Hi! Budding entrepreneurs are more fond of the taxi business as it falls under one of the most promising businesses. Alright! Starting a taxi business in today’s times has become a piece of cake for entrepreneurs as the demand for taxi services are increasing and ready-made app development solutions. So, you must focus on highlighting your taxi business as the taxi industry is packed with competition. For that, you need to work on marketing and user retention strategies to withstand the competition. We are about to discuss these strategies in this blog.

A quick tour of how to start a taxi business

Before knowing the marketing and retention strategies, let us take a quick tour of how to start an on-demand taxi business.

• Formulate your business plan

The initial phase is to formulate a business plan, which comprises the goals/objectives of your business, your target market, and your business model. Once you have a complete business plan, you can proceed with the next stage of your business, like hiring drivers, getting funds for your business, etc.

• Choose the type of vehicles

Next to formulating your business plan, you need to invest in the vehicles for your business. For example, if you are running a logistics business, then you need to have vans and trucks for transportation. Similarly, for your taxi business, you need to have different types of taxis. In general, it is best to have a range of taxis so that your users will select the type of taxi based on their affordability and needs. 

• Documentation and license

Once you are all set with your business plan, you need to get the license in order to run your taxi business. Along with the license, you can also get insurance for your vehicles. 

• App development and promotion

Finally, you will head to developing your taxi application. There are three types of app development that you can take a look at. Firstly, the traditional method of developing an app, where you will approach a company and start building the app from scratch. The next case is hiring a team of developers at your own cost and building your app. Finally, the ready-made app development. The ready-made app development is absolutely the best method in comparison to the other two methods, as the former is cost and time-efficient

Uber clone app falls under the ready-made app development comprising different real-time and adorable features. 

After developing your taxi app, you need to stick with some marketing and retention strategies, which will keep your business sailing. Now, let us walk through the different marketing strategies that you need to implement in your business.

Top smashing marketing strategies for your business

• Referral marketing

Referral marketing falls under one of the best and practical ways to promote your business. In referral marketing, the existing users will get referral points, if they introduce your app to their kith and kins. In order to amuse your new customers, you can give them various perks like a free maiden ride or maiden ride at a discounted rate, etc. In a highly competitive business like the taxi business, you can surpass the competition if and only if you provide incentives and offers to customers.

You may think about whether referral marketing is effective or not. So, let us go with some stats to prove the effectiveness of referral marketing.

• Around 78% of the marketers state that referral marketing is effective in bringing in leads.
• As per the research of the Journal of Marketing, a referred customer’s lifetime value is 16% more than that of a non-referred customer.
• Marketers state that referral marketing is the second-highest marketing strategy to gain customers.
• Again, a customer who gets referred spends around 13.5% on the app more than the non-referred ones.

So, from these stats, you can draw a conclusion that referral marketing is absolutely effective.

• Discounts and coupon codes

Generally, B2C businesses implement coupon marketing as it is one of the effective ways to pull customers. Coupon marketing is where you offer products or services to customers at a discounted prices. Generally, the coupons will be based on certain time limits within which the customers will have to avail of it. On the whole, providing coupons and discounts will remain to be one of the effective marketing and retention strategies.

• Cashback

Who on this earth will say no to cashback deals? Of course, no one would miss out on the cashback deals, which adds benefit to your business. Through your taxi app, you can directly credit the cashback amount to eligible customers.

Until here, we have been walking through the different types of marketing and retention strategies for customers. Other than focusing on your customers, it is equally important to focus on your drivers in order to run your business successfully. So, in the next segment, we will discuss the strategies to keep your drivers glued to your business.

Strategies to keep your drivers glued to your business

• Provide flexible working hours

Similar to customers, the drivers will also expect some incentives and relaxation. So, the first thing you need to consider is providing flexible working hours for your driving partners. Nowadays, taxi app developers incorporate the availability toggle button into the app. Your drivers can turn on or turn off the button in order to indicate their availability. 

• Referral points

Referral points are not only meant for your customers but also applicable to your drivers. Suppose you are scaling up your business but you have a limited number of drivers. To hire drivers, you will either approach agencies or job portals. In addition to hiring drivers from agencies and job portals, you can also let your drivers bring any leads. 

Once they refer new drivers, you can provide them with a referral bonus. This will really encourage your drivers to stay loyal to your business. 

Final thoughts

All these marketing and retention strategies will help your business to achieve a standard user base. Without any delay, start documenting your business plan, develop your taxi booking app, and steer forward in the taxi business.