Ola is one of the biggest mobility platforms with the gig-economy business model. It provides on-demand taxi services in more than 250 cities across India. Ola was launched by Bhavish Aggarwal on 3rd December 2010.
Ola firstly targets all the metropolitan cities and then spread its reach to tier 2 & tier 3 cities. By taking the power of the internet ola has a widespread connection to one of the largest gig economy business model in India. Ola manages the fleet of 15lakh+ cars and drivers.
Ola has become the most successful start-up in India. The theory that Ola follows is simple- they wish to make travel safer, comfortable, and accessible for their customers. Ola has become one of the most recognizable brands in India.
By taking the power of the internet ola has a widespread connection to one of the largest gig economy business model in India. Ola manages the fleet of 15lakh+ cars and drivers.
Now, let us understand the Target Audience of the company.
Ola’s Target Audience
To better understand the actual users of the Ola Platform and how they use it, I have done the research. This makes me understand that a lot of people used the carpool feature rather than booking cabs. However, using this had its own set of problems.
They also found out that:
- 60% of the customers have used carpool
- 40% of the customers surveyed said ‘Yes’ to share a ride with their neighbour; 30% of the customers answered ‘Maybe’; and 30% of customers said ‘No’
- 40% of the customers said ‘yes’ to “Will carpooling make your commute easier”; 20% responded ‘Maybe’ and 40% responded ‘No’.
To summarise the findings of the survey, I have found that a majority of customers loved the idea of carpooling and sharing their rides with people. Now, I understand the Ola Cabs customers, let us see the process of identifying the problems faced by the customers.
Ola’s Problem Identification & Analysis
According to the research, I get to know some pain points of the customers. The customers wanted:
- Cheaper Ride
- Less Crowd
- Less Detour
- More Reliability
- Lesser Cancellations
- Safety
After stating the problems of the users, I have used multiple management techniques & methods for problem identification. They are as follows:
1. User Persona Analysis
To create a better solution for the customers, I have created a User Persona and defined their goals, aspirations, attitude, and frustrations.
2. HMW Statement
After identifying problems, I have created an HMW or ‘How Might We’ statement to narrow down the issues they want to solve. Here’s their HMW statement:
How might we
Provide more economical rides For Our users So that they can commute easily, safely, and cheaply
3. Empathy Mapping
This technique is the best way to arrange all the insights I get about the consumer and help in the decision-making process. I have created the different Empathy map to get a solution for the problem identification process:
After identifying the problems, let us now look at the solution.
Solution: Ola quick – A Digital Marketing Plan
After a lot of analysis, I create a feature named “OLA QUICK” that is solving users’ problems as well as helps Ola to earn more profits.
Ola Quick is a real-time ride-sharing feature that allows users to travel by car owners within the city. Although it is essentially a carpool, the main differentiating factor is that the car will not stop at multiple stops to pick up other people. The car owner will pick you up and directly drop you at your destination that is on the way to wherever he/she is traveling to.
This will help the customers to share a ride, reduce traveling costs, reach their destination without delay, and also being environmental friendly!
After defining and making the solution’s business model, let us look at the process of creating the user experience as a part of solution.
Mood Board
To make this solution, create a mood board. A mood board is a tool that helps in bringing altogether the different created elements at one place to show the general theme which will be followed.
Solution Prototype
After defining the elements, now let’s start with creating the user experience. Ola Quick needed to be combined well with the existing Ola app to make sure that users could use it easily. To ensure that this could happen, I designed the best prototype of the User Interface (UI).
After user experience, let us discuss marketing strategies I have created to promote Ola Quick.
Ola Social Media Marketing Plan
Any business can’t run without having a proper marketing strategy. Users can’t able to use the new features if they are not aware of them. The following are the mediums that I propose to use.
1. Send Notifications
It is one of the easiest ways to make customers aware of the updates by sending them notifications. sending notifications is an effective medium to grab the attention of users. It is important to ensure that customers are aware of Ola quick and they don’t mix it with Ola Share.
2. Ola Marketing Campaigns
To grab more user attention ola should use social media marketing as well as YouTube marketing because social media helps in reaching a large number of people in a very short period of time and at low costs.
Conclusion
Ola is the most preferred platform for on-demand rides. With its unique marketing strategies. ola has achieved great heights. I hope you liked the analysis of the ola marketing strategy, be sure to check out the Different case studies on various other organizations’ strategies on the HiDM website.