Website Feedback: On-demand Babysitting
I'm looking for feedback on https://wesit.co.za
Our current focus is parent interviews and hiring sitters, which has put some load on us - but less load on me as a dev; in order for me to make the best landing page possible, my hopes are to get as much feedback from how it stands right now, and combine that with the feedback from parent interviews.
That said, if you have any feedback on the following, I'd love to hear it:
- UX: Is it easy to understand the message communicated?
- UX: Is it easy to navigate through the landing page?
- Content: Is there anything you would include or exclude
And anything more really :)
I worked on an extremely similar concept ultimately the strengths that lead us to succeed in this kind of market are in the automation and re-use of data generated by people who apply/accept/decline a carer:
All of the above can be automated and their content generated by the marketplace users themselves (both sides)
I don't really know much about UX/UI but I can tell you that if you start thinking in the shoes of your users and show them "words" that other users would write, you win.
Brilliantly put @orliesaurus! Re-use of generated data is most certainly something that we'll make sure to implement for the MVP.
We don't want to risk automating interviews at this moment, we have very qualitative things we hope to get out of the interviews, for e.g. the sitter's caring and empathetic nature
For me the images of the people without face symbolize the exact opposite of trust or personalization. Also, I think your wording to build trust in your service is weak. You want people to trust you with the most valuable they have...
Thanks for the feedback @Madamdo, what would you suggest? At the moment, we don't have any pictures of real people who are on the platform (and we don't want to mislead people into thinking that - until we have people who we'll manually onboard)
Do you have suggestions on wording? Where our focus is heavily focused is on making sure the babysitters we onboard are strictly vetted and fit the culture we seek (which is that they should show the utmost love and attention to the children they care for - knowing the development requirements for children)
It's good to not mislead. Add graphics with faces. So that they have eyes.
Explain the vetting process and the qualifications in more detail. Do they have certificates? From whom? Etc.
Ah I see, that makes a lot of sense - since we have quite a stringent process anyways, I can imagine it would be good to demonstrate it. Thanks so much, this is super useful!
Also understand the point about the faces, thanks a load!
I reinforced this idea in my reply. But simple solutions are best:
Use photos of yourself and your team / family for content. If no one on your team has kids, do you know anyone in your family or friends that do and would like to provide original content for your site? Fun family photos are great. You could even have a silly photo of your development team too for the about page. This will break down the seriousness of the site for an instant to help the viewers connect and bond with your team. I always think of companies as the people who are behind them. For every person is unique and the team can either grow or destroy the company. But the idea / company / product is permanent - neither grows or destroys. Anyone can get babysitting services because there are numerous options. But your team, your ideology, and the trust you build is the unique value that you provide that makes customers choose you over all other options. Make it about the people, not the product, and you will gain market share more rapidly than a higher quality product will - especially with your segment market.
Reach out to potential sitters in similar backgrounds: teaching, student tutoring, sports coaching, psychiatry, academic research in childhood development, nanny / au pair / caretakers, nurses, pediatricians, law enforcement - AND / or their children. Don't just reach out to individuals with these titles, but if they are older (40s - 60s) they will likely have children who are available for nannying and having grown up with parents in these backgrounds, will have a higher level of care then people off the street. By the way, make sure the sitters receive discounts to use the platform for their own babysitting needs (a bit of an insider's discount - as long as they babysit at least once a month, they receive a 20% of discount for babysitting / tutoring services - where your company pays the difference. This will garner trust within your network of sitters and boost your growth in sitters).
Thanks Jason, your feedback is super helpful and translates well into actionables! Taken to heart.
You're welcome. Let me know if you want me to consult further on the project. I have some experience doing so through my role at Silicon Valley Advantage.
Thanks Jason, will make sure to take you up on that :) Would really appreciate it!
Please note that payment of babysitters should be via the site. Making it easier for you to track payments, take a fee if this is your revenue model - though a membership model may be a stronger fit, and help your clients and sitters manage their money better. As sitters will need to report their income for income taxes and clients may want to account for all their babysitting expenses. Use paypal or braintree if you don't already have something in place.
Babysitter pay should be a range. Low being "base pay" and High being "bonus pay." Customers can then pay more if they like their babysitter. Add an AI component to this and for every bonus payment, match the babysitter with the client more often in the future - depending on your matching system / and or / use a calendar system to allow clients to identify when they need babysitters and on the other side, when babysitters are available to sit. The AI component can also remove any Low / Base Pay options from the list of sitter search options the next time around so that clients who do not like babysitters won't find or match with these sitters often. Add an additional feedback / recommendation option for clients to give feedback to their babysitters. Show recommendations on babysitter's profile, don't show feedback list the amount of feedback (#) next to the total recommendation number. IE: clients can see whether or not a baby sitter is well recommended or receives a lot of feedback to be "better".
I really like the idea of adding recommendation weightings based off of previous experiences! Adding that to the backlog - thanks so much for the insightful feedback, really awesome!
I don't have kids, so I guess take my feedback with a grain of salt, but...
The main thing I'm noticing is I'm not sure who I'd be hiring? Are the babysitters individuals that you've screened, or are they actually WeSit employees? At the bottom under "Book" you're copy says "professionally screened sitters". This to me sounds like you are providing a screening/listing service but that the babysitters aren't employees. However, under the Beyond babysitting sections your copy seems to read like the babysitters are employees. Also, in your Hero section you have "Apply to work for WeSit", which again sounds like the babysitters are employees.
I'd imagine parents would like to know which they're hiring; screened individuals vs WeSit employees. I'd recommend making this very obvious and not left to interpretation.
Otherwise the UI looks very clean. Great job!
Thanks for the feedback @mroberts! I've noted it, I think it's definitely important to show our entire process with sitters to give parents a clear map of our operations. Nice catch!
Good point. Possibly provide your screening process here.
What do all sitters need to have? Drug Tests, Finger Printing, Personality Tests to see if they are caring or not. etc. And if you make inperson visits or live testing: a representative visits the sitter in person to screen them or tags along with the sitter during a trial run.
Dug test could be easily cheated on. Just check this https://www.ouchclub.com/drug-testing/products/fake-pee/best-synthetic-urine-kit/. Who knows, it may help in future interviews :D
What I like:
What I think could be improved:
Thanks for the amazing actionable feedback @Harlem! Very much agree with the weak value prop, definitely something we need to think about more. The arrow should also go, it serves very little purpose at the moment.
Crying, but I agree with not having the city scape - only had it there because it took me a full day to make...cries more.
And biggest take aways are that we definitely need to work harder on having content that gives a strong sense of security, and present solution in a clearer manner!
Thanks a million! Awesome feedback!
(Smiling) I owed you one!
Apologies for the length of text everyone...just getting a few things off my chest. Don't mind me if you don't agree with me.
UX: Not sure about the green. Blue, yellow, pink, or purple would likely be a better fit. Additionally make your background photos real - stock photos are stale and too fake - staged. Allow your customers to provide photos (even selfies) of themselves babysitting (after receiving authorization (legal) to use those photos. Also your font size needs to be larger on your action items: Find a baby sitter and apply to sit.
Content: I'd open with an "About Company" / reason why you started the company and a short story about what it means to you (did you or someone you love need babysitting needs for some reason). I'd also add your team's photos (as long as they don't look like babysnatchers) - JK - but truthfully, add photos only if they reinforce the story: family photo, the first / featured babysitter, motherly figure - if you have these in your team.
Use real photos / drawings that you (or your children create). Why? Its original. As long as it doesn't clash too much with the rest of the UX, it will add an element of comfort / trust to the site that can't be managed with the current element: clean and sterile - not much for bedside manner.
Why am I pointing this out? Because every website wants to be clean and sterile. It may be easy to read. But its also easy to forget. If you don't create an emotional bond or show something personal, memorable, a lot of visitors will bounce. Also, because you are targeting families, you need to engage with them. Use pinterest, tumblr, facebook and instagram to engage with your client base. Provide photos of activities the sitters have done with their assigned kids: crafts, tutoring / projects / studies / test scores, and possibly avatar photos of the sitters with an about paragraph: why they love babysitting and how long they have done it for (remove all private information: names, age, location and keep the face and the story). Get your customers and sitters to engage with your company by sharing their stories and feedback and promote those stories on your website and social pages.
(Strategy) Create a premium service for your clients that consists of pre-school - middle school teachers being babysitters.
Why do this:
A. Provide Parents an extra measure of security
B. Provide Students tutoring capacities by pairing kids / students with sitters / teachers that know the course work of the kids.
C. Because some parents prefer premium options when looking at babysitters.
D. Provide tutors along with babysitting. Kill 2 birds with one stone.
(PS: Let me know if you would like some consulting help to implement these ideas into your company. My email is on my profile).
Im sorry to burst your bubble, but you really need to watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C27RVio2rOs
He talks about a startup doing on demand baby sitters and what their main problems were. Its also applicable to all, he just happens to use an example of exactly what you are doing.
Thanks @chazie9! Appreciate the share, we will definitely run into a lot of seemingly unsolvable issues - especially in the market we're working with; but those are my favourite issues!
(Laughing!) This video is exactly how I discovered Poppy! I don't think this is a bubble burst, but it does suggest that "niching" down is essential!
Thank you. Will check it out for my own projects.
I don't find anything particularly confusing but the copy to me seems a little fluffy - e.g.
As a side note, I recommend watching this video about building product because he talks about a product very similar to yours: https://youtube.com/watch?v=C27RVio2rOs.
Thanks so much! This problem is very close to me - my siblings, growing up, had the worst nanny for about 4 years - her incompetence and aggression was super detrimental to their development; but it's super tough mapping personal experience to general demand. The video is helping me map the value pretty well. Thanks @Jefro118
Sounds like you are really passionate about this problem - best of luck!
I like the hero text, it is short simple. The UX is pretty tight. I would add testimonials as and when they come through. They are vital for parents leaving little babies with complete strangers. It would also be nice to see available sitters without having to sign up first.
Thanks @shagunster, those are literally the two main sections we have in the backlog at the moment.
We just need to orchestrate our first sits to get testimonials; and sign up and complete at least 5 sitters' profiles who are willing to be on the home page!
Also, since you are located on the web. You should provide the locations / regions that you have babysitters located.
It won't be useful for users to show up and not find a sitter in their area. Grow faster by partnering with local baby sitting companies, finding competitors and adding their sitters to your database, and allowing customers to request sitters for their area so that your company can develop sitters in those regions faster and get back to your customers via an email they leave you when they request a region for sitters.
Your hero text doesn't seem too compelling at the moment. "We Sit, You Live" kinda tells me what you do, but doesn't really communicate your value offer.
The text below that only says what every business would say about themselves. You should look into communicating what differentiates you
I would add an F.A.Q. section and make the log in button a bit more visible.
Otherwise it's looking really lively and simple!
Truthfully, I would just have a signup action button where everyone provides their email when they reach your site. You can then send them a password to enter the website and create their own account / change their password. Additionally, you will grow your email list so that you can provide them news and insights as you grow.
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Thanks for the feedback Eddie, really appreciate it!
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Thanks for the feedback Thomas!