All work
Product teardown / 2024
By Anshul
Updated
ICPs, jobs to be done and a screen-by-screen review of the first booking flow.
- Client
- Self-initiated
- Year
- 2024
- Type
- UX and growth teardown
- Platform
- Android app
- Industry
- Home services
About Urban Company
- What is Urban Company?
- Urban Company is an Indian online platform that connects customers with professional service providers for various home services, such as cleaning, beauty, repairs and maintenance.
- What is their value proposition?
- To provide convenient, reliable and high-quality home services by connecting customers with verified and skilled professionals, ensuring a seamless and trustworthy experience for both service providers and users.
For this exercise, I have covered only B2C customers, for example home makers and professionals.
Competitors
The competitive landscape
UrbanClap, now known as Urban Company, has several competitors in the home services market in India. Some of the notable ones:
- Housejoy
- Offers a variety of home services like beauty, cleaning, plumbing, electrical and appliance repair.
- Bro4u
- Provides home services including cleaning, repairs, pest control and personal services like grooming and fitness.
- Zimmber
- Offers services like home cleaning, repairs, painting and pest control.
- QuikrEasy
- Formerly QuikrServices, part of the Quikr platform, providing cleaning, repairs and beauty services.
- Sulekha
- A digital platform for local services, including cleaning, repairs and pest control.
- Mr. Right
- Specializes in home services like cleaning, appliance repair and pest control.
- Timesaverz
- Provides home services including cleaning, repairs and beauty services.
- Helpr
- Offers home cleaning, repairs and other personal services.
- Cheep
- A platform for home services including cleaning, repairs and beauty treatments.
These competitors vary in the services they offer, their geographic coverage, pricing and customer experience.
Who books
Ideal customer profiles
Three ideal customer profiles (ICPs)
| Attribute | ICP 1 | ICP 2 | ICP 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Shruti Singh | Anita Desai | Vikram Patel |
| Age | 27 | 45 | 38 |
| Gender | Primary: Female · Secondary: Male | Primary: Female · Secondary: Male | Primary: Male · Secondary: Female |
| Location | Bangalore, Karnataka | New Delhi, Delhi | Pune, Maharashtra |
| Occupation | Software Engineer | Home Maker | Business Owner |
| Income level | 60k+ PM | 50k+ PM (household) | 2 lakh+ PM |
| Education | Bachelor's in Computer Science | Bachelor's in Arts | Master's in Business Administration |
| Marital status | Single | Married | Married |
| Household size | 1 (lives alone or with roommate) | 5 (Anita, her husband, two children and mother-in-law) | 3 (Vikram, his wife and one child) |
| Tech proficiency | Very high (works in the tech industry) | Moderate (uses smartphone for basic needs) | High (uses technology for business and personal needs) |
| Primary needs | Grooming services, appliance repair, fitness training | Elderly care, deep cleaning services, pest control | Commercial cleaning services, AC repair, plumbing |
| Apps used most | Instagram, YouTube, X; all OTT platforms; shopping sites, Blinkit, Swiggy | Shopping sites, Blinkit, Swiggy; all OTT platforms; LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, X | LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, X |
| Most-used features | Salon, spa, massage; electrician, plumber, carpenter | Salon, spa, massage; cleaning and pest control | Electrician, plumber, carpenter; AC service; painting and home decor |
| Pain points | Lack of time for household chores; finding trustworthy, skilled professionals for grooming and home maintenance | Finding reliable, caring professionals for self and elderly care; keeping a clean, pest-free home | Finding reliable office maintenance; quick response time for repairs; balancing work and home life |
| Willingness to pay | Moderate: prioritises value for money and compares with local store prices | Moderate: prioritises value for money and compares with local store prices | High: wants to save time at the expense of money |
| Hobbies | Gaming, photography, traveling | Gardening, cooking, watching TV | Golf, networking, reading business books |
| Preferred communication | WhatsApp, SMS | Phone calls, SMS, WhatsApp | Email, phone calls |
JTBD
Jobs to be done
After talking to 25+ Urban Company customers and going through Play Store reviews where users mentioned both their frustrations and moments of satisfaction, these quotes were the highlights:
Great app, very convenient for getting services done at home without having to step out.
I love how easy it is to book a service and have professionals come to my home at a time that suits me.
Every service provider I've used has been professional and skilled, making the whole process stress-free.
Used the app to organize home repairs before hosting a family event. Everything was fixed perfectly, and on time.
Great for busy schedules. I can book a service while at work, and it's done by the time I get home.
I love that I can spend my weekends relaxing instead of doing chores. Urban Company takes care of everything.
Primary jobs
- Get professional service at home
- Users want access to professional cleaning, beauty and repair services in the comfort of their homes, which matters most to people who don't have the time or means to travel for them.
- Access reliable and certified services
- Users look for trustworthy, skilled professionals. Urban Company's background checks and mandatory training for professionals are a significant draw.
Secondary jobs: personal needs
- Look good for social events
- Beauty treatments to look their best for events, without having to travel to a salon.
- Home maintenance for guests
- Getting the home in top condition before hosting guests or family events.
Secondary jobs: social needs
- Impress others
- Looking good and keeping a well-maintained home ties into social approval and personal image.
- Efficient use of time
- Professional help without disrupting daily schedules, leaving more time for family or other tasks.
Jobs to be done by user persona
| User persona | Primary (functional) | Secondary (personal) | Secondary (social) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICP 1 | Get professional service at the comfort of my home | Need to look good at the party in the evening | I look good and everyone notices it |
| ICP 2 | Get professional service at the comfort of my home because I don't know how to drive | Need to look good at a family event and organise the home for guests | Be seen as a good wife and enhance personal image and living space |
| ICP 3 | Get a professional to fix home issues without getting my hands messy | Get work done while I spend quality time with kids and wife | I get things done and everyone appreciates it |
Hypotheses
Activation and retention hypotheses
- Users who book at least 1 service in their first 7 days
- People who book at least one service are more likely to interact with the platform and see the quality of service Urban Company provides.
- Users who re-book the same service within 45 days
- This shows the user likes the core value proposition of the app and is more likely to be retained.
- Users who rate their first service 4 stars or more
- A satisfied user is more likely to book another service once trust is built.
- Users who book a 2nd time within 30 days
- Services like salon, spa and massage are used more than twice in 30 days, so a user who books again in that window is more likely to be retained long term.
- Users who subscribe to Plus within 90 days of signing up
- Subscribing in this window signals perceived long-term value and willingness to commit to repeat purchases. Personal care has short repeat cycles and home services longer ones, so 90 days covers both.
The first booking flow
Screen-by-screen review
Eight screens from the first booking flow, each with what works, what gets in the way, and what I would try.
Screen 01
Category selection
What works
- Auto-detects location
- Clearly articulated top categories with graphical representation, which helps older users
- Very clean interface and a CTA-driven search bar
What gets in the way
- The most popular category for new users, bathroom cleaning, is not surfaced here
- Too many options, repeated again by progressive disclosure. The pathways need to be reduced
Ideas
- A "Buy" CTA for the RO water purifiers
- "Water purifier" is a more searched keyword than "RO"
- A "Book service" CTA for quicker action
Screen 02
Product selection
What works
- Good choice of emoticons for easier product selection
What gets in the way
- Selling the Native purifier before I have experienced the service or have enough trust in the brand
- No CTA on how to move ahead
Ideas
- Mono-colour icons feel inactive. Add colour to refrigerator and washing machine repair
- Use a CTA to select a service instead of repeating the "Appliance repair" header
Screen 03
Service selection
What works
- The video at the top is really helpful
- Ratings and the number of bookings completed create trust
- The spare part price list is great for reference
What gets in the way
- Coupons are not clear about what is actionable
- UC Cover is for reassurance and belongs on the booking confirmation page
- Could have avoided images for the service sections when the detailed view is right below
Ideas
- Use the labour illusion effect to relate to the detailed work SOP via video snippets at the top
AhaSpare pricing, the 30-day guarantee, the service SOP video and UC Cover showcase immense transparency, quality and trust.
Screen 04
Sub-service selection
What works
- The warranty period is added subtly, in an assuring green and very well placed
- Precise information about service details
- The anchor effect nudges people to buy the best service for just ₹200 more
What gets in the way
- The share button is meant to help multiple household members decide, but the shared link has no clear action
Ideas
- Put a "Popular" tag on the Foam-jet service. It is the most commonly picked and aids the anchor effect
Screen 05
Safety guidelines
What gets in the way
- Breaks the booking flow. This could have been a checkbox on the service add-ons page
Screen 06
Service add-ons
What works
- The UC Cover icon is well placed here and adds to trust
What gets in the way
- Asking me to keep adding information is frustrating. This is not quick
- People usually book basic services because they do not know the actual fault, so this is too much information
Ideas
- Place this screen next to sub-service selection
- Use a storytelling or goal gradient effect to keep users engaged
- Bundling services for other products here would generate more revenue
Screen 07
Payment page
What gets in the way
- First-time users would not be willing to add card details
- Most core users book once or twice a month, so wallet or card integration is highly unlikely
Ideas
- Confirm service details in the top half of the screen so users do not go back to re-check
- A free cancellation prompt here to reduce drop-off
Screen 08
Booking confirmation
What works
- We did it! Finally!
- The UC Cover promise gives good assurance on what the service covers
- The ability to connect directly to a supervisor
What gets in the way
- Decision fatigue. Choosing across 8+ screens to book a low-frequency service is just too much effort
Ideas
- This page could be used to explore other offerings, or is it great the way it is?
- A good way to showcase multiple products under one roof in the future
Metrics
How I would measure it
Quantitative
- D7, D30, D60, D90 retention
- Shows whether users keep booking services like home cleaning, beauty treatments and appliance repairs, a sign of ongoing engagement and satisfaction.
- Monthly active users per cohort
- Many services (salon at home, cleaning, repairs) are needed monthly, so MAU per cohort shows whether new users find consistent value.
- M1, M3, M6 transactions per cohort
- Transactions at 1, 3 and 6 months show how users fold Urban Company into routines like monthly beauty treatments or quarterly deep cleaning.
- Repeat booking % per service category
- Reveals which categories, like pest control or home maintenance, users return to most, and where they're likely to spend more.
- Plus membership renewal % per cohort
- Renewals of Plus (discounts, priority bookings) gauge loyalty and satisfaction over time.
- MoM top 5 and bottom 5 booked services
- Surfaces seasonal trends (AC repair in summer) and preferences, highlighting underused services to promote or new ones to introduce.
Qualitative
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
- Immediate feedback on specific interactions, like cleanliness after a cleaning or the professionalism of a beauty therapist.
- App store reviews
- Direct feedback on usability, the booking process and service quality.
- Social media reviews
- Public sentiment and recurring praise or complaints about specific services or providers.
Results
The teardown at a glance
- 25+customer conversations and review deep-dives
- 3ideal customer profiles
- 5activation and retention hypotheses
- 8screens reviewed in the first booking flow