Reducing Friction in Race Registration
Designing a registration experience that helps first-time participants complete registration to endurance events with confidence while preserving flexibility for event organizers.
Project summary:
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Product: Endurance events registration platform.
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Users: Race participants and event organizers.
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Problem: Registration friction and uncertainty.
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Goal: Increase clarity, confidence and completion.
Goal
Simplify Haku's race registration for participants while preserving flexibility for event organizers.
Role
Product Designer consultant
Time frame
2 weeks
Tools
Research • UX Audit • Usability Testing • Product Strategy • Interaction Design • Prototyping
The Challenge
As part of an independent product evaluation of Haku's participant registration experience, I was asked to evaluate their participant registration experience and identify opportunities to improve usability while balancing business and platform needs.
Rather than focusing only on interface changes, I approached the exercise as I would a real product engagement, conducting research, validating assumptions through usability testing, and proposing solutions grounded in both participant and organizer needs.
Haku powers registration experiences for endurance events ranging from local races to large marathons. While the platform supports many event types and organizer needs, that flexibility can introduce complexity for participants, especially those registering for the first time.
My challenge was to identify where participants lost confidence during registration and design solutions that reduced friction without sacrificing the configurability event organizers rely on.
Understanding the problem
Before proposing solutions, I wanted to understand whether friction came from the registration form itself or from the complexity of race registration. I combined competitive analysis, first-hand registration, public feedback, and lightweight usability testing to identify where participants lost confidence during the experience.
Reviewed Existing Registration Flows:
Analyzed registration experiences across endurance events to understand how different organizations structure participant registration.
Registered as a Participant:
Completed multiple race registrations myself to experience the flow firsthand and document moments of friction.
Conducted Informal Usability Testing:
Observed participants with different levels of running experience as they completed registration using a think-aloud approach.
Synthesized Key Findings:
Grouped recurring patterns, prioritized opportunities, and identified areas with the highest potential impact on participant confidence and completion.
Insight 01
Participants struggled to understand what they were registering for.
Participants often hesitated before completing the form because they weren't sure they had selected the correct event or registration path. Race categories, participant types, and eligibility requirements weren't always clear, leading users to second-guess their choices before moving forward.
Observation:
Participants lacked context before starting registration.
Insight 02
Participants couldn't easily distinguish required from optional actions.
Several participants assumed optional questions and selections, such as club affiliation or donations were required, creating unnecessary hesitation and slowing the registration process.
Observation:
Optional fields weren't clearly communicated.
Insight 03
Registration assumed prior race knowledge.
The experience relied on participants understanding race-specific terminology such as pace estimates, participant categories, and club affiliation. Newer runners often paused because they didn't know how to answer these questions confidently.
Observation:
Participants needed more context to answer confidently.
Insight 04
Optional purchases interrupted the primary task.
Merchandise and donation prompts appeared before participants completed registration, interrupting their momentum and making it harder to focus on finishing the primary task.
Observation:
The placement of add-ons blurred the line between registering and shopping
Four principles guided the redesign.
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Reduce uncertainty
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Increase clarity
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Support every participant
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Preserve momentum
Solution 1: Provide Context & reduce friction
Introduce an Event Overview step before registration begins, allowing participants to compare categories and select registration types only when relevant.
Before: Register CTA →Registration type → Form
After: Register CTA → Event Overview → Registration type (if applicable) → Form
Solution 2: More Adaptive & Supportive Form Experience
Problem:
Participants were unsure:
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Which fields were required
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Why some information was being collected
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Who the registration applied to
Solution:
Improve form clarity while preserving familiar structure.
Establish registration context
A.
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Supports self, child, and third-party registrations.
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Allows the form to adapt based on who is being registered.
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Reduces unnecessary questions and enables more relevant follow-up fields.
Reduce Form Ambiguity:
B.
Required vs Optional
Added: Red Asterisks on required fields and "(Optional)" labels
Reason:
Users often miss instructions and must infer which fields are required.
Supported by Nielsen Norman Group recommendations.
Provide Contextual Support
C.
Added:
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Help Links: (ie: Learn more, finish time guidance)
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Question Context: Brief explanations for event-specific questions
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Information on how responses support race logistics
Reason:
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Participants are more confident completing forms when they understand both how to answer a question and why the information is being requested.
Solution 3: Maintain Orientation
Top of the form:
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Shows event info, category, registration type and price.
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Includes a stepper with step description.
Bottom of the form:
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Shows price total so far
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back and next buttons
Problem:
Long registration forms can feel overwhelming and make it difficult for participants to understand where they are in the process.
Solution:
Provide persistent context, progress visibility, and navigation controls throughout registration.
Benefits:
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Understand current step
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Know what remains
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Maintain awareness of event and registration selection
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Reduce abandonment risk
Solution 4: Reduce Upsell Interruption
Problem:
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Participants sometimes interpreted add-ons as required registration steps.
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Product offers interrupted form completion and increased scrolling.
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Registration and shopping were blended into the same task flow.
Solution:
Move optional products to the Review & Checkout stage after a registration summary and verification step. Present them behind a dedicated "View Add-ons" section.
Benefits:
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Participants can verify registration details before payment.
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Registration and shopping become separate tasks.
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Reduces confusion around required vs. optional purchases.
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Decreases scrolling and visual clutter.
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Preserves upsell opportunities for event organizers.
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Creates a natural moment to introduce add-ons after the primary task is complete.
Impact
Expected outcomes
For Participants
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Greater confidence when selecting an event
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Less confusion throughout registration
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Easier, more focused form completion
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Greater confidence before checkout
For the Business
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Improved registration completion
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Fewer registration errors
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Reduced participant support needs
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Preserved add-on opportunities
Designing for Organizer Flexibility
Improving the participant experience also meant thinking about the people behind it.
Haku supports events with different requirements, categories, and registration models. Rather than creating a fixed participant experience, I designed the Event Overview as a configurable system, giving organizers control over the information participants see while maintaining a consistent registration structure.
Admin view
Participant view
The Admin Challenge
The challenge was to add greater participant context without creating more complexity for organizers.
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Flexible:
Support simple and complex event structures.
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Configurable:
Let organizers determine which information is relevant.
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Consistent:
Keep the participant experience clear regardless of event setup.
Solution : Give organizers control without adding complexity
I translated the new Event Overview into configurable fields within the organizer experience. Core event information remains consistent, while optional fields can be enabled based on the needs of each event.
Opportunity
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Help organizers create clearer registration forms.
Concept
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Contextual help guides
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Best-practice recommendations
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Required vs optional guidance
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Form quality insights
Why it matters
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Organizers are Haku's customers.
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Better forms lead to higher completion rates.
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Guidance helps non-UX experts create better registration experiences.
Impact
Expected outcomes
For Event Organizers
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Greater control over participant-facing information
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Flexibility across different event types
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Easier configuration of complex registration requirements
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A more consistent setup experience
For Haku
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A scalable framework across event types
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Greater consistency across participant experiences
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Reduced need for event-specific solutions
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Flexibility without sacrificing usability
Reflection:
Through this project, I explored the registration experience from both the participant and organizer perspectives. It reinforced the importance of balancing usability, business goals, and operational needs while validating design decisions through research and testing.
Next Steps:
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Validate concepts through usability testing
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Measure completion rate changes
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Evaluate add-on conversion rates
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Continue refining organizer-configurable experiences