Building For The Gig Economy: Part 2, Software and Service

How Favor Works for Customers

What is the product at Favor? It’s mainly software. We have roughly 20 software products at Favor because we’re a three-sided marketplace. Here is how we break it down:

• Favor: Consumer-facing and allows for orders to be placed
• Favor Runner: Onboards runners and gives them the tools for the job
• Favor Partner: A marketing and operational channel for our partners
• Favor Team: Content, support, and risk management tools

Now I’m going to quickly walk you through what Favor looks like. It starts with content-  an internal tool built on Google Maps. You basically have a specialized view on Google Maps. This lets us pick and choose, from Google Maps, what we promote into our system. It pulls operational data from Google Maps and then augments it with other Favor data. Basically this makes what we like to call an atomic unit- a place that you can ask a runner to go buy something for you.

Our marketing and growth teams take those atomic units, and package them together to merchandise the app. This is what the customers see when they open the app. In addition, we have an algorithm that sorts the locations for you from best to worst time of day. This way we can help the runners make more money.

How Favor Works for Runners

Meanwhile, in runner land, you have a totally different side of the marketplace. Runners get to choose when and where they’re going to work- think of it as a scheduling app. However, we know that not all times are ideal for working, so we shape that behavior by providing incentives and merchandising. 

Service is the Product

I know I said software was Favor’s product and that is true. However, from the customer’s perspective, our service is the product. The service is really what the customers care about. So this makes the runner our product. This runner, this person, their experience is the key that unlocks a great experience for everyone. 

This is how I describe Favor and why it is special to people. You’ve probably ordered pizza 100 times in your life, but it’s never been fun. The best runners can make ordering tacos or whatever, really fun. If they’re funny, they’ll send you memes and gifs. Whether or not you’re into that thing- it puts a smile on your face. It makes an otherwise mundane experience fun. That’s what makes Favor so special.

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