Case study

Service finder platform in London

A directory of Lithuanian-speaking service providers with listings, messaging and reviews.

Home page: search at the top, with the main listing categories below.

ProblemIn the emigrant community, services are found in social media groups, where a post disappears after two days. Different services need completely different description fields.

SolutionEach listing type has fields that suit it, and search filters by category and city. Messaging takes place on the platform, so clients do not reveal their contact details, and the platform can see which listings get a response.

Context

In emigrant communities, service providers are usually found through acquaintances. When someone needs a plumber, a driving instructor or an accountant who speaks their native language, they search social media groups, where a post sinks beneath new ones within two days.

The platform was built to move these searches into an orderly directory where a provider can still be found a month later.

What needed solving

The biggest challenge is the variety of services. Listings for a builder, a beauty specialist, a lawyer and a car transporter need completely different information. A single generic listing template suits none of them.

The second issue is trust. Without reviews, a directory becomes a list of phone numbers, no more useful than a social media group.

The third is contact. If a client just phones the provider, the platform has no way of knowing whether it brings in any business at all.

How the platform is organised

Each listing type has its own set of fields. This way, different services in one directory are described with fields that suit them, and those fields can be used as filters.

Listings are organised by category and city, so searches can be broad or narrow.

Client and provider communicate through messages on the platform. The client does not have to give their phone number to a stranger, and the platform can see which listings get a response.

Reviews are linked to the listing and its author, so a provider's reputation builds up in one place.

Photos and service lists are added to a listing separately. The listing stays informative even when a provider offers several different services.

Technical decisions

Separate fields for each listing type. If all listings had the same fields, half of them would stay empty and the other half would not have enough.

On-platform messaging instead of direct contact. The client does not reveal their details, and the platform gets its only reliable measure of activity.

Reviews on the listing, not the company. In the emigrant services market, providers are often self-employed and have several listings, so reputation is tracked per listing.