BlaBlaCar: Improving the rideshare experience and reducing driver no-shows

Challenge

Though BlaBlaCar had put forth efforts to improve message delivery and network coverage problems in the past, the issue remained. Sometimes, when a driver would cancel a ride, the notification would fail to be delivered to the passenger. This resulted in upset calls to BlaBlaCar’s support team and negative user reviews.

Additionally, a large portion of their users in Russia and Ukraine had been requesting the option to communicate with BlaBlaCar through Viber. Ideally, the ridesharing company was looking for a reliable partner with global coverage and omnichannel communication capabilities, to be able to combine SMS, Viber, and any other channels their users prefer. With effective transactional notifications, the carpooling platform was looking to minimize customer complaints and significantly upgrade customer experience.

Solution

With Infobip, BlaBlaCar now uses Viber as a communication channel for its users. The ridesharing company also added SMS as a failover option to ensure that passengers receive their messages with or without internet connection.

BlaBlaCar uses Viber and SMS to deliver service notifications including booking confirmations, booking status, and last-minute ride requests to both riders and drivers. The ridesharing company also uses the two channels to enable existing users to opt-out and new users to receive one-time PINs when they register on their app.

Using Infobip’s web-based interface, BlaBlaCar’s support team can now track real-time message delivery statuses, enabling them to respond quickly if a delivery error occurs. This out-of-the box solution gives them access to high-end communication options, without having to use extensive development resources.

Result

Introducing new channels through Infobip has helped BlaBlaCar meet customer demand and increase user engagement.

Infobip’s reliable network has significantly decreased message delays and delivery errors for the ridesharing company. While the web-based interface has given BlaBlaCar’s support team access to in-depth analytics and key metrics around their messaging which resulted in reduced customer complaints, faster time to resolution, and positive customer reviews.

BlaBlaCar is also able to quickly react to developing market challenges. For example, in France, the ridesharing company used timely SMS messages to reactivate churned drivers following a big transportation strike with a high success rate.

Through Infobip, BlaBlaCar underwent an effective market expansion by introducing Viber as a new sought out communications channel. Viber messaging also resulted in positive feedback on social media from the application’s users, which, in conjunction with SMS fallback, increased the number of successful message deliveries. Infobip’s 2FA option also increased security during user registration.