Onboarding project | BluSmart

BluSmart

It is hard for people living in cities other than their home cities to find an airport cab.

Problems include: Oh so heavy costs, last-minute driver cancellations, along with anxiety to miss boarding your flight. Regular cab hailing services were not working for me and finally I got to know about blusmart from a friend. Who was solving just that. And now my 3-4 yearly trips in-and-out of banglaore are a breeze cause i know i will find to and fro transportation which will be clean, safe, and present to pick me up with professional drivers without burning a big hole in my pocket. Enough about me. Let's get to how bluSmart started its journey.

In cities, it is hard for a young professional to commute to and from the office, They have to start by opening 3-to 4 apps on their phone and then see where they can get accepted, they shuffle between different apps face ride rejections, and oh so heavy surge pricing. - A lot more people are environmentally conscious and do not want to buy a car but they have to due to these anxiety-driven conditions. If only there was a reliable clean cab present to help them go to and fro; without burning their pockets; environmental impact is a plus.

History and Founders

Founded in January 2019 by Anmol Singh Jaggi, Puneet Singh Jaggi, and Punit K Goyal, BluSmart began as a vendor for Uber, operating a small fleet of electric cars. Recognizing significant consumer dissatisfaction with existing ride-hailing services—such as surge pricing and high cancellation rates—the founders pivoted to create a dedicated electric mobility platform. The company quickly gained traction, launching its services in major Indian cities like Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, and even expanding to Dubai

By December 2023, BluSmart has raised approximately $56.8 million in total funding and is in the advanced stages of securing an additional $250 million.

Core Value Proposition of BluSmart

BluSmart Mobility is India's first all-electric ride-hailing service, focusing on sustainability and customer satisfaction. Its core value proposition includes:

• Sustainable Transportation: BluSmart aims to reduce carbon emissions by exclusively using electric vehicles (EVs) for its rides, contributing to a cleaner environment.
• Cost Efficiency: By operating a fleet of EVs, BluSmart maintains lower operational costs, allowing it to offer competitive pricing—approximately 15% cheaper than traditional cab services like Uber and Ola [refer here]
• Reliable Service: BluSmart promises zero ride cancellations and transparent pricing, improving the overall customer experience

Core Problems Addressed

BluSmart set out to solve several key issues in the ride-hailing industry:

• Customer Experience: The service aims to eliminate common frustrations associated with traditional ride-hailing services, including surge pricing and unreliable drivers.
• Environmental Impact: By focusing on EVs, BluSmart addresses the pressing need for sustainable transport solutions amid rising pollution levels in urban areas.
• Driver Welfare: Unlike traditional models where drivers own their vehicles, BluSmart owns its fleet, alleviating financial burdens on drivers while providing them with benefits such as insurance and amenities.

Relevant Features for its ICPs

BluSmart offers several features that enhance its service:

• 100% Electric Fleet: Committed to sustainability, all vehicles are electric.
• Transparent Pricing: Fixed pricing structures based on time of day help avoid unexpected fare increases.
• Zero Ride Cancellations: The company guarantees that rides will not be cancelled, improving reliability for users.
• Integrated Charging Infrastructure: BluSmart is developing its network of EV charging stations to support its fleet and other EV users

BluSmart serves a lot of segments. In this project, we will focus on the B2C segment of BluSmart for its City Rides, Rental rides, and Airport Rides.

Key Differentiators from Other App Aggregators

1. All-Electric Fleet:
2. • BluSmart operates exclusively with electric vehicles (EVs), aligning with global sustainability trends and reducing carbon emissions. This commitment to an all-electric fleet contrasts with Uber and Ola, which still rely heavily on traditional combustion engine vehicles [Refer here]
3. Predictable Pricing:
4. • Unlike Uber and Ola, BluSmart offers a pricing model that is free from surge charges, ensuring customers know the cost upfront. This feature enhances user trust and satisfaction by eliminating unexpected fare increases during peak times [ Business today ]
5. Pre-Booking Model:
6. • BluSmart operates primarily on a pre-booking basis rather than on-demand rides. This approach allows the company to manage its limited fleet more effectively, ensuring availability for scheduled trips while avoiding the unpredictability associated with on-demand services. And started giving out express rides in 20 minutes in the previous months. [ Linkedin ]
7. No Ride Cancellations:
8. • The company guarantees zero ride cancellations, a significant pain point for users of traditional ride-hailing services. This reliability is achieved by directly managing its fleet and drivers, preventing drivers from cancelling rides once booked56.
9. Driver Support and Income Stability:
10. • BluSmart provides its drivers with a minimum income guarantee, ensuring financial stability even during slow periods. This contrasts with the more commission-based models of Uber and Ola, where drivers bear more financial risk [ Founders Interview ]
11. Focus on Larger Trips:
12. • The company's business model emphasizes longer trips over short ones, which helps optimize the use of its EVs and reduces operational costs associated with frequent charging stops. [ Linkedin ]
13. Enhanced Customer Experience:
14. • With a focus on clean, well-maintained vehicles and professional drivers, BluSmart aims to provide a premium service experience that rivals traditional cab services while maintaining competitive pricing [ Business Today ]
15. Direct Fleet Ownership:
16. • Unlike Uber and Ola, which operate asset-light models relying on independent drivers to provide vehicles, BluSmart owns its fleet of cars. This direct ownership allows for better quality control and maintenance of vehicles [ Founders Interview ]

BluSmart blends sustainability, predictable pricing, reliability, and strong driver support and positions itself as a strong alternative to Uber and Ola for the average Indian professional in the city. Its primary ICPs are environmental conscious customers, urban professionals, value for money travellers, frequent travellers - families/groups

Define your ICPs

B2C Table ⤵️

ICP Prioritization

[Use this framework to prioritize your ICP's]

What ICPs to Prioritise:

ICP2: Prioritise consultants and high profile professionals : Who needs reliable transport to-fro from the airport and do not want to use the family car/ driver all the time. They value on time and the target market is high enough

ICP1: Prioritize young professionals as they don't have reliable transport to- and -fro from the office and blusmart express will help them reach their office or other events like dates on time with less waste of money in surge pricing.

A table is shared below for your reference to put down your user goals, respective ICPs, JTBDs and validate your goals.

Conclusion

BluSmart's USP aligns strongly with its users' functional (reliability, cost-effectiveness), emotional (safety, comfort), and social (modernity, eco-consciousness) goals. By consistently delivering on these JTBDs, it can position itself as a trusted, go-to electric cab service in Tier 1 cities. and then expand based on the demands of the on-time, reliable premium customers.

How to do an onboarding teardown?

Take screenshots of each page of the interface, note each interaction and user touchpoint, and assess based on user empathy:

1. What is working well on the screen and why?
2. What is not working and why?
3. What changes/improvements do you suggest can be made? Why do you think that would be better?
4. Where does the “aha” moment occur?
5. Evaluate your onboarding on the cognitive biases.

Channels through which their customer discover BluSmart. Most channels link back to the website as a landing page from which the customers can download the app. Since the users we are targeting are primarily on the mobile we will do a small teardown of mobile version of the website below:

The website is well-designed to be responsive for mobile users. With clear motivation to download app ( 30% off ) this leads the user to app store:

What works well:

1. Clean UX with clear visibility of cabs
2. 1.80 Million+ helps assure users - gives trust
3. 30% off - activated them to take the next steps
4. Clear button with CTA to download the app - helps prime user for the Play store users listing

What can be done better:

1. The tagline is vague; test for better taglines from their focus ICPs eg: Safer / Cleaner / Reliable or something around the CVP ;Why? - It will be better suited and aligned improving the motivation of the ICPs to go ahead and download the app.
2. Put a video of a user experiencing the CVP - Booking the cab fast and getting to their destination on-time without any hassle. It should be 20-40 years, or toggle with small modern families - for trips. /Why? - It will resonate more with the user and help prime them for the look/feel and usage of the app and its features.
3. Show some people or a welcoming driver to help them have a feel of comfort. Saftey features and Zero Cancellations with affordable no surge pricing. Why? - it resonated with the user and will be a mini-aha moment for the user when they first get their cabs without surge pricing.

Complete Onboarding Teardown

Complete onboarding teardown is present on the pdf below:

1. Sources through which users are acquired: Social, Ads, Website, Playstore
2. Walk through of all the steps in Google Play Store
3. Walk through of features and teardowns for airport cab explained.

Multiple AHA Moments here:

1. Driver showing up before time
2. Clean vehicle
3. Driver opening the door

Onboarding Teardown - BluSmart (1).pdf

Parameters to track your activation metrics:

As, per research; we know that on the first day itself: 70% of the app users uninstall the apps and with so many competitive cabs in the market it is important that Blusmart makes a good impression on the users the first time it starts their on-boarding journey.

The user will experience multiple AHA moments in their customer journey from APP discovery, downloading, registering and booking their first and repeat rides.

1. Bluesmarts MVP on their App Discovery - Comfort about hygiene, no surge and no driver cancellation policy
2. Automatic discount codes on their first rides and clear no surge pricing structure.
3. User getting notification helping them understand the cab arrival times with the driver details - 20 minutes before the scheduled journey
4. Users able to book express rides within 20 minutes without extensive surge pricing and with coupons
5. Users getting notifications about the drivers' arrival before the scheduled time
6. Users find the cab spacious, well-equipped and hygenic for the user
7. Driver stepping out , opening the doors and fixing and putting the luggage in the boot.

Reasoning:

Since the JTBD is functional and active users will be defined in terms of booking/completing X rides in Y days.

According to the marketing push on the app, we can see that: They are incentivising people to book 5 rides in 30 Days which would be an internal activation metric for the Blusmart team. (People would be able to experience the aha moment and experience all the CVPs such as reliability, driver behaviour, clean cabs, zero cancellation, no surge pricing all core value prop consistently with 5 rides - hence reducing the chances of churning afterwards)

Hypothesis for Activation Metric:

Activation Metric 1: Booking 5 rides within 30 Days

Reason:

Repeat booking shows that the customer is satisfied with their first ride, has experienced CVP and loves the experience of using BluSmart services other than other cab aggregators based on their needs.

Metric to Track:

• Number of rides booked
• Ratings for their rides
• Frequency of booking and completing rides
• Average distance travelled and spends

Activation Metric 2: User giving 5-star rating on their first trip / or subsequent trip

Reason:

Such a high rating directly validates that the user has experienced a great experience(aha moment) and loves the ride making it easier for them to come back later and it shows intent to use your service again. Also, it shows that the user has understood the product offering and experienced the CVP over other cab aggregators.

Metrics to Track:

• Wait time/ time taken by the driver to reach the location
• On-time arrivals of the cabs
• Number of calls between driver and users
• Number of support tickets raised
• Driver rating post-completion

Activation Metric 3: User using more than 1 product offering in the app. Using the app for different use cases

Reason:

A users using more than one product offering shows the willingness to go deeper in the product offering and increased trust based on their previous trust and experience in the product. Ex. Someone who booked cab for airport rides, using the express rides feature to go from office to home or any other location.

Metrics to Track:

• Number of features used
• Average used activity
• Screens visited in the app

Activation Metric 4: People reviewing and giving the app 4+ star on the app store

Reason:

A user reviews in the app store either if they are unsatisfied or heavily satisfied and have experienced the aha moment and want to share their experience with the world through the app store rating. It shows the app that it has helped match all the JTBD metrics for its target users.

Metrics to track:

• Ratings by the user
• Users use of customer service or chat function
• Ratings given to the driver
• Avg waiting times
• Discounts and spends of the user

Activation Metric 5: User adding money to the wallet

Reason:

They are showing repeat future buying/ purchase intention and will happen if they understand and experience the product

Metrics to tracK:

• average wallet recharge amount
• avg trip amount
• ratio of avg wallet recharge/trip amount
• Freqnecy of rides taken/booked
• Change in the freqnecy of rides hailed per month

Activation Metric 6: User who saved one or more addresses on the app

Reason:

Saving address shows that they are saving it for easy access, later use and for extended members of the family. It strongly suggests that the user has a repeat use case, and want it for variety of users in their family.

Metrics to track:

• Number of address
• Booking for self or others
• Frequency of booking cabs

Other metrics you can track:

1. DAU/MAU: We need to check this ratio as we know cab riding and hailing have a higher frequency and a light user is not great for retention purposes.
2. Drop-off rates: Check for people who dropped off or cancelled their cab booking journey in between. It shows they got a better deal elsewhere and are using that platform instead and have not experienced the CVP of your product.
3. App Store/ Play Store ratings: Check if the ratings are consistently good, read the reviews and reply to each one of them. Solving the customer problems and app issues there will help build trust for other users and help in more conversion rates when people reach the app download page.
4. Referral rate: We know that people naturally refer your services if they have experiences and enjoy the aha moments in the app. An improvement in referral rate will show that your services are on point.
5. NPS score: In the mobility space, customer service issues are inevitable; check if your NPS scores are good to find if there are any issues with the products you need to solve or if are you retaining the users by solving their problems successfully.