Availability management - Solving a churn problem affecting 30% of revenue
TLDR
Problem
Event-based professionals (30% of paid users) were paying for enquiries on dates they couldn't fulfil.
Solution
A calendar-based availability system allowing sellers to mark unavailable dates.
Outcome
Launched - pending metrics Preliminary: Reduced wasted enquiries, better consumer experience, increase in retention.
Role
Research, survey design, solution design, concept testing, stakeholder alignment
Context
Bark connects service buyers with professionals across categories like DJs, photographers, personal trainers, and cleaners. Through ongoing retention user research, we identified a significant friction point: sellers were frequently receiving and paying for enquiries on dates when they were already booked.
Event-based professionals on Bark Marketplace were receiving enquiries for dates when they're already booked - wasting credits, time, and eroding trust in the platform.
"I keep getting last-minute bookings for dates I'm unavailable. That's money down the drain."
"Clients are frustrated when I tell them I'm unavailable—it reflects badly on both of us."
Problem discovery and validation
From our interviews we knew this problem disproportionately affected professionals in the entertainment industry. I conducted a survey with 28 professionals in the entertainment industry to validate the severity of the pain points and gauge the appetite for solutions.
71%
receive enquiries for dates when already booked
82%
said this issue is affecting their relationship with Bark
36%
seriously considering leaving the platform
69%
would invest 5-10 mins weekly updating availability
The data painted a clear picture: roughly 30% of paid enquiries were for jobs they couldn't fulfil. More critically, 25% had already reduced their platform usage, and 21% were actively exploring alternatives.
Customer pain points
Lost Credits
"I'm getting 10+ enquiries a week for dates I can't do. That's money down the drain."
Time Wasted
"I waste time doing credit responses and requesting refunds instead of booking actual jobs."
Poor Client Experience
"Clients are frustrated when I tell them I'm unavailable—it reflects badly on both of us."
Key insight
50% of respondents indicated that full-day blocking would work for their business model. This validated our MVP approach of starting with day-level granularity before investing in more complex time-slot features.
Solution
A simple calendar interface allowing sellers to mark specific dates as unavailable.
The engineering lead confirmed the approach was technically simple, with day-level granularity keeping complexity manageable.
Binary day picker
Works for ~50% of survey participants. Low engineering complexity
Trade off
DJs with multiple daily gigs won't get full value until hourly blocking ships.
Direct manipulation
Faster for professionals to mark multiple dates, more visual reduces cognitive load
Trade off
Risk of accidental toggles (mitigated by clear visual feedback and undo).
Available by default
Sellers are assumed available unless they mark dates as unavailable. (Mitigated adoption risk)
Trade off
Less forceful approach could impact adoption
Vibe coded prototype for testing
Concept testing
I conducted concept testing with 5 entertainment professionals to validate the design before committing to build.
The concept testing confirmed our hypothesis and MVP scope. The binary day picker worked for the majority, with clear appetite for future granular controls. Critically, we had evidence that this feature could directly impact retention—one churned user explicitly stated they'd return.
4/5
customers said this would solve the pain point and they'd be happy to regularly update
2/5
participants said they wanted more granularity in bookings (e.g. hourly time slots)
"Let me know when this is built and I will renew my subscription."
"If you released day blocking first with granular coming soon, I'd consider staying"
Final designs
Future roadmap
More granular date control
DJs with multiple gigs per day need hourly blocking. A DJ during the customer interviews demonstrated her manual calendar with detailed time blocking.
Calendar integration
95% of respondents used Google or Apple Calendar to manage their schedule. There is an opportunity to integrate to save professionals from needing to update availability in two places.
Outcomes
Just launched, awaiting full results. Preliminary results include:
Reduced wasted enquiries
Target 30% reduction in 'unavailable' responses on chat from 10% baseline. Direct cost savings for professionals.
Improved retention
82% said this issue affects their relationship with Bark. Feature directly addresses top churn driver.
Better consumer experience
Buyers see only available sellers. Reduced friction and faster successful matches.
Foundation for expansion
Day blocking creates foundation for hourly slots, calendar sync, and automated booking management.