A Mobile App for The Wai Thai Massage Chain: How We Helped Our Client Improve Their Customer Service

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We are often approached by owners of offline franchises who want to improve their IT infrastructure, attract new audiences, and improve the quality of customer service. Mobile app development is one of the most popular requests. And this was the task the Wai Thai chain came to us with.

In this case, we will tell you what business tasks a mobile app can solve, as well as share solutions that help us optimize the development budget and keep the key features. This case will be useful for chain companies that are focused on customer service and are thinking about launching their own app.

Why does a spa salon need a mobile app?

Wai Thai offers traditional Thai and aroma massages as well as spa and other beauty procedures. By the way, this is what salon interiors look like — just a look at them helps visitors relax 😊

The Wai Thai salons. Source: Wai Thai Spa: brand book

But let’s get back to the case 🙂 Wai Thai had a website that offered the guests only some of the services: signing up for a massage and buying a gift voucher or a membership.

But they couldn’t check the number of the paid sessions left — they had to keep this information in mind. This was inconvenient for the customers and created an extra workload for the employees, who were distracted from other tasks by the sheer number of rescheduled calls.

As a result, the Wai Thai team decided to launch a mobile app to solve these problems. Also, it would help solve some other important business tasks:

• • reduce SMS spending — all the information about promotions will be delivered in push notifications;
  • inform clients about discounts at “happy” hours to reduce staff downtime;
  • increase membership and voucher sales due to convenient flows in the app.

Wai Thai had an in-house team that developed an internal IT product — a custom CRM system. However, they had no experience in mobile development, so they decided to involve an outsourcing team with relevant expertise.

Wai That asked us to develop a mobile app. It was important for our client to have an outsourcing team with significant experience in UI/UX design. We are the perfect match: Purrweb not only has 10 years of experience in creating iOS and Android apps but also creates a catchy design with a special focus on convenience.

How we optimized the budget while keeping the basic features 

We had to deal with the following tasks:

As a rule, we are responsible for both backend and frontend development, but in this project, the backend logic had already been written by the Wai Thai in-house team. The custom CRM system was responsible for the database — where all the customer information was stored. So, our task was to make sure the data would be safely and without errors transferred to the app.

⭐ Our cases   In our portfolio, this isn’t the first case where we developed only a part of an app and worked side-by-side with a client’s in-house team. For example, we worked on an IoT project for the Vendify smart fridges. There, we created a frontend that interacted with the hardware and backend. You can read more about the Vendify project in our article. The Vendify app It was also the other way around: the client’s team wrote a frontend, and we developed a backend. This is how we worked on the WAW app with discount coupons and raffles. By the way, we wrote the backend on a stack we hadn’t used before and fit it into a very tight deadline — it took us 4 months to do what was estimated to be a 7-month job. Read the case to learn how we did it. The WAW app

Together with the client, we discussed the possibility of adding a completely new logic, for which we would have to write the backend part. For example, we could make personalized notifications based on the geolocation. They inform guests how long it will take to get to the salon, taking the traffic into account, and recommend the perfect time to head off.

But it’s quite a difficult task — the implementation would take much more time and budget. And the clients wanted to launch the app quickly and collect feedback from their guests. It was unclear if the guests really needed this feature. Maybe basic features would be enough.

We understand these doubts very well and look for ways to accomplish the task and save the budget at the same time. That’s why we suggested launching an MVP with key features and simple integrations to release the app to the stores as soon as possible.

We agreed with the client that we would make an app that would cover three goals:

• • Allows guests to quickly book an appointment and reschedule it if necessary;
  • Allows clients to buy a voucher or a membership without going to the website and integrating a payment system;
  • Inform clients about the discounts at times when the salon is least busy — this would help reduce the staff downtime.

And later, if guests like the app, it will be possible to add more complex features: personalized geolocation-based notifications and built-in payments.

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How the Wai Thai app works

In the app, a user can:

• • Create an account and edit the profile;
  • Find the nearest salon on the map;
  • Sign up for a massage and cancel or reschedule the session at any moment;
  • Learn about discounts and specials;
  • Pay for a membership or a voucher.

Wai Thai has franchises, and the payment flow can be different in different salons. We took these cases into consideration and implemented both variants: prepayment from the deposit in the app and an opportunity to pay in the salon right before the visit.

Payment flow — online or at a salon

The convenient sign-up flow is the main benefit for a user. Let’s see how this flow works in the app:

1. When a user schedules an appointment for the first time, they need to select a salon in a pop-up window. If the user has already visited the Wai Thai salons, the app will show the last salon selected.

2. Then, the user selects the main service, for example, Thai massage. They can add extra services for the visit: aromatherapy, spa, or a relaxing massage.

3. Then, they need to select the date and time of the visit and the massage therapist they prefer.

4. Then, all they need to do is check the information and pay. They can withdraw the required amount from the deposit or use their voucher — in this case, they need only to enter their number.

We added the progress bar to help users understand which step they are at.

This is what other app screens look like

Design solutions

The app’s design had to match the design of the existing website and the Wai Thai brand book.

The brand book color palette

We took some visual ideas from there, but, at the same time, we found new interesting ideas in the details — color choices, typography, and illustrations.

The app’s color palette

We decided to use two typefaces for the typography: Holgada for accents and the headlines and Gilroy as the main typeface. We found the first typeface in the client’s brand book: its font is perfect for the Thai theme. Gilroy is perfectly readable on smartphone screens and has a few fonts.

Two typefaces

Below, we will tell you more about our UI/UX solutions using the Wai Thai app screens as the examples 👇

The client really liked the design. It represented the brand’s aesthetic as well as added new details and accents that fit into the style just perfectly.

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with a focus on aesthetic design, usability, and system scalability. Contact us for a free project estimation: we’ll calculate the budget, estimate the timeline, and make a roadmap.

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WebView to speed up development and save the budget

Our task was to ensure that the data from the client’s CRM would be seamlessly transferred to the app. We made a list of the necessary endpoints, which were then prepared by the in-house team.

The app has a voucher purchase feature. To implement it, we needed to attach a payment system. However, we suggested an alternative solution to speed up the development and save the client’s budget.

We used WebView — a component that helps display web pages right inside an app. 

And the app’s UI completely mimics the mobile version of the website. The user doesn’t even have to open a browser — they can buy right via the app. This makes the process easier and keeps the usual interaction flow.

The website checkout page

🔧 PWAs   WebView is not the only approach to utilizing web technologies in mobile development. Recently, Progressive Web Apps (PWA) have become popular. PWA is a web app that works like a regular website but looks like a native app. You can install PWA on a smartphone via a browser — no downloads from the App Store or Google Play are necessary. This is especially relevant if, for some reason, you can’t publish your product in stores. By the way, we develop PWAs as well! We had a PWA case for Plonq — an e-cig manufacturer. We helped make an app for those who want to quit smoking. You can read more about this case in our article. The Plonq PWA UI

Result: the Wai Thai app is in stores now

The Wai Thai app is available for download on Google Play and App Store. Since the release, it’s been downloaded 1000+ times from Google Play alone. In the future, the clients are planning to add new features: personalized notifications and in-built payments.

➡️ Want to develop a mobile app, but your in-house team has no expertise in mobile development? We at Purrweb are ready to help. We have designed, developed, and released hundreds of mobile apps for clients in various niches. We’ll dive into the context of your business and offer optimal solutions for your project. Contact us to get a free project estimation.

Why choose Purrweb

Full-cycle mobile development. We take on the entire process: design, develop, test, and release the app to the stores.

10+ years of experience. We have been creating IT products for businesses and startups for over 10 years. We have released 550+ projects in completely different niches: IoT, EdTech, marketplaces, dating apps, etc.

Modern technologies. We work with a cutting-edge tech stack to bring the most complex and advanced features to life. Our solutions are easy to scale, update, and support.