Update A complete guide on your on-demand app for home services

Household chores is quite a task for working women and professionals. People with busy schedule tend to count on home services for resolving trivial issues like leakage, AC-related issues etc. Home services also include cleaning and home appliances repairing services.

How about combining home services with mobility and enable people to order for various household services through their smart devices?

On-demand app development and home services

On-demand apps have brought radical changes in the way we travel, shop, eat and get services from professionals. Today, on-demand apps have covered almost all customer-centric services, and household chores-related services are no exception.

On-demand home service apps are designed to meet the user’s requirements of various home services, and users can hire professionals for household chores by using their fingertips.

If you are a home services provider or run a company that provides home services, then on-demand app development is a technological boon for you. You can address a huge audience and send professionals as per the app user or the customer’s demands.

For example, a user wants a carpenter to fix problems related to carpentry. You can get the order from the user through an app and send the carpenter at the user’s house.

Though on-demand app development for home services has started gaining ground in recent times, companies like Handyman and TaskRabbit have established themselves as big players.

A reputed mobile app development company can build a robust home services app for your company and assist you to grow your business. Here, we are going to discuss the top strategies and features of the on-demand app for home services.

Key Aspects to Keep in Mind for Developing Successful Home Services App

Just like any other business app, the on-demand home services app also needs some strategies to get success. Here we mention a few key strategies to consider for making your app and business successful.

Identify needs of target audience

On-demand apps are designed to meet the specific requirements of a target audience. Therefore, before initiating the app development process, you need to prepare a complete roadmap based on people’s needs and expectations.

You can conduct market research and find issues or inadequacies that you intend to fix through your app. In a way, you can set and achieve your app-related goals efficiently.

Monitor competitors’ moves

Apart from having insights on the market trends and your customers’ needs, you should also keep an eye on your competitors’ actions. The study of the moves and activities of your competitors helps you come up with a unique and more useful app solution. You can also get motivated by the success of their efforts and learn from their mistakes.

Provide services on-time

The base of an on-demand home services app is punctuality. You must send the professionals on-time to the customer’s house. If you fail to do so, chances are high that your home services business through a mobile app can witness a steep fall.

A few of the issues like gas leakage and electricity-related problems fall under the emergency category, and such services need a priority. Your business model should address such services more effectively.

Use notifications wisely

Push notifications can either promote or downgrade your app and business. You need to use them properly. Excessive and untimely usage of notifications can annoy your app users and as a result, you may lose them eventually.

When you send notifications to your customers, make sure that they look like a sensible one and convey your message effectively. An informative and interactive notification can certainly work wonders.

Focus on operations and performance

Ultimately, satisfactory performance and customer-centric operations can help you win the customer’s trust. Therefore, instead of spending much time, efforts, and resources in promoting your home services app, you should focus on improving the services and performance of your business. Even if you spend a lot of money on marketing your product, it will of no use for a faulty product.

Related Reading- How to Develop Your On-demand Delivery App?

Major Features to Integrate into Home Services App

If you want to build an app to expand your home services, you need to integrate the following features. Here we classify these features in three segments or app versions.

Key Features for Users

Browsing professionals

This feature enables your app users to find professionals for their issues or household chores with ease. The browsing feature comes with filters like cost, distance, and service type to find the right service provider.

Scheduling

This is another important feature. It is possible that your app user is not at home every time. Therefore, they can utilize this feature to select the desired time slot. The app users can book their appointment in advance at their time with the help of this feature.

Notification

Notification is a multi-purpose feature. The app sends real-time notifications when the service provider approves or rejects the request. Also, users can get notifications about the expected time of reaching professionals.

Payment options

Secure online payment options are necessary to facilitate the app users to pay for your services. You should give the facility for payment through credit cards, debit cards, and mobile wallets. It is necessary to give all popular payment options to stay strong amid growing competition.

Rating

The rating and review feature gives your home services business more transparency and openness. It also increases the confidence of users and customers in your business. Your app’s users can post reviews for your services and other people can use them as reference. In a way, positive reviews can spread a good word for your services.

Help & Support

This is also an essential feature. The app users can utilize this feature if they face any issues regarding your home services. You can include FAQs, customer support numbers, chat support, and useful links in this feature. It keeps your company’s management in touch with the existing customers for a 24/7 basis and as a result, you can resolve their issues quickly.

Necessary Features for Service Providers

Registration

This is the first and foremost feature for service providers. They can register as an expert for any of your services. You need to keep the registration process short and simple so that they can easily sign up using either social media profiles or phone numbers. Once their profile is approved, they can start taking assignments or requests as per their expertise and interest.

Real-time request

After registration, the service providers will get the service requests from your app users. It is better if they can receive requests from nearby areas. What’s more, you should notify the professionals through email, SMS, and push notifications also apart from the in-app messages.

Accept/Reject request

This feature enables the service persons to accept or reject the request. However, this feature should not allow professionals to reject the request continuously.

Instant chat

After accepting the request, service providers should able to chat with the customers. They can ask questions regarding the type of work and address. Also, the in-built instant chat facilitates the service persons to find the customer’s locations and other important details.

Payment details

Here, service providers can save their bank account details or information about the ways through which they want to accept their payment. This feature also includes the possibility to add information about additional charges like traveling allowance if the customer stays in the distant area.

Essential Features for Admin

Interactive dashboard

The admin panel consists of an interactive dashboard. It acts as a control center for your app as well as online business operations. You can monitor and control every action on the apps with the help of an interactive dashboard.

Manage services

Once professionals have registered with your app, this feature enables you to verify their details before approval. You can also manage various services and professionals’ profiles with the help of this feature.

Payment management

When you hire mobile app developers to build a home services app, you need to discuss payment management at the initial stage of development. From setup the commission structure to an additional bonus, everything should be clear before approving the first professional. This feature assists you to resolve any payment-related queries.

Manage schemes

Promotional campaigns, reward programs, and various schemes can be managed through this feature. You can also monitor the progress of your campaign. You can get useful stats and insights to make real-time decisions related to these schemes in a better way with this feature.

Review management

You can manage negative or abusive reviews of users or rivals through this feature. You can flag negative reviews to highlight the positive ones as well.

Data analytics

This is an essential feature because it enables you to get vital information about your business. You can get valuable insights regarding different aspects of your business activities and get an idea of how your home services perform.

As a result, you can make decisions to improve your business activities and enhance the customer’s experience.

Apart from all these features, you can add other features in the subsequent versions of your app. A mobile app development company can help you integrate features like GPS integration and social media integration.

Let’s discuss the most important factor- the cost of on-demand apps.

Cost of On-demand Home Services App

You may wonder- what will be the cost of on-demand apps for your home services business? The answer to this question depends on various factors, therefore, we are going to discuss them one after another. However, it is better to consult a mobile app development company with your requirements and list of features to get an exact quote for the app.

Here we mention three deciding factors for the on-demand home-services app.

Platform and Location

The Android app development is costlier than iOS app development because Android apps need more extensive testing across various popular devices available. Also, the location of the app plays a vital role in deciding the cost.

For example, the home services app development cost is higher in countries like the USA and the UK as compared to Asian countries.

Features and Complexity

More the features, the more the development cost. This statement holds for on-demand apps for home services too. More features will increase the complexity of your app and you need to pay more for developing such apps.

UI/UX Design

App design, interface, and graphics are other deciding factors. The app with rich graphics and animations can be costlier than the same with a simple interface.

Concluding Lines

The home services app is getting traction steadily in various countries. Though a few companies like Handyman have already written their success stories, it is fair to mention that many areas and markets are yet to explore for providing on-demand home services. You can grab the opportunities and leverage the benefits of the growing popularity of on-demand services by developing an on-demand app for home services.