In all the on-demand platforms that I‘ve worked with or helped teams in building, a very important thing that gets overlooked more often than I’d like is adding the “delight” factor in the app. Before I discuss how to create on-demand apps that delight the customers, let’s do a little background study. On-demand apps have been springing up left, right and center too frequent not to notice. Part of the reason lies in the success of on-demand platforms like Uber and Instacart, and the desire of people to become the Uber for their respective industries. However, the success rate has been far from that of Uber’s depending on a myriad of factors. But the users across the world are sure enjoying the ride.
The on-demand economy is basically and essentially a subset of “The Sharing Economy”. And the fact that platforms in the on-demand space are way different than that of sharing economy is something that has been debated for a long time now.
To help you understand the impact of sharing economy, I’d like to share this video with you. I realize that it’s a long watch but I’m sure it’s worth your time.
Let’s get back to the on-demand space now. There are all kinds of on-demand apps right now in the market. From delivering food to sending a car mechanic at your doorstep, and from providing a gas station in the mobile app to an app which would help you with dog-walking.
Importance of On-Demand development.
The on-demand apps of this era do it all for you. In this post, how to make sure that the users of your on-demand platform. Because perfecting the business model, making alliances with third party vendors and other parties, and marketing your app is all fine and okay. But in my opinion, the on-demand app development process, and the decisions you make in the product development stages totally govern the success of your startup.
In this post, I will try to explain how you can delight the customers with your on-demand platform. And in case you don’t know already, once you start delighting the customers and making them happy, Success Follows!
Flawless Design is Instrumental.
Whichever industry you’re targeting, it’s important to make sure that the design throughout your app resonates with it. There are a gazillion of UI design guides and whatnot available online, preaching how to design apps along with tips to improve the user experience.
But I’ll tell you what’s missing in those “guides”. They’re too broad. The design of Uber app is not something that you can replicate in your water-delivery app, or even a food delivery app for that matter. The design of investment management apps like savart or Investica is light-years away from the design of music apps like Spotify or Apple Music. Getting my point here?
I will explain this with 2 great examples here. Say you are making an on-demand food delivery app. Don’t you think that the mood for which you design this app has to be different than that of an app which is used to order groceries, or book a cab?
While booking a cab, the considerations that you need to weigh-in include location inputs from users and then showing details of the cab along with the driver that has been assigned followed by showing real-time location of the driver while he’s on the way to pick-up spot. This is entirely different from the food-delivery apps in which you have to show the available restaurants to users which they can choose from. And then the menu followed by the order-tracking features.
The only two things remotely common in these two apps is the payment stage and the tracking of riders/drivers. So what’s the takeaway from this example? Design the app in a way that it resonates with mood and theme that your app reflects.
Impress Customers with really great service.
Image Source: undraw.co
This is the next most important thing when it comes to delighting the customers of your on-demand platform. After all, your service is what your customers really want from you.
Now, your mobile app or website is what your customers interact with you through. This means that you have to use the app for making the customers feel they’re being served better by you as compared to the other options. Once you manage to pull this off, rest all will be very simple.
I’ll give you another example of on-demand delivery apps. The users really want the stuff they ordered to be delivered as soon as possible. And if you can manage to do it, they’ll love you. But wait, how to make the most out of it? By letting them know. Send out a notification telling them how good of a job you did. As you know, it’s not bragging if it’s true. Especially in cases like this.
Another important thing that a vast majority of apps lag is with the payment gateways. I believe even you must’ve noticed that the loading and refreshing take an insanely long time in a number of apps. This hinders the user experience of your apps to a large extent. Make sure that you have figured out the solution for this.
Ace Consumer Support to Gain more Customers.
In my humble experience with on-demand apps, I have understood one thing about on-demand platforms, the consumers aren’t a bunch of pushovers anymore. At least not in this on-demand economy. They want your attention, and they want you to resolve their issues at the speed which matches that of a lightning. Here are a number of things you must do according to e-marketer.
- Consistent Levels of Service across all the digital channels.
- Frictionless flow of information with succinct content strategy.
- Real-Time and Quick response from executives
- Personalized Experiences.
Wrapping-It-Up.
In this post, I have discussed ideas on how you can delight the customers of your on-demand platform. To implement these ideas, you will have to work with your team in a comprehensive manner. Creating great platforms in the on-demand space is not simple in today’s world because the very definition of “great” is constantly changing increasingly since every company is striving to make customers happy.
This was all I wanted to share with you guys. Would love to share more insights in the future. Did I miss a few things on how to delight the customers? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
In case you need to discuss anything related to the on-demand economy, or have questions about the idea of on-demand startup that you may be working on, feel free connect.
Naveen