Coworking

Coworking operations UX (short for User Experience) has the power to make or break a product or service.

Bad UX is one of the biggest challenges you can face in coworking operations; it can significantly add to your workload without you even realising it. Issues you thought were typical operational challenges could, in fact, originate in avoidable digital UX failures.

Coworking UX influences how people feel about your services. If your digital systems such as your app, booking portal and access control systems are fully functional and easy to use, people will be more likely to trust your brand and enjoy interacting with it.

Lengthy or disjointed booking workflows can create confusion at the front desk, while unclear access control interfaces often lead to unnecessary lockouts. Badly designed member apps prompt more help desk enquiries and IRL interventions.

The list goes on!

The silent operational cost of weak digital UX

Bad UX pushes work that can be easily carried out by software onto people. When a system is difficult to use or simply doesn’t work as intended, support tickets mount and your team intervenes, whether it’s to manually amend a booking or override access control.

Simply put: every confusing interface or screen trickles down to the real world, drawing people into problem solving and away from community building or strategy work. While good UX automates silently in the background, bad coworking UX creates avoidable and laborious human tasks.

It doesn’t just eat up time, but capital too. Through payroll, missed revenue, and churn.
Staffing costs can quickly start to mount when support tickets, front desk interruptions and manual fixes escalate. Bad UX that goes unnoticed results in ongoing human intervention that can impact your coworking space’s growth, because there’s no time left to think big.

Bad UX also creates leaky revenue.

Think about the money lost through failed bookings and incorrect or absent invoices, for instance, not to mention missed opportunities for upselling resources or membership upgrades. Churn may start to rise, with members leaving for a smoother, more enjoyable coworking experience somewhere else.

Booking UX issues that drain your team

Now we’ve established how detrimental bad UX can be for your brand, let’s dive a little deeper into the details. Here are the most common booking misfires that arise when your software’s interface and functionalities aren’t up to scratch.

Booking mistakes

When a booking interface doesn’t display the appropriate information clearly, confusion ensues, and members can wind up booking the wrong resource. Context is everything: without the right information – capacity, size, photography and use-case examples – how can we expect users to make the right decision?

Missing equipment

Vital meeting room equipment (screens, HDMI/USB-C cables, and catering) is often hidden in the small print or as hard-to-find add-ons. Some members might assume everything is included, even more so if the photography includes it. This can result in staff having to reconfigure rooms or source equipment at the last minute.

Unclear availability

Booking systems that don’t update and sync in real-time cause havoc from an operational perspective. Cue double bookings, locked rooms, and a whole lot of potential conflict at the front desk as your team tries to resolve another calendar clash.

Uncertainty surrounding rules

Resource cancellation policies and booking limits are often hidden in the small print, or not visible at all, with members only discovering them when something goes wrong.

Billing and payment UX that turns into admin

Billing and payments are quite literally the lifeblood of every coworking operation – and they’re part of the daily experience. When this core infrastructure breaks down, members are left confused, and coworking staff bear the brunt. Every missing invoice, late payment and unexpected charge creates more queries and tickets. Not to mention awkward convos.

1. Failed payments

Failed payments are often a UX problem. People’s bank cards expire or are replaced all the time, so you need a system that automatically reminds members to update their payment information. You also need to think about making people’s payment methods and account handling as easy to manage as possible, so they can self-serve.

What good UX avoids here is pressuring front-of-house staff to identify the member account, confirm whether access should be granted, and manually request new card details. From a cash flow perspective, this can lead to unnecessary payment delays or even missed income.

2. Unclear charges

Bad UX looks like vague line items on invoices – terms like ‘service fee’ or ‘adjustment’. Busy members require clarity, and a good UX will provide context on changes, whether it’s additional meeting room hours, printing, or extra coworking day passes for remote workers.
Unclear charges inevitably impact operators in the form of awkward questions – ‘what’s this charge’, ‘why have I been charged twice?’, or ‘is this the wrong invoice?’

Time is spent cross-checking bookings and apologising for the lack of clarity. Erosion of trust in your brand is never a good thing, and may prompt future scrutiny of invoices – adding even more to your workload. When good UX is in action, there’s no need for human intervention.

3. Unexpected invoices

Members can be ‘surprised’ by invoices when the billing UX isn’t well planned. For instance, when the system churns out invoices automatically without giving members prior notice, or if the billing process wasn’t clarified during onboarding. It can also happen when members sign up for a service and don’t receive a preview or confirmation step before they’re charged.

The responsibility falls on staff to explain or re-explain policies, de-escalate de-escale frustrated members and decide whether or not to waive an unexpected invoice. This can lead to inconsistencies within policy enforcement and loss of revenue.

Getting billing UX right isn’t just about removing manual input. The goal is to protect your reputation and cash flow.

Access and check-in UX that creates interruptions

Unlike payment issues, which have a knock-on effect down the line, bad access and check-in UX have a real-time impact – hindering people’s ability to access their workspace.

The first UX setback can occur when access rights aren’t clear; in other words, when members don’t know when and where they’re permitted to access. This can stem from poor onboarding: when members aren’t shown how to check in or what their access rights are, friction occurs.

The second hurdle comes when access control, memberships and payments don’t sync well. Maybe a member updates their plan, but billings and access control aren’t updated automatically. Cue manual door opening and access overrides.

This turns your community manager into a doorkeeper, plugging the gaps in UX instead of curating member experiences. As a result, members become frustrated and start to lose trust in your brand. Good coworking UX reduces friction by facilitating quick and reliable access.

Authentication using mobile or biometrics should be clean and simple, eliminating the chances of a lockout, while improving security and keeping members safe and productive.

Onboarding UX that forces staff to handhold

Effective onboarding is crucial. Following sign-up, it’s members’ first step in their journey with you, and it helps set the tone. Needless to say, bad UX can really serve to hinder onboarding, turning it into an operational millstone. Applications that are missing key information can be a real sticking point. When members skip application fields or fail to upload key documentation, staff have to spend time chasing this down.

The key is to keep it simple, keep fields to a minimum, and make it clear what the next steps are. Design with the onboarding journey in mind by anticipating questions:, When will the member receive their access card? When can they start booking meeting rooms? What happens when their clients visit?

Booking instructions must also be clear and intuitive on the member app, which is why it’s so important to go through the app and its functionalities with members as soon as they join. A simple visual tutorial created through screen video can work wonders for this. Give members the autonomy to self-serve from the beginning, and relieve the team of administrative burden.

Onboarding should balance a personal welcome and introductions with automated and scalable technology. Here are five non-negotiables when it comes to onboarding someone with new coworking tech:

• Access: Wi-Fi credentials, member app login, and keyless entry activation.
• Network: Network rules, printer setup and supported devices.
• Bookings: How to book resources and events.
• Security: Data protection guidelines, guest Wi-Fi and incident reporting.
• Support: Status updates and how to request tech help.

Member app UX that stops self-service

Your member app is the one-stop shop for functionality and self-service. But bad UX can have the opposite effect. When the app isn’t navigable, members struggle to perform the simplest of tasks, whether signing up for an event or booking a meeting room. And of course, they’ll end up defaulting to you or your team for assistance.

Hidden information, missing invoices, poorly described resources – all translate as questions that pull staff away from higher-value work. They waste time manually performing what the app was designed to automate. Here’s what bad UX can look like in a coworking member’s app:

• Too many steps for a simple task: Opening a door or booking a meeting room requires several steps.
• Cluttered screens: Irrelevant information and promotions instead of relevant updates like upcoming bookings.
• No confirmation: No feedback after a resource is booked or a task is performed, so members doubt its efficacy.
• Over or under-notifying: Too many reminders or alerts, or not enough!
• Support not readily available: FAQs are hidden in the small print, and you can’t see the support process or any support ticket updates.

Good UX transforms the app into what it’s meant to be: a productivity tool.

Using the app, it should be easy for members to unlock doors, see resource availability and book a room (or amend/ cancel), access in-app help, receive notifications when a guest or package arrives, and receive invoices on time.

How to diagnose UX gaps that hurt operations

Diagnosing UX pitfalls requires a strategic approach – one that identifies patterns in pain points and member behaviour. The following four steps can help you pinpoint what needs to be refined in your technology stack from a user experience perspective.

1. Repeat-task test: Begin by mapping out the steps members have to take in the portal or app to perform common tasks, including booking a meeting room, checking in, and paying an invoice. Every unnecessary or complex step could increase complexity and cognitive fatigue.
2. Confusion test: Identify at which stage in each process or interaction members ask questions or abandon the task altogether. These junctures might, after evaluation, reveal unclear or hidden information, or a poorly thought-out workflow or sequence.
3. Support-ticket patterns: Review your support tickets and enquiries to find out where members are stumbling. Perhaps it’s “Where’s my invoice?” or “How do I book a hot desk?” This way, you can highlight areas where your UX is failing to relay important information.
4. Drop-off analysis: Pinpoint where members often abandon a process in the member portal or app. Frequent drop-offs at a certain stage in the signup, resource booking or billing process could highlight a potential UX misstep – and offer a chance to get it right.

Nexudus has made it easy for you to diagnose UX gaps with the Coworking Compass. Answer our series of questions and we’ll score you for friction, clarity and success. We’ll also benchmark you against our data and provide you with a report designed to help you improve across your business operations.

What better UX looks like for operators

Better UX for coworking operators doesn’t just hinge on aesthetics and making things look nice (although white label capabilities support unconfusing, coherent user journeys). Really, it’s about mapping processes that empower members and reduce operational overheads.

• Clear flows: Every task sequence must be intuitive. The app will guide members through each step of the booking journey, for example, eliminating the need for staff intervention.
• Fewer steps: A simple sequence means fewer forms and steps; simplified workflows reduce friction, cognitive load and errors, while improving member satisfaction.
• No ambiguous rules: Policies around access, billing, and resource usage must be transparent and easy for members to understand without staff having to explain or interpret.
• Self-serve by default: Members expect to be able to carry out actions autonomously, from booking rooms and viewing invoices to gaining access and updating key details.
• Automated nudges where needed: Good UX automatically alerts members to upcoming bookings, expired bank details and required information, guiding them to the right interface.

Through good UX, members feel empowered and your coworking space runs more efficiently. In many ways, good UX is the invisible colleague that carries the load of administrative tasks, letting your team deliver properly curated experiences that differentiate you from competitors.

Why UX is an operational issue

Inefficiency in coworking operations often begins in the digital interfaces members interact with every day. Cluttered home screens, confusing steps and unclear rules break the automation workflow, putting more pressure on coworking teams.

Every UX pain point translates to an interruption – time that could be better spent on planning for future growth and thinking outside the box.

But addressing these UX gaps isn’t hard. By taking a step back and taking stock of your current UX, you can pave the way for self-service, automation and clarification. Say goodbye to operational strain and revenue leakage, and hello to member satisfaction and cash flow!