No one would have thought that Uber would become one of the ride-hailing giants in the market when it started its operations in 2009. They have some great features like Geolocation tracking, and the option to schedule your trips in advance. But, these are not the only elements that make it a popular app. This app offers so many other functional features that make it popular among riders and drivers. One of the remarkable features they have is the referral program for ride-hailing services. Uber uses this scheme to get quality drivers and to scale up their business in new areas that they enter.
Drivers love this scheme as they can make money by just referring their friends, relatives, and acquaintances. If you are planning to develop a ride-hailing app, this is one of the programs that you need to incorporate to attract the interest of drivers. Understanding this system is crucial for your business. Here are all the details that you should know.
Understanding the Referral System
People in the driving profession know a lot of other talented drivers that are looking out for ways to make money. While anyone who wants to drive with Uber can approach them directly, unfortunately not many people know about a business unless someone explains it to them. It is merely impossible for the company to reach out to all the drivers in a city no matter what kind of marketing efforts they put in.
That’s one of the reasons why Uber has driver referral programs. Besides helping their peers to drive for Uber, they can also make extra money as a reward. If you are wondering how the referral program works, here are the three important steps in the process.
Invite: Drivers can share a referral code to the other drivers they know and invite them to sign up for driving with Uber. Drivers can find the code on the Driver App or the Partner Dashboard.
Track the Progress: Once the driver sends the invite to their friends and acquaintance, they can check on the Partner Dashboard to see what’s happening. If they do not see any update or if they think that that the system is not working, drivers can reach out to the customer service team instead. The support team will give the latest and necessary updates.
Earn Some Money: Once the driver signs up for driving and completes a few rides, the driver who referred will earn some money through a referral bonus for each unique referral made by him. This amount differs from city to city. A driver can learn how much he has made when he checks on the referral Board.
These are the three steps in the referral process, and one can share the referral code through different mediums.
User Referral Program
Besides, the drivers, riders can also send referral codes to their friends to get free rides or great referral discounts. Who wouldn’t like to commute to places for free right? One can earn the rides once the invitee takes a specific number of trips from Uber. Riders can follow the same steps as discussed above to send the code to their friends. This can be incorporated into your ride-hailing business too so that more riders would sign up for your services.
How to Reach Out to a Maximum Number of People? Image Source: The Hub
Here are a few of them for your reference.
Mobile: A driver or a member can use your mobile phone to share the referral code, which they get from the ride-hailing app to all of your contacts.
Use the Desktop: People can use their laptop or desktop to do this task. They can extract the code and then share it with people whom they know using various means like an email or social media platforms.
Social Media Platforms: Since most people have a lot of friends and followers online, they can use this method to reach out to a maximum number of people in just a few seconds. People who have used ride-hailing services regularly can take advantage of this information to get sign up discounts for new users.
Corporate Referrals: You can also approach big corporates to participate in your referral programs since many employees use cab services regularly. This will ensure regular business while your services become the most preferred among large corporates.
Referral programs guarantee business growth for ride-hailing services like it is evident in the case of UBER. If you want to beat the competition and become one of the best ride-hailing services in your city, then, you need to ensure that the rewards that you give out to the drivers are meaningful and attractive.
With referrals, you do not have to spend a lot on marketing either. Instead, you can use your drivers and riders to bear testimony about your services and get more people signed up to your business.
Read our Blog on Ideas to Sign up More Customers for Your Uber-like Ride-hailing Services to understand other ways of attracting more riders.