PetGroomBossPro Blog — Cat Grooming

The Customer App for Cat Owners: Live Route Map, Invoices and Tips

Cat owners tend to like knowing what is going on. When is the groomer coming? Has the card been charged? How do I book the next comb-out? A customer app that answers those questions saves the owner a text and saves your office a reply.

PetGroomBossPro includes a customer app for every client.

From Marketing to the App

In Marketing Cat Grooming With the Book Now Link, new cat owners found you and sent a request. Once they are clients, the customer app is where they keep up with you.

The customer app is for your clients: the people whose cats and dogs you groom. It is separate from the groomer app your team uses and from the office.

The Live Route Map

On grooming day, owners can see today's route on a live map, along the lines of “You're stop 12 of 20 — the groomer is 5 stops away.”

For cat owners, that is often the most useful screen in the app. It tells them when to bring the cat in from the sunroom and get the carrier out, without needing to text the office. Combined with the automatic texts covered in Texts to Cat Owners: Night-Before, On-the-Way and Arrived Alerts, the owner is rarely surprised by the van.

Alert Preferences

Owners choose which alerts they want from three: the night before, when they are next, and when the groomer arrives. Some cat owners want all of them. Some want only the night-before reminder. They set it in the customer app, and the software follows it.

Requesting Service and Signing Up

Owners can request service from the customer app. For a cat client, that might be an extra nail trim between repeat visits, or a sanitary trim before a family visit. The request reaches the office, and the office books it at a set time.

They can also sign up for services and see your pricing in the app. A dog client who has been thinking about having the cat groomed too can see what it costs and ask for it from there.

Card on File and Invoices

Owners can update the card on file in the customer app, so an expired card does not hold up the next charge. They can see their invoices and pay them online.

When a groomer taps Complete, the invoice is created and the card on file can be charged, or the invoice waits for the owner to pay in the app, depending on how you bill. Either way, the owner can see what was charged and for what: the cat groom, the lion cut, the de-matting add-on. Billing is covered in Invoicing Cat Grooms: Card on File and Charging When the Job Is Complete.

Tips

On a paid invoice, the owner can leave a tip: $10, $20, $30 or another amount. Cat owners who were not around for the groom often want a way to say thanks after the fact, and the tip button gives them one. Tips show up on the tips report in the office.

Rate and Refer

Owners can rate you and refer friends from the customer app. Cat owners often know other cat owners, and a happy client who refers a friend is some of the best marketing a mobile groomer can have.

What the Customer App Does Not Do

Being clear about its limits:

• Owners do not upload photos or vaccine records in the app.
• It is not an instant calendar. Service requests go to the office, which confirms a time.
• It does not show the Grooming Report; the office prints that.

Those limits keep the app simple, which most owners appreciate. Anything the app does not cover, such as a question about last visit or a request to change the cut, still reaches the office by two-way text.

Getting Owners Into the App

The customer app only helps if owners use it. A short line in your welcome text for new cat clients, telling them where to find the app and what they can do there, is usually enough. Point out the live route map first. For cat owners, knowing when the van is close is the feature that gets them to open the app on grooming day, and once they are in, they find the invoices and the tip button on their own.

An App the Owner Actually Uses

A live route map, alert choices, invoices, card on file, tips and referrals cover most of what a cat owner wants from their groomer between visits. For how the customer app fits with the rest of cat grooming in PetGroomBossPro, see the cat grooming software page.