Successful ride-sharing services businesses like Uber and Lyft can be an inspiration to launch your very own app that offers similar services.
In essence, you’re optimizing travel costs for people who are about to visit the same destination all while preserving the environment by keeping CO2 emissions to a minimum, making it a win-win proposition.
The question becomes, how to go about it? In this guide, we’ll briefly walk you through the steps involved.
1. Analyze the market
As any business-savvy entrepreneur is well aware of, market research always comes first. It could be that launching a ride-sharing app ends up being profitable in one region but not in another where you’d be competing against big players.
Then, you have to ask yourself whether there’s enough demand in the region you’re targeting. While there’s little point in offering ride-sharing services in the middle of the desert, a suburban area just might have enough inhabitants for the business venture to be worth the effort.
2. Double-check the local regulations
Since there are potential safety risks involved, you’re going to have to pay close attention to the local regulations and learn what to do to stay compliant. For starters, you’re going to have to verify the documents of drivers who’ll be signing up as service providers.
It’s a good idea to read up on NFC-based verification in mobility since it has become industry standard. Keep in mind that laws and regulations may differ from one region to another, so make sure to do your due diligence.
3. Plan out your monetization strategy
By examining how Uber monetizes its services, you’ll see that a commission is being charged upon successfully completing a ride. The reason being is that Uber acts as an intermediary between the driver and the customer, thus being able to charge a fee to connect the dots and bring the two parties together.
Although a commission-based monetization model seems to be standard in this industry, don’t forget to explore other alternatives. You could, for instance, decide to be different than your competitors and offer a credits-based system or charge a monthly membership fee that comes with its perks.
4. Develop the app
Unless you’re a coder yourself, you’re likely going to need to outsource the task. Even so, there are multiple ways to go about it, meaning you won’t necessarily need to code an entire app from scratch.
For instance, there are certain white-label apps you could re-skin and use for the purpose. Not only does this allow you to launch the app faster, it also keeps the development costs manageable. Still, you should look for ways to be better than your competition so as to give the users an incentive for doing business with you.
5. Initialize the marketing campaigns
Once your app is ready to go, how are you going to market it? If you’re hoping to get even a single booking, you need to make sure that people can find it and download it.
Consider marketing it via:
– Paid ads
– Social media
– Articles
– Videos
– Presentations
– Podcasts
– etc.
Since each of these marketing channels requires a completely separate approach, it’s on your to find the most suitable avenue for advertising your business, so allocate a budget, stick to it, and don’t give up.
Conclusion
Those who are looking to compete with the likes of Uber and Lyft certainly have some big shoes to fill. Even so, not every region is covered by these, so this may be your opportunity to dominate the local market.
Author: Andrea Clause
Picture: Mohamed Hassan/ Pixabay
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
