Why Have I Not Used Rapido Referral Program Yet?
Before I start, I want to say something. It’s been two months since I joined Flyy and I don’t know if you, as a reader, have noticed but I’ve been maintaining a work diary.
I write about anything and everything that I experience at work, especially about our product and share a raw form of my learnings here.
Now, I’m turning to a new page wherein I’ll be penning down referral program case studies, starting with Rapido.
Why Rapido Referral Program?
Because I’m simply in love with Rapido. To me, Rapido has been a saviour, a friend in need and I’ll tell you all about it.
But first, let me share a delightful experience with Rapido auto which was so heartwarming that I ended up writing about it on LinkedIn the same day.
Rapido didn’t stop winning my heart just there. It was the second time that made Rapido my ultimate choice for auto booking.
Rapido - A Saviour in Disguise
It was mid of August 2022 when Bangalore weather was taking a toll on almost everyone’s health. My flatmate and I were also among its victims - we fell sick.
On 18th August 2022, I was working from home, sitting in my room when I heard my flatmate call out to me.
She didn’t feel well and we decided to rush to a nearby hospital. I started looking for an auto on Rapido, Uber and Ola. However, the situation made me feel so on edge that at the back of my mind, I wished we had our own vehicle.
But then I got a notification from Rapido that we got an auto and we immediately rushed to the hospital. Since the emergency ward was busy, we had to rush to another hospital.
Upon reaching there, we were denied admission because my flatmate was also COVID positive.
So we rushed to another one and could finally see a doctor there and you know something?
All this while, we were able to switch between hospitals because of Rapido autos.
Due to the app's convenient booking algorithm, I was able to book 3 autos with a search time difference of 5 minutes within a total of 30 min.
Even though I was in an emergency situation and didn’t have a vehicle of my own, I could manage the quick travel because of Rapido.
So when it came to writing case studies on referral programs of apps that I’ve used or know of, I couldn’t help but decide to begin with Rapido.
How Does Rapido Referral Program Work?
Almost every second day, I get a notification from Rapido that says “Refer a friend and earn ₹50. Use it to pay for a ride” and honestly, I ignore it. Before I tell you why I do it, let’s try to get into how Rapido’s refer and earn actually works.
1. Invite a friend to Rapido
As a referrer, all you’ve to do is go to the ‘Refer Friends’ section by either clicking on the refer and earn banner that appears on the screen where you book a ride or by going to ‘Refer and Earn’ under the menu.
Once you’re on the refer friends screen, you can either copy Rapido’s referral code or click on ‘Invite’. This will ask you to allow access to your contacts upon approval of which you can
Invite your contacts via WhatsApp
Invite others via SMS
See if they are already using Rapido
2. Send Your Referral Link
Once you choose your mode of referral, you can go ahead and send your referral link. Whether you choose WhatsApp or SMS to invite a friend to Rapido, the invite message has both the referral code and app download link which makes it easier for the referee.
3. Claim Referral Reward
If the person you referred completes a ride successfully within 7 days of registration, you’re offered with a referral reward of 50 coins (1 coin = ₹1) within 48 hours. The coins are shown in your wallet which you can redeem while booking a ride to get ₹50 off.
All Good Things About Rapido Referral Program
Now that we know how a Rapido referral program works, we should also know one more thing - it’s a good, thought-through referral program because it’s,
1. Visible
No referral program is ever going to work if it’s not visible. This is something I learned recently while talking to Venkatesh Rao, Co-Founder of Flyy in the first chapter of our product masterclass. He mentioned how he launched a referral program for his former startup, AppBrowzer but hid it in the menu, leading to its low usage but a great learning.
Rapido, on the other hand, has got this part right. They’ve put a nice banner on the app launch screen with clear reward messaging.
2. Making it easy to invite friends
Upon clicking on the banner, Rapido provides a referrer with a referral code. This code can either be copied and directly shared with a referee or an entire refer and earn message can be sent via WhatsApp or SMS.
That’s not all. It’s also extremely easy for a referee to claim the reward by pasting the referral code while signing up.
3. Offering reward tracking
Once your friend successfully books a ride using Rapido, both you and your friend can see the reward received under the wallet section. The same can be claimed easily while booking a ride.
4. Open to two-way rewards
Two-way rewards are great! They cancel out the social risk involved in referral programs such as a hesitation from the referrer side wondering what the referee will think of him or her over receiving no reward.
As the referee also gets a reward in case of two-way rewards, it makes it easier for the referrer to promote your referral program. Furthermore, even your marketing team can sell it better since both referrer and referee get a reward.
In case of Rapido, the referrer gets 50 coins (₹50) and the referee gets 25 coins (₹25), both of which can be redeemed while booking a ride.
But there’s still a catch.
Why Have I Not Used Rapido’s Referral Program Yet?
If Rapido’s referral program is really that good, why’s it that I, as a user and a huge fan of refer and earn concept, haven’t referred anyone yet? Why’s it that everytime I see their referral notification, I simply scroll past it or clear it from the notifications list?
It’s because
1. Rapido reward isn’t enticing to me
I spend close to ₹200 everyday on Rapido while commuting to the office. This means I don’t really mind the spend as long as I get a convenient and quick service. So a one-time reward of ₹50 off on my ride, doesn’t really excite me.
A similar mindset approach occurs when I think of the friend I will be referring to. He or she receiving ₹25 off, again doesn’t make much sense to me.
2. Same refer and earn nudges
As a content person, I’m honestly bored of seeing the same refer and earn notification from Rapido.
How Rapido Could Improve Its Referral Program?
I strongly believe that everything has a scope for improvement. That’s why I want to suggest a few things I feel could help Rapido change their referral program game.
1. Improve rewards Rewards are what motivate users to refer. If you got that right, there’s a higher chance of getting a good number of referrals from the same or different users. For this I suggest either of the below referral program use cases where they offer - First ride free for the referee along with
Giving 100 coins wallet credit to referrer
Offering a gift card from a top brand to the referrer
Offering 1 ride free every month within 5 kms for the referrer
2. Making people promote their referral program In order to get people talking about your referral program, you must get creative with it. This creativity can only come in when you treat it as a product and start to market it. Here’re some ideas that popped into my mind. Rapido can
Give a monthly travel pass wherein both referrer and referee share the amount credited in it or number of free rides available.
Offer a free ride that both referrer and referee can share to a popular restaurant or mall within a certain distance range.
Introduce game mechanics and offer variable rewards. I mean why else do you think the GPay referral program got so popular? It’s because it got people hooked by including game mechanics and offering variable rewards in it. I mean, I myself love using their scratch cards because I’m always excited to see what I’ll get.
3. Add referral tracking
I recently referred my colleague Vaishnavi to Rapido and while we both are yet to receive our rewards, it doesn’t really tell me what’s happening to my referral. It’d be nice to have a referral tracking dashboard wherein it shows my referee details and the stage he/she is at.
Zepto for example does it really well.
4. Get creative with notifications
I love creative push notifications! For example, every time Dunzo says “Need Dahi Kilo ka haath?”, I automatically end up opening their app even if I don’t need to buy curd because it just gets to me. When it comes to referral, Rapido can try giving their referral push notifications a spin by bringing in Bollywood movies touch or simply an angle that users could relate to. Take a look at some copy ideas - 1. Contribute to traffic congestion together. Refer your friends for a free ride!
2. Kudi Rapido Rapido kardi rehndi eh! Make them go ga-ga over Rapido with exciting rewards. Refer now.
3. Save your friends the after work commute woes with a free Rapido ride. Refer now.
Conclusion
While Rapido’s referral program is already out there, having most of the basic parameters in place, I feel with the above suggestions, they can make the most of their refer and earn program.
If you’d like to explore an all-in-one referral program that has all the above suggested parameters and more, you can gamify your referral program with Flyy - a comprehensive and gamified referral program solution. Click here to learn more.
