Home improvement digital marketplace HomeAdvisor launched a series of tools in its mobile app to help homeowners and home service professionals more safely connect and transact around home repairs during shelter-in-place orders. The tools allow homeowners and professionals to connect via in-app video messaging, receive and pay for services with contactless digital payment tool HomeAdvisor Pay, and tip current and former pros directly in the mobile app. The new tools are available on the HomeAdvisor and HomeAdvisor pro app.
A recent ANGI Homeservices-commissioned survey of home service professionals found pros are using technology and communications platforms to engage and reassure new and existing customers. The survey found 85% of pros had made at least one major change to customer communications and among this cohort, 41% used video chat technology in place of in-person meetings.
“Across the United States, home service professionals have been deemed essential and are continuing to do necessary work to keep our homes up and running,” CEO of ANGI Homeservices Brandon Ridenour said in a prepared statement. “From more extensive projects like repairing roofs damaged by spring storms to more simple but necessary work like unclogging pipes, local service pros are keeping Americans’ homes safe and secure while we quarantine during this pandemic. We wanted to create features and tools to help both homeowners and pros seamlessly interact in a socially distant manner while completing these essential repairs.”
The video messaging within the HomeAdvisor app is designed to allow pros and homeowners to easily share information about projects and work on contract details at a point when people are cautious about inviting guests into their homes. Once matched, a homeowner can chat with a professional, or the professional can initiate the video call.
The new HomeAdvisor Pay digital payment tool is designed to make paying a professional simple, safe, and easy. The feature delivers a contactless payment method that “removes the friction associated with traditional approaches that often require frequent trips to the bank, handwritten checks, delayed invoicing, and additional fees for small businesses,” according to HomeAdvisor. The HomeAdvisor 2019 State of Home Spending Report found 60% of consumers still pay for home service projects via high-contact methods such as cash or check.
