
More than ever, in today’s modern service economies, businesses fixate on the customer experience of their software and mobile applications – particularly when it comes to on-demand service marketplaces.
But very few discuss how important the user experience is for professionals delivering those services.
Now, of course, it's only natural for a business to be obsessed with making customers happy. After all, a great customer experience drives growth, loyalty and recurring revenues.
However, the people who deliver the services are also ultimately users of that same interface, and training them to benefit from the technology is just as critical to the success of the business.
If a business cares for and treats its people as partners, and helps them leverage insights from its technology solutions, they will, in turn, feel empowered to care for the customers of that business.
At Urban Company, for example, training – and thorough training specifically on our mobile application – plays a critical role in empowering our cleaners and, consequently, elevating our service quality. We treat our people as partners and help them grow as professionals by offering a four-stage program that includes screening, training, practice and a final exam. They learn about customer expectations, prioritising areas, time management, organising the work, communication and application usage, as well as skill-based training like stain removal or ironing.
Our application is the only touch point that connects our partners with our customers, so training on our partner application is key to helping them understand what the customer has booked and hence the expectation, get to a customer location, check their reviews and get assistance.
Making the technology work for them means being able to pick up more jobs in the same period, travel less and have enough time to pause for breaks between jobs even with a packed calendar. We even have a dummy version of our application to make training more hands-on, lively and efficient for our partners to practise on, while interactive training is also provided through our in-application training centre.
Being able to use the software to make scheduling more efficient to complete more jobs has a direct impact on income for workers.
For the jobs they pick, partners are trained and equipped with detailed instructions and checklists posted by customers that they can refer to before and during the job, which greatly aids them in meeting and often surpassing expectations.
This also helps us understand how our professionals view customer requirements and if our software and communications features can be further enhanced to provide both sets of users more flexibility, choice and support. After all, organisations can't claim to understand their customers until they understand and support the people directly interacting with them. And cleaning, especially, is a sensitive service.
Unlike the traditional job market for domestic help, people click to book cleaners they've never met to come into their homes and tidy their personal spaces. Such trust can only come from knowing that the workers deeply understand customer needs and are professional.
A study by Locus showcases that 65 percent of consumers will sever ties with a brand over a bad service experience.
The design of software and mobile solutions from an employee perspective matters more than businesses might realise.
According to a 2021 global study by Gartner, 60 percent of workers are occasionally or frequently frustrated by new software and 40 per cent say they resist using applications after a negative experience by using minimal features, avoiding or delaying use.
After a positive experience with an application, however, 41 percent of users spent more time delving further into its features and the depth of application usage can have a significant impact on the value an organisation receives from software, the study said.
On our app, we see proof of this every day. In particular, partners are driven to engage with customers to clarify instructions as well as view feedback from customers to look at ways they can improve or things to consider on their next gigs.
This works great for customers, who amid busy schedules prefer to get real-time information and updates and track their service requests.
In-app communication has tremendous potential to boost customer relationship management and ensure retention, and improving partner app engagement is at the root of this equation.
Ultimately, a customer's experience with a business is only as good as an employee's experience, because it is the sum of all the interactions between them.
For workers, having access to their own reviews also has a huge impact on morale and motivation.
Rather than the traditional workplace approach of a manager conveying customer feedback, a gig economy marketplace serves as a great motivator for workers from all backgrounds and skill levels, empowering them to self-develop and continue upskilling beyond their initial training.
The World Economic Forum predicts that over half of all global employees will need to upskill or reskill by 2025 to keep up with the evolution of jobs, showcasing that a highly professional and skilled workforce is the most integral part of a company, especially in the evolving on-demand marketplace.
At Urban Company, our structured approach towards partner development and well-being is built on pillars of helping professionals through improved earnings, building a safety net, training and wealth creation.
For online on-demand service providers, innovating to improve the user experience for workers to upskill and access more opportunities is a sure-shot way to gain market share from the offline world.
According to PwC, the global on-demand economy, in which home-service providers are a major contributor, is estimated to receive investments of up to $335 billion by 2025, disrupting traditional services and giving way to new products and services.
The global online on-demand home services market was valued at $3.456 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $6.396 billion by 2029, growing at about eight per cent per annum, according to Data Bridge Market Research. As per Ken Research’s studies, the on-demand home services sector in the UAE is rising at a CAGR of 9.7 per cent from 2021-2026.
Looking ahead, software and mobile applications in the gig economy are disrupting the way cleaners approach work and brands would benefit greatly if they continue to invest in being tech-enabled and offer user-friendly interfaces for workers of all skill levels and backgrounds.
In the on-demand and experience economy, in particular, this is an excellent opportunity for businesses not only to scale their revenue stream by enabling cleaning professionals to deliver superior customer experiences but also to uplift the living standards of the workforce.
About the author:
Nitesh Agarwal is the Regional Head - Middle East, Urban Company.