May 20, 2019: Ayeworld is set to launch an aggregate reservation system, Comb. Comb is a reservation mobile app that focuses on industries and services that have a limited online presence. These services will include registered massage therapy, spa, car maintenance, and home services to name a few.
Customers used to have to perform 8-12 steps to make one reservation or book a service. These steps include having to Google a list of service providers, call on average 2-3 businesses until they find a reservation that fits their availability, or shift their schedule around so they can fit the service in within a specific timeframe. All of the while also factoring in location and proximity to the provider before confirming the reservation.
With Comb, users will be able to login into the mobile application, and then input search preferences, such as service type, location, and timeframe. Comb will display the results based on the search criteria given and users will be able to filter results by rating, price, location, and time. Users can then make the reservation instantaneously for the service—all without making a single phone call.
“As a professional woman, I am in back-to-back meetings all day, so booking a massage service or salon appointment can be time consuming. Using Comb, I was able to find a 30 minute massage service in my building during lunch hour. I felt rejuvenated and relieved that I could find an appointment close by on such short notice” said Margaret.
“I no longer have to leave my car at the auto center for a couple of hours” said Bob. He goes on to say, “Oil changes shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes max, but waiting for a spot can take up to two hours depending on the location. I use my car for sales meetings and don’t have two hours to spare. Using the Comb app, I found a spot cross the street from one of my clients, by the time my sales meeting was finished, my car was serviced and ready to be picked up.”
“Comb helped us serve our customers more efficiently, by maximizing our capacity, and optimizing our time” said Alex, a spa office manager. Alex continues on to say, “No one likes to wait for hours in the lobby. We wanted to enhance our customers’ experience, so while we had an in-house reservation system, customers had to call in and make their reservation over the phone. Working with Comb allowed us to expand our online reach and simplify our reservation process. We are able to enhance our services and manage our capacity much more effectively by partnering with Comb.”
“In addition to the mobile reservation system, Comb partners have access to our ayeworld agency to create and manage marketing campaigns that go beyond Comb’s offerings” said Aysha, CEO of ayeworld, the founding company behind Comb. “As we were designing Comb, we had a bigger idea behind the application. Our partners will have access to use our skilled resources to develop and manage marketing campaigns. With a constantly changing social media space, small and mid-size companies spend valuable time and efforts managing their marketing campaigns, instead of focusing on running the business. We will work with each individual business owner to develop and manage a campaign that is designed for their needs. Our partners’ success is our top priority at ayeworld.”
FAQ
What does the user experience look like?
Comb on the application side: From a user perceptive, Comb will be free, simple, and easy-to-use.
Comb for business partners: We will integrate with existing reservation systems and for businesses that doesn’t have a reservation system, we will provide a back-end solution that business owners can use to organize reservations.
Who are Comb customers?
- All smartphone users
- Young professionals who have a busy schedule
- Working parents who have to juggle multiple priorities
What services are you targeting?
To begin with we will start with 3 service industries:
- Personal care (beauty, facial, nails, spa)
- Therapeutic Services (massage therapy, acupuncture)
- Fitness studios (yoga, pilates, fitness classes, etc.)
We will expand our reach to cover the following services in the near future:
- Automotive services
- Family medical services
- Home services
What market research have you done?
We have conducted a quantitative survey as well as in-depth qualitative interviews. We surveyed target users and identified that 95% of smartphone users strongly agree with the idea behind the application. We have qualitative interviews with a range of business providers based on their interest in partnering with Comb for the reservation software and app feature.
Who are your competitors?
There are many reservation systems available, such as Opentable and Mind & Body, however all of these apps are limited to specific industries such as restaurants or fitness.
What are the risks and mitigation plans?
Price sensitivity
Many of the business we are targeting are small to mid-sized businesses, and are price conscious. In our pricing structure, we will have a straightforward approach with no hidden fees, there will be a flat fee that is paid on a monthly basis for the use of our back-end software application to businesses. Our goal is to help businesses thrive and expand their reach, thus we will have low margins and focus on volume and superior user experience for our business model.
Having a range of businesses in our database to be self-sustaining and replace Google search
We will have a two-pronged approach to solve this:
- We will use direct marketing and door-to-door sales technique to get companies signed up for the app and software.
- Self-install package: business owners can go to our website and download a plug-in that they can use to interface with our application.
In addition, we will use businesses’ existing customer databases in our user acquisition plan.
What is the cost for the application? Any additional or hidden costs?
Our initial development cost is the bulk of our fixed investment, each additional market we expand into will have minimal incremental development costs.
The other main cost is a local sales team for the market, each city will have a specialized sales & marketing team that will focus on unique market requirements. We will focus on large metropolitan cities and their surrounding suburbs in our first three years.
Are you handling financial information for the customers?
Yes, depending on the reservation requirements, some businesses will require a specified deposit at the time of booking. This will be completely up to the individual business to determine. We will provide all of our users and partners a safe, trusted platform to exchange financial information, all charges will be handled by the service provider. Our part will be limited to secure the financial and personal information transfers.
Are you going to use personal customer information to sell to 3 rd party companies?
No,
all personal information will be encrypted. We will aggregate the
data to help the businesses on our platform identify trends and
create marketing campaigns. For example, we use location targeting
for businesses to analyze the type of services that users in a
specific location look for. For example, users in lower Manhattan may
look for express laundry services more frequently.