Ask What ELSE Your App Can Do

As noted in the MarketingBrillo May 18 blog, the App industry's approach to customer service has implications for marketing strategy. As marketers learn to imitate the intrinsically functional nature of Apps, we learn to think like our customers.

A case in point: Qender Mobile Queue connects the dots for customers who have to wait in line for a service.

Developed in Singapore by co-founders SengHee Tan and Yew-wei Tan, this smartphone app registers customers arriving for a service, and then alerts customers when their place in the line is up. In the U.S., we see crowded restaurants hand out blinking, buzzing, flashing gizmos that signal diners when it's their turn to be seated. Qender goes beyond such clunky devices and contacts customers on their mobile phones. The portable Qender App means customers can "leave the premises" while waiting.

Aimed at small businesses that typically have long waiting times -- doctors, dentists, hair salons, restaurants -- the Tans believe Qender can affordably deliver a new level of service to and communication with loyal customers.

In short, Qender improves customer service. But that's just the beginning. The App also introduces an additional customer touch point and offers an opportunity to deliver marketing or informational messages to customers already waiting to buy or engage.

[App]lause, please.

-- scrubbed by MarketingBrillo