FreshLime is set to release a new app to the App Store October 2015. The decision to develop a new app was based on research over the past year about the business owners that we help, and how we can improve their business model in a way where they can see true growth.
First, we wanted to help business owners focus on keeping better track of their customers by making it ridiculously easy and compelling to track their customers through the app. Business owners can access their customer list anytime, from anywhere, and easily initiate a call, email, or text.
We make it easy to enter customer information by helping service providers enter customer data in seconds with easy-to-use fields and an address look-up tool.
We also make it compelling to track customers through the app by adding location and map features. Service professionals can click on a customer to easily pull up a map of the customers location, and to trigger directions on how to get from their current location to where the customer is waiting them.
Second, we add features that help enhance how a service professional thinks.
They can use the “nearby” feature from any location to see which customers are within a ten-mile radius of them. There are limitless opportunities here – from increasing their understanding of where their target customers are located, and where to market, to finding opportunities to customers that are nearby and may be interested in a same-day service.
Third, we want to ensure that business owners are collecting payments as easily as possible. That means providing a simple, easy-to-use way for service professionals to enter service details and record whether the purchase was made by cash, check, credit card, or billed for later. Professionals can take credit card payments through our app in seconds.
Fourth, we help service professionals to get to know their clients. One interesting learning from talking to hundreds of service professionals is that because they estimate jobs depending on the unique request for each location, they could charge the same customer different amounts for the same job. Our invoice history makes it easy for professionals to offer consistent pricing, so they are not underpaid for their hard efforts. In addition, they can use their service history to learn about their customers and their workload, especially if they have multiple professionals in their business that are being sent out do different jobs.