If anything has become clear in the last few months it’s how much people miss gathering and celebrating milestones. LYFETYMES is building an innovative platform and marketplace that is automating all the steps in planning a party and incorporates the different verticals. From ideation to memories we are making LYFETYMES the go-to platform where people can plan all celebrations in LYFE- birthdays, baby showers, graduations, and more. Streamlining planning, decor, and inspiration versus the current bifurcated experience that typically causes the 20+ hours of planning per party – you shouldn’t have to print out a checklist in today’s world. With LYFETYMES you are on your way in a few clicks. We will be launching our first App version soon, and we are testing it now.
Business process has shifted
Celebrations can creep up on most of us in our busy lives so we also want to help people be in front of the next in LYFE milestone and help them prepare. To do that we must create a CRM strategy that enables and helps users, not annoy them. We also have LYFEMINDERS which are important dates but may not warrant a party so we are working on building a gifting suite with personalized information users can input.
The coronavirus has caused almost all events to be cancelled or postponed around the U.S. and around the world and party planners all over the are now stuck at home unable to earn money in what should be the busiest time – like graduation and wedding season. In February, we were planning our launch for our online Party Planning and Styling service, Hostessy, and overnight we grinded to a halt, so we began brainstorming ways to pivot our model.
We realized everyone will be using video, by forced adoption- so anyone could and can set up a virtual party so we really worked on packages that not only were meaningful, memorable, time and stress savers for parents. We also wanted to find a way to celebrate milestones that can’t be just cancelled or postponed- like graduations, babies and birthdays- and we are committed to helping people do it creatively as possible like car parades or drive through showers. We are now having customers book future parties they are looking forward to having because ideation is the most fun part of planning.
Integrating technology
We have leveraged our LYFETYMES platform technology to collaborate with clients and use tools like building guest websites for them, creating checklists, or sharing styling boards. This has been amazing because the user feedback we get from Hostessy clients on LYFETYMES has been so valuable. The client and stylist are collaborating and using most of the tools and we hear first hand what they love most, what needs improving, or what needs to be added. On LYFETYMES because of COVID, we added functionalities like Virtual Party Links, SlideShow Links, Who’s Coming with Pictures, etc – so the product map has been turned on its head.
Every company has been forced to deploy or build their business continuity plans in the most drastic way ever – we will need to be able to navigate a space where it all is back to normal and open, or different states are open and some not, to nationwide stay at home orders, or a hybrid of it all as it is not only dependent on states but people’s level of comfort of going out. We have three consumer profiles we need to be able to optimize:
- DIY’ers who also prefer LYFETYMES -which sign ups have quadrupled daily vs. pre-Covid
- Busy women whose time is currency, but needs someone to help to plan party or styling help
- Techies – choose your own adventure questions and answers
Soon, we will be launching our Digital Party Stylists- Your go-to destination for party inspiration you can shop. No party styling session needed.
The future of party planning
For the foreseeable future, when we can gather again, based on what we see with our uses, more at-home celebrations or smaller venue gatherings. We also see encouraging signs our consumers want to support local small businesses – versus big box stores that you have the same decor – and being that most of the party and event planning services are female small businesses, being able to help support women by providing opportunities to earn money – especially stay-at-home moms and building out how we highlight women small business on our marketplace, is a priority. They are an amazing community and have women who have party planning businesses using our platform with their clients, so we see the opportunity as unlimited.
Our commitment is building the best platform and services, we have an aggressive product map. There is a ton of work to do, there are many verticals to continue to build out, but right now is the opportunity to do it.
