Sara Croop

Nutrisystem

Plan Builder Quiz

Project Goal

Build a customizable plan shopping experience

Nutrisystem users struggled to compare static meal plans, often switching back and forth between options without a clear understanding of differences. The goal was to let users build their own plan — and to make the upgrade path to premium options intuitive, not overwhelming.

Objective

Enable users to customize their Nutrisystem plan within the app instead of navigating multiple rigid, pre-set options.

Role

User experience designer, UX research

Final Design

Custom Plan Builder

A modular, guided shopping flow that let users build their ideal Nutrisystem plan without confusion or comparison fatigue.

User Research

Friction in plan comparison

Initial research revealed friction in the legacy shopping experience. Users frequently toggled between plan options without a clear understanding of the differences, leading to confusion and hesitation.

Activities conducted:

  • Moderated usability sessions on the existing app
  • Behavioral observation of plan comparison behavior
  • Data analytics of plan selections

Key insights:

  • Users preferred flexibility over preset plans
  • Feature comparisons created more doubt than clarity
  • Clearer guidance was needed to support confident plan selection
Concept Testing & Strategy

Guided, customizable plan-building flow

A guided, customizable plan-building flow was introduced to replace the rigid plan selection model. This approach gave users more control over their experience and aligned options with individual goals.

Design prototype highlights:

  • Step-by-step flow allowing selection of meals, support level, and delivery options
  • Smart defaults and recommendation logic based on user input
  • Clear pricing presentation and reduction of cognitive friction

Testing Outcome:

Originally conceived for the Nutrisystem website, the plan builder was shifted to the mobile app to take advantage of the new backend flexibility and app-specific user behavior.

Design Implementation

Flexibility baked into the foundation

The Build Your Plan feature became a cornerstone of Nutrisystem’s new mobile app experience, launched alongside a fully reimagined design system.

Implementation details:

  • Applied accessible design patterns including dark mode, font scaling, and contrast compliance
  • Modular UI components built to support future personalization and logic extensions
  • Integration with the app’s new backend infrastructure to enable dynamic configuration

 

Team alignment:

Cross-functional input from product, engineering, and marketing informed key design decisions, ensuring usability goals stayed aligned with business priorities.

Impact

Users shifted to premium upgrades

This work contributed to Nutrisystem’s shift toward personalized experiences, offering a scalable model for future plan configuration across platforms.

Business Outcomes:

  • Increased selection of premium plan options
  • Flexible structure that could be scaled for other brands
  • More app engagement