ThymeBase

Anyone who has attended a business conference or partied at a wedding only sees the tip of the event planning iceberg. A huge amount of coordination goes into providing a great experience and often, that coordination is made more complex thanks to miscommunication, constantly moving targets, and time-intensive vendor management.

To further complicate things, most event planners operate as solopreneurs or small businesses—which means they don’t have large teams to manage the endless details.

After a revelatory conversation with friends about developing a communication tool, Dean Levitt realized his idea could solve many of these pain points—so he co-founded ThymBase, a client management platform for event planners and professionals. ThymeBase is the only platform that offers comprehensive collaboration and communication tools that centralize everything event planners do, from client onboarding until post-event lights out.

With ThymeBase, customers can have file management capabilities, a timeline builder, budget tracking tools, task lists, templates, and the client portal, where communication takes place. (Among many other things, of course.)

Despite launching a week after the 2020 COVID lockdowns, ThymeBase has grown rapidly, which says something about how much value it brings customers. A key part of that value, says Levitt, is MagicBell’s notification system.

You can’t answer messages you don’t see

The typical timeline for planning an event from start to finish can range from three months to two years, and is comprised of nearly 400 steps, from selecting independent vendors to nailing down a playlist to signing contracts.

It is not uncommon for an event to involve anywhere from 20 to 100 collaborators. 

Event planners typically communicate by email, which can lead to missed messages when things get busy (which is all the time). To fix that, ThymBase built a client portal feature into the software to keep high-volume communication organized. Once a planner onboards and invites a new client to ThymBase, they start collaborating on everything that will make up the event. The planner will also onboard vendors (such as photographers and florists) to bring all communication into one place.

For example, whenever a planner updates the shareable, auto-sync event timeline, everyone who needs to see it, sees it. This keeps clients engaged and vendors on the same page.

But Dean realized there was a  problem when planners had limited visibility into communications and other actions. In some ways, it was just like bringing email into the platform, continuing the very problem he was trying to fix. And he knew that if planners couldn’t trust ThymeBase, they wouldn’t make it their central place of work.

Asking for notifications became the most prevalent customer feedback, which led Levitt and his team to begin the search for a real-time notification system. It had to be time-sensitive because when planners miss a message or action, it can delay the entire timeline.

“I needed real-time notifications because in event planning, everything is urgent,” Dean said. “Nobody can miss a thing.” It was then that he realized notifications aren’t a side feature of ThymeBase, but absolutely integral to its success.

Using notifications to send the right information at the right time

ThymeBase team knew that building their own notification system didn’t make financial sense. They were a fast-growing startup with limited resources and wanted to focus on developing other services critical to the platform. They also knew that, based on customer feedback, they would start losing users if they didn’t incorporate a notification system right away.

The search for a pre-built notification system didn’t last long--someone on the team had previously worked with a MagicBell employee and suggested the solution. After reviewing it, Dean realized he had chatted with MagicBell founder Hana Mohan in the past. 

As soon as Dean looked at MagicBell he said, “we have to implement this as fast as possible.”

He did, and that’s because the onboarding process was seamless.

Whereas building out a notification system from scratch would have taken a developer the better part of a year, Levitt said he only had to work on it intermittently on the side, which allowed him to focus on other aspects of ThymeBase. 

He also likes the design customization that MagicBell offers. 

“Our developer could easily brand it so much more than we can with other third-party services like our customer support chatbot,” Levitt added.

The introduction of MagicBell’s embeddable notification system proved that notifications were not secondary, but instead deeply tied to ThymeBase’s functionality. 

ThymeBase now instantly notifies users when a file is uploaded, when there’s a new comment from vendors, and when a customer comments in the client portal--three of the most time-sensitive activities that happen on ThymeBase. And, since MagicBell’s notifications sync across the web and mobile versions of the platform, users never miss a notification, no matter where they are.

Emails are not an event planner’s best friend

Event planners are constantly on the go but during the event itself, they never stop moving. That’s why ThymeBase made sure its platform has a mobile-friendly design. But even with a mobile-first user interface, relying on email posed a problem.

“Professionals cant be caught constantly reading their email during an event,” Levitt explained. “MagicBell’s little bell allows them to take a quick glance, but still be on top of time-sensitive notifications.”

This is especially important for updates that involve down-to-the-minute changes, like when the bride and groom will walk into the party hall—something the DJ and photographer need to know.

Introducing a robust notification system has not only helped ThymeBase keep customers happy but also kept customers working on the platform—a primary KPI for the team. “Currently, users spend five days a week in ThymeBase, and with MagicBell, we are hoping to increase that,” Levitt said. “We are so fanatically happy with MagicBell.”

Notifications have also helped ease the anxiety that event planners feel as a result of COVID, which has increased the need to be agile. For example, if a venue temporarily shuts down due to a surge, planners need to share that information with all collaborators and clients immediately.

Over the long-term, the ThymeBase team is thinking about all the ways they can expand where they can integrate notifications, and they feel confident about scaling with MagicBell. 

“MagicBell is super committed to doing notifications well, and with a lot of stability and reliability,” Levitt said. “Which means we can focus on what we’re good at.” 

MagicBell is a perfect addition to collaborative and communication apps, enabling multi-channel notifications, and ensuring users stay on top of their work across browser, mobile, or in-app.

Unlock the full potential of your app with a perfect notification stack.

Here are a few resources that can help you get started:

• React notifications library
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