Note: What can I say, I have a soft spot for mobile developers. Recently I have had the opportunity to get in touch with the people behind Easy Taxi, and they have graciously offered to provide information about the app. They've also shared pictures!
Easy Taxi, the world’s biggest taxi hailing application, has recently celebrated its three months in the Philippines. The app is fast expanding within Metro Manila, attracting yet more drivers and users.
[gallery ids="2626,2627,2628"]Why create a taxi hailing app? The concept of booking a cab with an app, as well as the technology that is used in the process, is generally the same for all products. In fact, only the biggest app producers are able to polish the interface and back-end database to satisfy the demanding users. On that side Easy Taxi has always been the industry leader. However, it’s the marketing and customer relationship management (CRM) that really make the difference. As the mass of technology early adopters has become critical, it’s the key for any high-tech company to focus on outgoing and social people. After all, apps like Easy Taxi are also for lifestyle readers.
Can Easy Taxi easily target Manila’s trendiest with its efforts? The answer is yes – and its track record is becoming yet more impressive. What we started with was connecting drivers and passengers. We established a customer service and CRM system that guaranteed the passenger treatment of the XXI century. This includes training the drivers and assuring that every ride request is fulfilled – and in case no driver was available – calling and informing the passengers about the high occupancy at that moment. Passengers that encountered any major issues were treated to complimentary vouchers and service.
Second step was to establish events – we partnered with Manila’s leading gastrobars, clubs, and event organizers. One of them is Draft Bar, where each Tuesday and Thursday we provide free shots to users who download our app. The bar is always busy and full of guests who want to be near city’s hassle and bassel, so they definitely constitute a perfect target for an app like ours. One of the upcoming events we are participating it is MovemberPI, to be held on the 25th of October. During the event Easy Taxi will be offering prizes to guests with Easy Taxi app installed on their phones.
Our co-branding partnerships extend beyond events. We chose Smart Mobile as our telecom partner as the only mobile network that is able to successfully target tech-savvy millenials. Together we are able to assure that any product update will fast be able to take effect on Android and iOS devices due to network’s incredibly accurate penetration.
On social media we focus on contests and user engagement. Our recent iPhone 5C campaign has already achieved more than 25’000 shares. We are one of the first companies in the Philippines to offer it in a raffle. We are soon launching exciting contests on Twitter and Instagram, while our viral campaigns are on the way.
Marketing an app has never been easy, but with the Team so keen to provide suggestions and meet new people, we are able to achieve the best results. We successfully blend online with offline and currently most of our users declare that they got to know about the app through virality and positive Word-of-Mouth (WOM). I do believe that in a few weeks our fulfillment rates will be close to 100%, same as the passenger satisfaction rates. The best part of our activity is that we all feel we are helping the transportation industry in Manila and that those people who would never take a cab in Manila are now more than keen to try it out. Let’s stay optimistic!
