining that unified operations and empowered data-driven decisions.
This initiative mattered to the business because consolidating POS functionality with real-time sales insights eliminated workflow interruptions and enabled managers to make inventory, staffing, and operational decisions during the day rather than relying on after-the-fact analysis.
Rebuilt POS Integration:
Intuitive product organization, fast search functionality, reliable payment processing, and integrated inventory visibility eliminated transaction bottlenecks and gave receptionists confidence in product availability during customer interactions.
Real-time Sales Intelligence:
Immediate visibility into daily sales totals, product performance, and transaction history directly within the primary workflow, eliminating the need for managers to access separate dashboard systems to understand salon performance.
The most complex challenge was designing an interface simple enough for reception staff to learn quickly during a crisis, while robust enough to handle complex POS transactions, BOPIS fulfillment workflows, and real-time data visualization. The pandemic timeline meant we couldn't afford extensive training periods or complicated interfaces that would slow down operations.
Initial stakeholder discussions revealed tension between feature completeness and usability. The business needed comprehensive POS functionality, sophisticated BOPIS management, and detailed sales analytics, but reception staff were already overwhelmed and couldn't handle additional complexity during peak volume periods.
I addressed this through extensive observation of front desk workflows at the Corte Madera location, identifying the top three frustrations receptionists faced:
System fragmentation: Having to juggle multiple disconnected tools for appointments, sales, and inventory while customers waited
Inventory uncertainty: Not knowing if products were actually available when customers asked, leading to awkward situations and disappointed customers
Manual workarounds: Having to use paper notes or memory to track important information because the digital systems didn't communicate with each other
This led to a progressive disclosure interface design - core functions (checkout, pickup lookup, order fulfillment) were prominent and simple, while advanced features (detailed analytics, inventory management, reporting) were easily accessible but not cluttering the primary workflow.
The unified dashboard solved the fragmentation issue while ensuring receptionists could access all necessary information without switching between systems, reducing cognitive load during high-stress situations while maximizing operational efficiency.
This is an example of absolute minimal friction for the to input data / complete goals.
Conclusion: What I Learned, What I’d Do Differently
This project reinforced how crisis situations can accelerate innovation when design stays focused on user needs rather than feature requirements. By prioritizing field research even under timeline pressure, I learned how to identify shared user needs beneath seemingly different workflows.
If I approached this again, I'd invest more in post-launch user behavior analytics to understand how the dual-interface design performed in practice. While we successfully launched during COVID, deeper data on task completion patterns would have informed more sophisticated personalization features. I'd also advocate for more extensive pilot testing with multiple salon locations before full rollout.
The Corte Madera insights were invaluable, but validating the design across different salon sizes and customer demographics would have reduced post-launch edge cases. Ultimately, this project demonstrated how thoughtful information architecture can serve diverse user needs without compromising simplicity, and how field research remains essential even when timelines are compressed and circumstances are challenging.
