Stavebook · Customer journey map · November 17, 2026

A solo music teacher’s first year with Stavebook

From the August she first hears our name to the September her plan renews. Six stages: what she does, thinks and feels at each one, where it hurts, and where product and marketing could do better.

Customer
Solo music teacher, 20 to 40 students
Based on
12 interviews in October, 286 support conversations, 400 trial accounts
Drawn by
Marta Lindqvist, research
For
Product and marketing. Review on Tuesday, November 24

Who she is

Teaches piano from her front room. 31 students at $32 a half hour. Does the admin on Sunday night.

Before us

A paper diary, a spreadsheet, and a text to the parents when a month goes unpaid.

What she wants

To be paid on the 1st without chasing families she likes.

How it feels Median score from the 12 teachers, −2 awful to +2 great

Doing

Thinking

Pain points

Where we could do better

What the numbers say

01

Hears of us

Late August

Fed up −1

Doing

  • Texts five families about lessons unpaid since June.
  • Asks other teachers at a workshop what they use.
  • Looks us up on her phone that night.

Thinking

“I’m owed $640 by people I like. I can’t keep sending these texts.”

Pain points

  • Our homepage says “Run your music school”. She teaches alone and can’t tell if we’re for her.

Where we could do better

  • MarketingA page for the solo teacher, with her price on it: $228 a year.

What the numbers say

7 of 12heard of us from another teacher.

02

Tries it

Days 1 to 14

Hopeful +1

Doing

  • Starts the free trial on a Sunday night.
  • Types in five students and sets her rate.
  • Sends herself a test invoice.

Thinking

“That invoice looks more professional than I feel.”

Pain points

  • Students go in one at a time. Her list lives in a spreadsheet.
  • The trial ends before a real payment ever arrives.

Where we could do better

  • ProductLet her paste the whole list in from a spreadsheet.
  • ProductRun the trial until her first invoice is paid.

What the numbers say

42%of trials became paying accounts: 168 of 400.

03

Moves her students over

Weeks 3 and 4

Embarrassed −1.5

Doing

  • Emails every family the invite to add a card.
  • Explains it again at the door after lessons.
  • Keeps the old spreadsheet going, just in case.

Thinking

“I’ve asked the Okafors twice. I’m not asking a third time.”

Pain points

  • The invite comes from “Stavebook”, a name no parent knows.
  • She can’t see who has joined without opening each student.

Where we could do better

  • ProductSend the invite under her name, list who hasn’t joined, and add a reminder she sends with one tap.
  • MarketingA short note for parents that she can forward.

What the numbers say

68%of families had added a card two weeks after the invite, in the median account.

04

First billing run

October 1

Relieved +2

Doing

  • Does nothing. Invoices go out on the 1st by themselves.
  • Watches payments arrive between lessons.
  • Texts the two parents whose cards failed.

Thinking

“Twenty-nine paid by lunchtime. I used to wait three weeks for that.”

Pain points

  • A failed card says “Failed” and nothing else. No reason, no word on a retry.
  • The first payout takes four working days and nobody told her.

Where we could do better

  • ProductSay why a card failed and when we’ll retry it. Show the payout date before the run.
  • MarketingAsk for a referral this week, while she’s at her happiest.

What the numbers say

84%ran billing in their first 30 days: 141 of 168.

05

Settles into the year

November to June

Settled +0.5

Doing

  • Opens the app twice a week, down from every night.
  • Juggles sick days, snow days and recital week.
  • Starts adding a note after each lesson.

Thinking

“Make-up lessons still live in my paper diary. The app only knows paid or refunded.”

Pain points

  • A missed lesson can be refunded or charged. There’s no way to mark it as owed.

Where we could do better

  • ProductMake-up credits. Mark a lesson as owed and let the parent pick a new slot.

What the numbers say

25%of support conversations were about make-up lessons: 71 of 286.

06

Renews

A year on, mid-September

Caught out −1

Doing

  • Gets one email, seven days before $228 leaves her account.
  • Looks at the price for the first time in a year.
  • Renews, and tells us she grumbled.

Thinking

“It’s worth it. But $228 after a summer of half-empty weeks made me look twice.”

Pain points

  • One reminder, a week ahead, at the end of her leanest season.
  • The email names the charge and nothing she got for it.

Where we could do better

  • MarketingA year-in-review email 30 days ahead: lessons taught, invoices paid on time, texts she didn’t send.
  • ProductLet her move the renewal date or pay monthly.

What the numbers say

70%renewed: 118 of 168. After a first-month billing run, 79%. Without one, 22%.

Fix these three first

Ranked by how far the line dips and how many of the 12 teachers brought it up without being asked.

  1. Stage 03 · Product · Dev Raman

    1The invite to parents

    The lowest point on the line, and 9 of the 12 raised it. It also decides renewal: teachers who ran billing in their first 30 days renewed at 79%, the rest at 22%.

  2. Stage 06 · Marketing · Chloe Abara

    2The renewal week

    8 of 12 raised it, and 50 of the 168 paying teachers left here. The year-in-review email can be ready before next August. Moving the date needs billing work from product.

  3. Stage 05 · Product · Dev Raman

    3Make-up lessons

    A quarter of support conversations, and 6 of 12 keep a paper diary for these alone. Until that diary goes, we are one of two systems she runs.

Leave alone: the first billing run. All 12 teachers scored it +1 or +2, and it is the story they tell other teachers. Whatever else changes, invoices still go out on the 1st without her.

How the line was drawn

In each interview the teacher scored every stage from −2 (awful) to +2 (great). Each point is the median of the 12 scores. The quotes are theirs, with family names changed.

What this map can’t tell you

Ten of the 12 teachers had renewed and two had left, so it hears more from people who stayed. The percentages come from the 400 solo teachers who started a trial in August and September 2025. A school with several teachers is a different customer and needs its own map.