Spring Subscribe
B2C · CONCEPT VALIDATION · PRICING CONCEPTION · EXPERIMENTATION
Building a flexible subscription platform for refurbished tech with a twist...
MY ROLE
I worked as one of two designers on Spring Subscribe, partnering with a senior product designer to deliver the end-to-end subscription experience. My focus was primarily on visual design and execution, designing and iterating on key flows and variants to ensure the experience was clear, cohesive, and on-brand. I collaborated closely with Content Design and Engineering to translate concepts into shippable solutions, contributing to experiments and refinements as the product evolved toward launch.
TIMELINE
2 months
Your monthly bill only gets cheaper?!
Users experience a reduction in their monthly phone bills as the value of their handset depreciates over time.
Introducing Spring Subscribe
Subscribe to tech
Choose from an extensive range of the best refurbished tech around.
Pay less each month
Every month your bill goes down to reflect the true value of the tech.
Cancel anytime
You can cancel or upgrade your tech anytime at zero cost.
The only problem was...
Only 30% of participants understood Depreciated Pricing.
Reframing depreciating pricing into "pay less"
Depreciating pricing was conceptually correct but cognitively heavy. We deliberately reframed the model into a simpler “Pay less every month” mental model, reducing the need for users to calculate or interpret value. This significantly improved comprehension and became the preferred framing for most participants.
Testing pricing comprehension inside an ecommerce journey
Understanding pricing in isolation didn’t guarantee understanding at the moment of commitment. We embedded the pricing model directly into a realistic e-commerce flow to test whether users could still comprehend it while making a purchase decision.
Surface service clarity earlier (and learn its limits)
As pricing comprehension improved, uncertainty shifted toward how the service actually worked. We intentionally surfaced service explanations earlier in the journey to address this and learned that while clarity improved, trust concerns persisted.
Impact
Increase Comprehension - 89%
Investigating innovative methods and strategies to elevate the users understanding of the Depreciating Pricing model.
(Success criteria: > 80%)
Improve Clarity - 50%
Settle skepticism by clearly communicating the advantages of Spring Subscribe and explain its functionality to users.
(Success criteria: > 80%)
Learnings
🧠 Novel pricing models need earned trust
Users could explain Depreciating Pricing, but still didn’t believe it. Clear models need credibility and reassurance, not just good explanations.
🔍 Hypothetical services reduce confidence
Because Spring Subscribe wasn’t real yet, users struggled with ownership, risk, and long-term value. Concrete constraints matter, especially for high-commitment decisions.
📦 Big propositions need staged delivery
Bundling pricing innovation, flexibility, and sustainability created cognitive load. Progressive disclosure beats “everything at once.”