The Meteoric Rise in Demand for “Contactless” Options in Home Service Business Management

The idea of “contactless” (a real word, by the way) has been around for years and recently became the hottest home service business management trend. 

More and more owners of home service businesses are embracing digital transformations in their companies. The main motivating factor is the safety of their teams and customers but the upside is much more than that. 

Usage of our home service business management software saw a huge spike beginning in February of 2020. In this post, we explain the drivers behind all of this innovation. Keep reading to learn how home service businesses can stay current with this growing trend. 

Beyond Online Booking for Home Services

Even before the pandemic hit, online booking was gaining in popularity. Customers enjoy the convenience of being able to book a job (or a quote) on their own time and select an appointment that is convenient for them. Meanwhile home service companies like the flexibility and low cost of being able to book jobs 24/7 without the need for staff answering phones. 

After the onset of the pandemic, however, this demand seemed to grow exponentially, as did the scope of this contactless service. Responding to this demand, we rolled out a feature that allows for contactless quote requests, online quotes, and quote approval. Paired with online booking, this further reduces the need for additional site visits in order to complete a job. Both home service companies and customers enjoy the added convenience and speed of the feature. 

Automated customer messaging and booking confirmations

When a job is booked, there is still a need for a certain amount of administration in order to complete it. Confirming the booking, communicating arrival times, and additional customer messaging are all necessary to reduce the instances of “no-shows” and provide a consistent level of service to customers. 

The pandemic also created the need for many companies to add additional messages to their usual booking and confirmation process, such as communicating safety measures, service changes, and ensuring safe working conditions. 

Many of our home services company customers deployed additional messaging to their usual booking confirmation workflows. This gives them a way to reassure customers and establish safety protocols that protect both customers and their team.  

Contactless Online Payments 

Cash is king, goes the idiom. During a pandemic, however, handling of cash, even handling of credit cards, add needless risk. During the pandemic in 2020, more home services companies than ever made the switch to online payments. 

The ability to send online invoices when a job is complete and accept payments online added additional convenience for customers and allowed home service companies to further reassure their customers of a contactless service. 

“We like that it’s convenient for our customers, but best of all it has reduced the time that it takes for invoices to get paid,” says Chris Aconley, Men In Kilts COO. “The easier it is for customers, the better it is for our franchisees and techs in the field. We’ve been paid even before we’ve left the job site.”

Other Service Business Management Automation and Tools

For the home service companies who are only starting on their digital transformation journeys, they will find that many other contactless and automation features are available to them. 

For example, they can use route optimization to plan their jobs for the day. When those jobs are complete, their field teams can clock out of the job. This indicates to headquarters that the work is complete and they are heading to the next booking. 

Perhaps most importantly of all, all of these features are measurable. Home service business owners have access to an accurate measurement of performance and job completion times. They can also track customer response times, the number of bookings, and up to 60 more business metrics. This insight allows them to analyze all facts of their performance and profitability and find opportunities to improve. “On the Jobs tab, there’s a Costs link at the bottom,” says Linkon Price, Business Development Manager for The Cleaning Company. “It creates a report and I can see all the expenses and know my profit and loss. I can know whether I’m reaching my margins. If I’m monitoring a salesperson, I can see their profit margin at a glance.”

How to Make the Move to Contactless Home Service Business Management

Curious about how to add more automation and “contactless” options to your service offering? Book a free, private demo of Vonigo and we will show you how you can deploy these features in your home service business.