If you’re in Austin, you know the happy hour scene is constantly changing. New bars and restaurants pop up all the time, concepts change, and sadly, some places don’t make it. Austin’s talented hospitality teams take pride in constantly updating their food and beverage programs, and as a result, many tweak their happy hour specials regularly. Keeping up with all these changes is no small task, but that’s exactly what we do at Zappy – we aggregate and maintain Austin’s most comprehensive and reliable database of happy hour specials. But with so much information already available for free on various apps and websites, you might be wondering: Why charge for Zappy?
The answer is simple: We built Zappy for our end users, not our advertisers.
By charging a small fee, we’re free to focus on delivering the best possible experience for our users. Every decision we make, from how we display specials to how often we update our database, is guided by one goal – making it easy for you to discover the best happy hour deals in Austin, without any compromises.
Avoiding conflicts of interest
While many apps and websites rely solely on ads to offer free content, we wanted to prioritize simplicity and user satisfaction above all else. We didn’t want ads influencing how the app works or compromising the user experience. For example, we want Zappy to be really easy to use, so our goal is to minimize the number of actions it takes for users to get what they’re looking for. If advertisers were our main customer, we might feel pressured to prioritize impressions or clicks, which would inevitably clutter the app and create unnecessary friction for users.
We also want Zappy to be an unbiased, data-based resource (which is why we don’t have reviews on listings). We don’t think ad-based businesses are inherently bad, but there’s a reason the saying “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product,” resonates with so many people. By making Zappy a freemium app, we approach product and business decisions with a customer-first mentality and avoid conflicts of interest. In short, we’d rather be like Apple than Facebook.
Supporting business owners & providing equal visibility
Although using an ads-based model is the most common approach for content-based platforms, some platforms charge businesses to “claim” and maintain their listing. We didn’t give that option much consideration, mostly because Zappy’s Cofounder & CEO, Zack, has been a part owner of multiple bars. He knows firsthand how challenging the hospitality industry can be, with rising costs and tight margins. The last thing a bar owner needs is a software company asking for money without clear value in return. Although we do occasionally reach out to businesses to ask a happy hour question, we do it in a way that respects their time, and we don’t nag them if they don’t reply.
By not charging places for inclusion, we also make sure all happy hours – from small neighborhood spots to popular downtown venues are given a fair opportunity. This way, even the little guys have a shot at attracting new customers. Our goal is to uplift the entire hospitality scene, helping businesses connect with new customers without adding another financial burden to their plate.
Holding ourselves accountable to our users
When deciding how to develop and market Zappy, we landed on the following key descriptors:
- Easy-to-use
- Comprehensive
- Reliable
All of those descriptions carry some risk, but from our perspective, “reliable” is the hardest to achieve and maintain. While we don’t guarantee 100% accuracy, we are committed to investing significant time and resources to ensure our information is as up-to-date as possible. Check out this article for more details: How we collect Zappy’s happy hour data. Our processes are designed to keep Zappy’s listings accurate and fresh, and charging for the app allows us to maintain this high standard of quality. By opting for a subscription model, we know we have to deliver frequent and valuable updates to ensure that our product truly serves our customers.
Funding a rewards program
All the reasons I’ve outlined above have guided our decisions as we designed, developed, and launched the Zappy app. Our decision to make Zappy a paid app is also forward-thinking, as we imagine the product and company’s future. As a two-person company, we’re grinding to find and update happy hour data ourselves, but in the future, we plan to have a rewards program to incentivize users to contribute to the database. Currently users can submit a photo of a happy hour menu through the app, but in the future, we’ll have a formal rewards program to help make Zappy more of a community-driven database. We’ve bootstrapped Zappy’s development thus far, but we believe focusing on a subscription-based model will allow us to fund this future rewards program, similar to airlines and hotels.
Using Zappy is supposed to save you money
In the end, we believe Zappy’s value far outweighs the small fee. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time researching happy hours or trying to decide where to go, think about how much your time is worth. For me, being able to ditch my old happy hour Google sheet is worth way more than $5 a month. Beyond just time savings, if you’re using Zappy to find and attend even one happy hour a month, we can almost guarantee the app will pay for itself. Zappy is packed with listings offering substantial discounts, especially on cocktails, wine, and food, where you’ll save at least $5 after the first round.
We understand our pricing model isn’t for everyone, especially those who enjoy doing their own research, frequent the same happy hours, or don’t go out for happy hour regularly. But for those looking to outsource the legwork and explore new spots, we’re working hard to make sure Zappy helps you save more than you’ll ever spend on the app.