Finding a good babysitter is a daunting task that just about all parents can relate to–including all the legwork of locating a nearby sitter, doing safety and security checks, interviewing, scheduling, last minute emergencies, calling multiple sitters, waiting for response, and beyond. The new app service from Sittercity, Chime, takes all those stressful and time-consuming elements pertaining to the sitter search off your to-do list.
Established in 2001 in Boston by Genevieve Thiers before later moving its headquarters to Chicago, Sittercity was one of the earliest online services to connect parents with childcare providers. The company quickly grew to include other homecare services, like senior care providers and pet sitters among others–and it now has 4,000 sitters joining the online platform daily.
The latest release from Sittercity is Chime, the first on-demand app for babysitting, which is currently available in New York City (covers most of Manhattan and a good chunk of Brooklyn), Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC. The app makes finding a sitter as easy as ordering on Seamless: With just a few clicks away on a phone parents can get a vetted, reasonably priced babysitter when and where they want it, even last-minute. Chime’s website lists the sitter services in New York City as a $17/hour flat fee and there’s no membership fee to sign up. The search usually produces three qualified sitters who live nearby, but if the sitter that a parent is interested is not available, Chime can help find a similar substitute.
“The idea with Chime’s name is that a doorbell rings and there’s a great sitter there, so there’s an experiential aspect to the app’s name,” explains Kriston Rucker, head of Creative and Brand at Sittercity. “Chime works because you can book a high-caliber sitter right away that has passed a number of screening steps. First off, sitters with good experience and references have to apply and pass a whole battery of checks: Multiple security, background checks, and social media screening. Secondly, we shoot videos so a parent can see a video of the sitter before you choose one. Thirdly, we talk to them on the phone and meet them in person so there’s a lot of human work involved due to the safety priority of the service’s nature. And sitters are also reviewed by other parents so you can see the ratings and written reviews.”
Chime makes finding a sitter efficient and the process itself very easy compared to real life sitter search. And when it comes to parents’ concern about online sitter service’s safety. “We have done a lot of screening and vetting in each neighborhood for the best sitters and we know their availability so it really is as simple as saying okay this is when I need a sitter,” Rucker says. “Then a parent can look at videos, other parents’ reviews, and then just book it. At that point we would recommend sharing contact information the first time you use a sitter because it is always good to talk to them and get comfortable with them.”
Being a new platform on the app market, Chime is continuously working on providing parents with great childcare services. According to Rucker, some of the future improvement may include features such as “expanding area coverage and features that make it easier to store favorite sitters, rebooking the sitters that parents like, and with the help of technology make the parents feel more connected to the sitter even when they are out.” At the end of the day, like any on-demand service, it comes down to supply and demand and seeing what parents want. “We are learning from the behavior of our app users to make Chime easier and better, such as why do people use it: date night, go to a cultural event, or get more stuff done around the house,” Rucker says.
For more information on Chime, visit hellochime.com or download the app from the the iTunes Store.
