How to attract clients in a taxi. Correct advertising for a taxi service How to promote a taxi service in a small city

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Developers, car dealerships and other companies whose clients must come to their office to make a purchase or receive a service find it difficult to attract an audience - many postpone the visit due to the need to get somewhere. To motivate the client to still come to the office, Muscovite Sergei Alumov came up with a free taxi service CallToVisit..

27 years old, entrepreneur from Moscow, co-founder and author of the idea of a free taxi service to attract customers to the end points of sales. He graduated from MADI with a degree in construction of roads and airfields. He worked as a leading engineer in the highway diagnostics department at ROSDORNII, after which he changed his field of activity - he went to the Weborama data agency. In 2017, together with his partners, he founded the B2B service CallToVisit. The initial investment amounted to about 1 million rubles.

Create a business while on vacation

The idea for the CallToVisit service came to Sergei Alumov during the New Year holidays in January 2017. Before the holidays, he took a two-week vacation from work - at the Weborama data agency - and began to study various tools for attracting clients. By that time, Sergey had already worked in the field of digital marketing for 2 years and understood that each of these tools has its own conversion into sales - some solutions turn out to be more productive, others not so much.

“At Weborama we worked with major brands, developers, clinics. I knew the needs of customers and understood how the digital marketing market works, who interacts with whom, how much a client costs and how much companies are willing to pay for it,” recalls Sergey.

Having collected information on the effectiveness of various tools for attracting customers, he decided to offer a new one - a free taxi for potential buyers to their final points of sale.

“It’s easier to motivate a person to visit the company’s office if you provide him with a free taxi. People make decisions about travel faster because they don’t have to think about how they will get to their destination or the time spent on the road. Thanks to this tool, the number of clients increases significantly,” explains Sergey Alumov.

He decided to look for partners for his idea among taxi aggregators: Gett, Yandex.Taxi, Whelly. Yandex found the project interesting. Having agreed on cooperation with this company, Sergei involved his school friend and colleague from Weborama Dmitry Egorov in the project. Together they decided to join forces and invest in the development of an MVP (Minimal Viable Product - minimum viable product, editor's note).

Step by step

Having hired outsourced developers, Sergey and Dmitry simultaneously held meetings with potential clients.

“When we started doing this, I realized that it was impossible to combine meetings with potential clients and partners with current work. I also realized that I strongly believe in this product. And I decided to take a risk, devoting all my time to its development,” says Alumov.

He left his job and invested his existing savings - about 1 million rubles - into the business. Then he rented an office, registered the CallToVisit project and, together with Dmitry Egorov, began looking for clients.

On the day of the test launch of the project, not a single trip was made. Plus, as Sergei recalls, the site worked “at random.” That is why the only visitor who wished to take advantage of a free taxi ride was unable to obtain it. This became clear after the creators of the project called him back on the phone number he left. After which we began to work on errors and improve the site.

The first client of CallToVisit was the strip club Burlesque. His marketers, who knew Sergei from working at the Weborama agency, agreed to test the service he offered. This is how the “Free Taxi” button appeared on the club’s website.

“We realized that it works. At that time, we did not yet have targeting, and we could not determine whether the client was ordering a free taxi for the first time or not. There was also no way to set the range of the offer. Much was unclear, so Burlesque was unable to assess the effectiveness of the service. But we are convinced that there is a demand for such a service among clients,” states Sergei.

After this, we managed to attract eight clients and place the “Free Taxi” widget on their websites. The service really turned out to be in demand.

It became clear that the project needed scaling. This required investments: the million rubles invested at the initial stage was clearly not enough. The project found two investors - Nikolai Shestakov, former top manager Yandex and the founder of the performance agency Adventum, and Vitaly Groznov, co-owner of the Air marketing group. They invested 10 million rubles in CallToVisit in exchange for a 40% share in the project.

Investments allowed us to increase the company's staff, form a sales department and continue to develop the product itself.

An offer of interest to everyone

Sergey Alumov notes that the idea of a free taxi for clients is unique marketing tool, which has no analogues in the world. Currently only CallToVisit offers this service.

It all works as follows. A “Free Taxi” widget appears on the client’s website. In order for the car to come for the client, he needs to leave his phone number, car delivery address and a convenient time for the trip in a special form on the website. At the request of the customer, you can inform about additional options: the presence of a child seat, the need to transport an animal, and so on. Information about the destination (sales office address) is configured automatically when installing the widget.

After filling out the application, the company receives notification of the upcoming trip and can calculate the client’s arrival time at its office. The client receives standard messages about the time of delivery of the car and the driver’s contacts.

Most often, developers place a button for ordering a free taxi on their websites, medical centers and auto centers. As a rule, car dealerships and sales offices of developers are located far from metro stations, in residential areas. Therefore, many potential clients postpone visits to them due to complex logistics. The free taxi service allows the client to get to their destination in comfort.

Sergey Alumov is confident that everyone benefits by using his service for marketing purposes:

The company that receives the right clients;

A client who is offered comfortable conditions to get to the sales office;

CallToVisit service, which receives fees from client companies.

There is a second option for using the same service - smart integration. CallToVisit clients are not always interested in their audience being able to immediately order a free taxi through a form on the website. For example, medical centers must know in advance about a client’s visit - the specialist he needs may be busy if a person arrives without an appointment or call. Sometimes a company wants to offer a free taxi not to all customers, but only to those in which it is most interested. For example, a bank sends a car to a client who has been approved for a loan. In this case, he receives a link to the order form; it is not posted publicly on the company’s website.

Currently, CallToVisit clients order a total of 3,000 trips per month for their audience. About half of them are done spontaneously - the client goes to the company’s website and immediately orders a taxi. In April it is planned to increase the number of complete trips to 5 thousand. And then grow monthly by 25-30%.

Monetization of the project

Today CallToVisit is monetized thanks to offers for different types and volumes of business.

The service has a professional tariff aimed at large market players with an average bill of 30 thousand rubles. The cost of connecting to this tariff is 15 thousand rubles per month for one point of sale, for each additional point the client pays an additional 3 thousand rubles. Along with installing the widget on his website, the customer receives a personal manager who helps him figure everything out. Taxi services in this case are paid separately.

For small and medium-sized businesses, the company has developed a special product Self service without a monthly payment, but with a commission of 30% of each trip made. Connecting the CallToVisit widget in this package is free. To use the service, the client deposits into an account in personal account some amount. After completing each trip, the cost of the trip plus a commission of 30% from each payment is deducted from him.

Companies that have purchased a license to use the widget independently, without the help of a personal manager, register in their personal account, add a description of the activity, select the class of taxi cars, the radius and frequency of trips, the time of visiting points of sale, and configure the display of the “Free Taxi” button on the website.

The client is automatically invoiced upon request, after which he can receive all the necessary closing documents. He also has access to the statistics that the widget collects. Managers at points of sale receive notifications about new orders and completed trips via SMS, email or Telegram messages. In this case, CallToVisit earns only on commission.

“We integrate with CRM: we say which channel brought each client, we provide a reporting map - where trips are most often made from. This will help the client understand where to place their advertising, for example, in a certain shopping or business center. Thanks to our analytics, the client has more data that helps him optimize advertising costs and increase its effectiveness,” notes Sergey Alumov.

The service plans to cooperate with large clients who will order a large number of trips. They are expected to pay CallToVisit a 10% commission on each trip. So far the project does not have such clients.

Search for clients

Nowadays, the most effective sales channel is cold calling. Some clients come after learning about CallToVisit from media publications.

“We don't sell a product that already exists (like a car). We offer a product that people don't know about yet. And the most adequate way to convey information about yourself is through publications, videos, and seminars,” says Sergey Alumov.

To others in a good way attracting new clients is by posting cases from existing customers. This information is provided on the CallToVisit website. For example, for the PIK group of companies, the number of primary clients increased by 80% over several months of using the service. Every third of them booked an apartment in a new building, and every sixth made a purchase. “We can say that the tool has an excellent effect on both the customer satisfaction index and purchase conversions,” concludes Roman Adbullin, head of the advertising department of PIK Group.

Sometimes it is quite difficult to arrange a meeting with representatives of the client company. When it is not possible to reach managers, negotiations are conducted with the marketing or development departments. As a rule, Sergei Alumov goes to meetings with top officials. In 80-85% they end with the conclusion of a deal.

In the near future, the company plans to expand the list of clients - adding banks and representatives of the retail industry to auto centers, clinics and development companies. The founders of the project are already thinking about entering international markets. They recently held a meeting in Dubai with representatives of the UAE Ministry of Transport, who were interested in the CallToVisit service. Whether this will result in cooperation is not yet clear.

According to the calculations of the co-founder of the CallToVisit service, there are about 20 thousand business projects in Russia that are ready to fully pay for a taxi trip to their clients. For example, medical centers can order a taxi for those who come for an MRI. But there are other businesses that are ready to partially compensate for travel. CallToVisit plans to make an interesting offer to them, primarily to retail.

“Retail has a task to increase the average check. For making a purchase for a certain amount, stores could provide customers living within a radius of, for example, 5 kilometers, a free taxi home. To do this, you can indicate a promotional code in the receipt, using which the buyer will order a free trip at our counter,” Sergey gives an example.

But he considers even such cooperation with retail an intermediate step. CallToVisit plans to launch a mobile application. Its users are ordinary people– will receive points or cashback for purchases made in stores, cafes, and restaurants. Accumulated points can be exchanged for free trips by taxi, metro or any other form of transport by scanning the QR code from the receipt.

“We understand that moving around the city is becoming more accessible in terms of price and transport. And we want brands to fund people's trips. The more ordinary people move around the city, the more purchases they will make. This is good for both individual stores and the economy as a whole,” explains Sergei Alumov.

The developers are currently preparing technical task to develop such a mobile application and negotiations are underway with potential partners.

Imagine that new customers contact a taxi service without advertising. You don’t put ads in the newspaper, don’t post leaflets on poles, don’t play commercials on the radio. But they still call you. How is this possible? In order to increase their profits, taxi services are introducing a referral system - this is a tool for attracting new customers without constant cash costs. The system works like word of mouth. Clients recommend the taxi service to friends and receive bonuses for this.

Get new clients

See how the referral system brings new clients to the taxi service:

The client used your taxi.
At the end of the trip, the client receives a notification in the mobile application that looks something like this:

“Thank you for the trip!
Share the code with your friends,
and for their first trip
we will give them 25 bonuses,
and you - 5 bonuses for each friend.
Your code: M111."

Friends order a taxi and also receive a notification in the mobile application with a referral code.
Everyone brings new clients and receives pleasant bonuses.

See, it's very simple. Everyone loves to save money, so they will willingly take advantage of the opportunity to receive bonuses and ride a taxi cheaper.

Use referral codes

The referral system works using referral codes - these are codes of numbers and Latin letters. For example, T88M. Codes are created automatically or manually.


Reward clients with bonuses New and old clients receive bonuses for referral codes. Bonuses do not accumulate, but are written off entirely after completing the order in which the code was used.	Bring only new clients Several people will not be able to bring the same new client. A new client will not receive a bonus for ordering a taxi with the code more than once.	Track your performance Instantly evaluate the profit from the referral system. See statistics on codes: how many new clients came, to whom and how many bonuses were awarded.

Attract many clients from social networks

Modern clients of taxi services are city residents aged 20 to 45 years. And 80% of them have pages in in social networks: on Vkontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Odnoklassniki. People are used to communicating here. They add work colleagues, classmates, gym acquaintances, and even those they don’t know personally as friends.

Social networks are an effective platform for distributing referral codes. A taxi service client just needs to publish the code on his page in order to interest the maximum number of friends and acquaintances.

Vasily is 24 years old and constantly uses a smartphone. Reads the news, likes friends' photos, and texts his girlfriend. If you need to go somewhere, you order a taxi through the app - it’s fast and convenient, especially if you’re relaxing in a nightclub with loud music.

One day Vasily called a taxi through the application and at the end of the trip received a notification in the mobile application:

Now everyone who is Vasily’s friend has seen the message. And colleague Maria even reposted it on her page so as not to lose the code and save on taxis in the future.

Soon Masha urgently needed to go to work. She called the taxi service and told the operator the code MP44. I didn't get to work for 125 rubles. as usual, but for 100 rubles, because 25 bonuses were deducted from the cost of the trip.

At the same time, on the other side of the city, Vasily received a notification that he had been awarded 10 bonuses for Masha’s trip.

Find out how many new clients you will get

Let's calculate how many clients a taxi service will attract using a referral system. Let's look at the example of a city with a population of 600,000 inhabitants.

VKontakte users from a small Russian city have an average of 300 friends. If a taxi service client publishes a referral code on his page, approximately 100 people will see it. (According to the social network VKontakte, about 30% of users visit the site daily).

The final number of attracted clients largely depends on the taxi service itself. The final numbers will be affected by the size of your customer base, the number of bonuses offered for using referral codes, and even the number of residents in the city. For example, than larger city, the more popular social networks are in it and the more new clients you can attract.

Benefits of a taxi service from a referral system

	Get new clients with minimal effort.
	Don't waste money on advertising. Clients themselves tell everyone about your service.
	Increase your profits through repeat orders. Customers have a reason to come to you again - to spend the bonuses they receive and ride a taxi cheaper.
	Stay one step ahead of the competition with best practices from major online services and online aggregators.

However, you may not have saved taxi phone numbers at hand. So what should we do then? Here comes the solution - find the contacts of a taxi service on the Internet. You can immediately say that there will be the widest possible targeting here, since it is very difficult to identify people who may need your service. In modern realities, the most advanced taxi delivery systems use mobile applications, with which you can easily and simply place an order, so the presence of this functionality can make it easier further work to promote your company.

Useful channels

Due to the fact that this service is very simple (in terms of the speed of decision-making), the main role in attracting clients is assigned to keywords, by which you can be found on the Internet. This means that the main role will be played by SEO promotion and contextual advertising. Moreover, at the initial stage, the lion's share of the budget will go to context, because displaying in a visible place before organic results is a priority, given high competition in this business segment. However, with the growing popularity of social networks, this search can be done by groups and communities.

Is there anything else?

It is worth noting that the mechanism for behavioral advertising, which is most often used on YAN, does not work well here. Since a person needs a taxi right now, and not in a day or week, behavioral targeting can be safely excluded. But if you still have an unpromoted application, then it’s time to get started with it. And mobile advertising can close this gap. It is not necessary to advertise only in the Google and Yandex systems, you can connect all social networks, however, it costs much smaller budgets to invest here due to too broad targeting by interests.

We develop the entire network

Following the growth of the taxi fleet, costs for all other expense items usually increase. And marketing is no exception to these rules. After you have established high-quality work to attract clients, you need to look for hitherto unknown tools. In addition to increasing the budget evenly across all channels, we can launch advertising based on the principle of mass reach, in which we will attract an audience at a minimal price. The results may be disappointing at first, but this will eventually increase your customer base. The most important thing is to remember to constantly optimize this process.

Certainly, best advertising taxi is the cost of services and the quality of service. However, in a highly competitive market, this may not be enough. Before launching an advertising campaign, you need to carefully consider both the ideological component of the promotion and the possibility of obtaining maximum conversion from planned events. Please note that not all traditional promotion tools are suitable for taxi advertising.

Outdoor advertising

Billboards

Billboards are an effective and visual promotion tool. The key advantage of this type of advertising is the ability to directly reach your potential customers. Be concise and convincing. A catchy photograph of, for example, one of your cars and the image of a satisfied customer can become the basis of your advertising campaign. Be sure to include a short number where you can call your taxi. And don't forget about the catchy slogan.

Stretch marks

Streamers are another clear source of promotion for taxi services. It is best if the banners are located above a busy roadway right before the traffic lights. Or you can hang a streamer on a fence on a busy street. As text, just indicate the name of your company, the minimum price of the trip and a short number.

Advertising on transport

Taxi is the type of business that must advertise itself. Your drivers' cars can be painted in the colors of your company, for which they will receive more interesting orders or a lower commission. On the machines, in addition to the name, it is necessary to place the order telephone number, which should take large area car and must be visible to everyone. In addition to wrapping cars on top, you can make checkers or a light box, which will be even more visible to customers. Such advertising on transport will not only increase the recognition of your company, but will also increase the number of orders by several percent.

Internet advertising

Mobile app

A modern taxi hardly needs a full-fledged and expensive website. A simple and understandable application is enough. The application must contain an interactive map, using which the client can track the location of the ordered taxi and its time of arrival. Also provide the option of choosing payment: cash or card. In addition, a nice bonus can be the ability to accumulate points, which can then be exchanged for a discount on a trip or even a free trip.

If you decide to create a website on your own, be sure to read our articles:

Here we have laid out our experience and opinions on the use of various tools that you will simply need in your work. This will allow you to reduce the time it takes to select the necessary resources for its creation and get profit from the site as quickly as possible.

Landing page

Your Internet page should also be simple and easy to use. There is no need to overload potential clients with unnecessary information. A few options and a couple of sections are enough. Tell us what sets you apart from other taxi services. For example, about new cars, the availability of car seats for children and the ability to order a taxi for a large group.

Groups on social networks

Accounts on social networks when promoting taxi services are needed as a supporting advertising tool on the Internet. The costs of creating your own pages will be small, and the effectiveness of this channel, if used correctly, can pleasantly surprise you. In addition to customer feedback, which is necessary to improve the quality of the service, you can hold various promotions and competitions. This will contribute to the influx of customers. An important criterion quality work with social networks is a prompt response to user requests and impeccable politeness.

contextual advertising

Contextual advertising is a good investment primarily for online taxi services. To check this thesis, just type the expression “call a taxi” into a search engine. Using analytical tools, you can track the effectiveness of such advertising, and gradually acquire a large customer base. In favor of this method of promotion, I would like to add that when searching for a taxi, the client takes the first link to the website (it doesn’t matter if it’s advertising or not). And since contextual advertising is always the first line, the client is more likely to visit it.

Sending emails and SMS

Sending letters on the Internet using modern email services is almost free today. Existing tools allow even a beginner to easily compose a letter and send it to potential clients. Don’t be too intrusive; it’s enough to send newsletters no more than once a week. It’s better if these are really beneficial offers for your audience, for example, a discount on the first trip. It is better to leave image messages for the time when you have already formed the loyalty of your customers.

Printable advertisement

Business cards

One of the least expensive activities is printing business cards. It’s better to print a large batch of business cards at once. Taxi drivers can hand them over to passengers along with change. On the business card, in addition to a single telephone number, you can indicate fixed price travel along a specific route (for example, to a train station or airport).

Leaflets

It is better to use leaflets as targeted advertising, scattering them through mailboxes. To attract potential customers, you can also offer a discount on your first trip.

Other

Loyalty cards

Loyalty cards are a traditional tool for promoting taxi services. For example, a passenger who has such a card can count on a guaranteed discount. Also, from time to time, various drawings and quests can be held among cardholders who actively use the services of your taxi.

Ineffective taxi advertising

Advertising on TV and radio

Before you manage to capture the attention of potential customers, you will spend a lot. However, will this audience use your services? After all, a taxi is not a sale of a lifestyle, but a simple and practical service. Therefore, it is better to improve the quality of service and make logistics efficient than to try to sell illusions.

Advertising in newspapers and magazines

This advertising channel is also ineffective for the same reason as television promotion. Advertising in glossy magazines is quite expensive, and an ad in a newspaper can get lost among others of exactly the same kind. Also, keep in mind that the audience that prefers print media is shrinking every year.

Slogans for taxi advertising

Life is on the move.
Justifies the means.
Taxi Argo. Comfortable. Fast. Easily.
Available. Qualitatively. Fast.
Fast. Profitable. Comfortable.
I want to go.
Make your life easier!
Taxi 90. Safe. Comfortable. Just.
Hit of all seasons - Taxi Six Million.
Don't stand there with your hand outstretched - order a taxi home!
All the taxi drivers are behind, only our Cruise is ahead!

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