Engagement & Retention project

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Engagement & Retention project

Company: Intrcity Smart bus

It is part a part of Rail yatri. Aim is to transform the broken experience of intercity mobility for common man in India. Its a tech enabled mobility platform with asset light model. They control the end to end user experience and buses are provided by owners. intrcity does standardization of bus journey experience from pick up to drop off point by providing various convenience facilities during the customer journey. it operates from six hubs , plys in over 600 + routes across 16 + states serving over a lakh customers a month.

Core Value Proposition :

The core value provided by intrcity is providing a effortless and smooth road journey for customer across Cities in India through their smart bus

Standardized bus booking : Entire bus journey is lots of pain points with doubts of getting the right bus at time with preferred seat or not, long waiting times and no predictabillity on arrival time after bus journey. they have made booking easy through their app and in app details about the pick points and live tracking of bus and 24*7 customer care along with captain to guide customers along the journey through intrcity
Comfy Spacious Lounge at boarding points : Considering the current scenario of over crowded bus stops /waiting points standing under the sun with huge luggage to pull around as we move, they have provided air conditioned waiting rooms to relax for customer .
Tech Enabled -Safety : all buses are fitted with CCTV linked to central platform .live tracking of location through web link. this helps our well wishers also keep a track on our current place during the journey.
Punctual-predicatable: On time arrival and no unnecessary stop overs during the journey .

Personalization :
1.they have also provided lavatories in the bus for use anytime with cleaner round the clock
2.Insurance for travelers upto 5 Lakhs
3.Food at prebooked pitspots upon booking
4.Extra large seats for body positive people for comfortable journey and special seats for pregnant women and with kids.

How do users experience core value prop.

Users experience their core value prop. by booking and travelling from one city to another on intrcity smartbus. Here there get the timely remainders for boarding and welcoming experience in lounge to safe tagging of luggage and inbuilt lavatory and along with clean Airconditioned Buses and arrival reminders by bus captain and finally reaching destination on time. These smooth journey makes customer experience and cherish the core value prop.

what makes them a active user.

Any body who has travelled twice in intrcity in a period of 6 months ,will make them a active user.

the reason behind it is, as intrcity charges a premium relatively and also gets its traffic from other OTA platforms, there is chance this might go off as one more travel operator in times of peak demand.To ensure that he is an activated user, we consider a user who has came back and experienced it twice either on intrcity or via other OTA platform to be an active user.

what is the natural frequency of the product

person travelling in intrcity smart bus on an average of once every 3 months.

casual - travels once in 3 months

Core - travels once every 1 month, use discounts and lounge facilities

Power- travels every 7-10 days. user intrcity app, awares of all features and member of intrcity CLUB

What's Best Engagement Frame Work

Engagement Framework	Selected	Rationale
Frequency	Primary	No. of times a user books and travels in intrcity smart bus
Breadth	NA	Not applicable as no other additional features apart from long distance travel booking.
Depth	Secondary	No. of times user books and travels in app. Downloads and used intrcity.How often they experience the other associated products like lounge for waiting and in built washroom and saves personal details in app and becomes member of intrcity savings CLUB,which signify their commitment and trust towards inrcity

Segmentation

From the user interviews ,we have categorised various customers under the below buckets

ICP Segmentation

	ICP-1	ICP-2	ICP-3	ICP-4	ICP-5	ICP-6
Name	Business owner	sales team head	Intern	Project head	super savings guy	family uncle
Age	35-50	30-35	22-30	30-35	25-35	50-60
Gender	Male	Male	Female	male	male	male
profession	Business	Employee	Studying	Employee	employee	retired
Marital status	Married	Married	Single	married	single	married
Income range	Above 25 lakh	10-15 Lakh	<2 lakh/yr	10-15lakh/yr	<10 lakh/ year	nil
Location	Tier-1	Metro	Tier-1	metro	teir-1	tier-1
How frequently they travel	4 round trips/month i.e 45-50 round trips a year	two round trips /momth	1 round trip every 2 month	1 round trip/month	one round trip/year	oneround trip/6 months to son's place
preferred mode of travel	bus	1.bus 2. train.Depends on availability & time	bus	bus or train-depends on availability	car within city. bus for long distance travel	bus.
what's preferred travel app	intrcity	1.redbus 2. intrcity	paytm	amazon booking	redbus	dont know.son books their journey
whats their favorite about intrcity	ontime performance,well maintained A/C lounge to avoid hassle of waiting on streets	comfortable seats for travel .clean interiors	safe to travel .CCTV is there.will send live location to parents	timely services .pitstop at good locations	offers for booking. nice waiting room	nice luxury seats . washroom
how much they spend on travel	90-95k/ year	45-50k/year	12-15k/ year	45-50k/year	2500/yr	5000/yr
What is that they want to improve in intrcity	outisde food is to be allowed for special ppl like elders or people with diabetes to take timely food/medicine	nil	Prices are too costly .	In some routes , buses are not comfortable .no multiaxle buses	no	nil
who books their tickets	self in intrcity app	self	self	self -claimed back from company	own. whichever price is less i book	dont know.kids book and send tickets in whatsapp
other apps they use	amazon prime ,youtube, facebook, gmail	whatsapp, phonepe, uber,linkedin	spotify,instagram,YT music,snapchat,mynra	dailyhunt,mxplayer,ajio, facebook,whatsapp	outlook, hotstar, kite, ola, YT music	youtube,whatsapp
other alternative they use	parveen travels	srs travels	krishnaveni,orange	anything at preferred time	YBM	son books -vetri

Observations from ICPs user research:

Awareness : majority of users awareness about intrcity is through physical visibility of buses on roads and seeign it while booking through other OTA platforms like Redbus/Abhibus. there is very little reach through socal media platforms or other means here data backs up there same
Agegroup: Majority of travellers are between 25-50 working professionals and business person with good knowledge of applications and services.
Availability: As Intrcity operates with hub and spoke Model, it is only operating from 6 hubs and connecting to other regional regional,tier-1 cities & metros. Reach is limited to select cities which is pushing away engaging customers to other platforms thereby breaking their habits and usage patterns
Facilites usage : Lounge are only available at select major pickup locations and washroom facilities are not available across all routes.
Even core users are not using app to unlock reference benefits and savings features due to complexity in navigating through the app.
Cost seem to be also one of the deciding factors in picking this. thsi ensures in retains customers with good behaviour

Primary driver of usage of intrcity seem to be due to ON-time Performance and clear, standardized decent interiors .other facilites seem to be small AHA moments ( waiting lounge, in built,washrooms,decent pitstops)

from the above we have decided to categorise and segment as below as frequency seem to be primary engagement metric.

Frequency based Segmentation :

Type of user	Casual	Core	Power
Frequency	one -two round trip in six month	Once round trip in 3 month	Two round trip in a month
Intrcity experience	Only travel	travels.uses lounge.uses tracking.refer friends	travels.uses lounge.does last minute reschedule.part of savings club.aware of all in bus facilities .
amount spent	1500-2000 /trip	2000-2500/trip	2000-2500/trip
Revenue generated /year	3000-4000/year	8000-10000/year	48000-50000/year
Travel type	Solo	solo,friends	Solo,friends,family
User type	occasional traveller.low top of mind awareness.books based on availablity	seasonal travaller.aware of neat on time travel.yet to fully explore all features.talk to friends about a good travel experiennce	power traveller.always on the move.aware of pro & cons of all other travellers.enjoys intrcity and utilises also benefits of being a intrcity loyalist.
user bucket	ICP-5 and ICP-6	ICP-3,4	ICP-1,ICP2

Advance segmentation:

Types of Users	Recency	Frequency	User characteristics
Champion	1 -2 week ago	twice to 4 times a month	Not price conscious .spends anywhere between 7000-8000/month. Uses intrcity directly.picks the best private cabin. Comfortable traveller due to high frequency.little bad experience causes distrust about service.expects to be treated well through the journey.uses other applications to plan before and after journey.like books cab to reach boarding point.stays in hotel at destination
Loyalists	1-3months back	once-twice/ every quarter	avg. 3000-4000/quarter. Chekcs evry option available and chooses intrcity for features and proximity to location.saves using trip offers and referring friends to get rewards
Needs Attention	6 months ago	once-twice/ in 6 months	conscious spender. Does trips planned in regular intervals. Try to get everything palnned in advance.does not subscribe to loyality
In danger	10-12 months ago	once a year	Value seeker.at home guy.very less travel.but expects decent comfort .vacation traveller
Hibernation	more than 1 year ago	been over an year.	lost top of mind awareness.infrequent traveller.need to recommunicate value prop.sometimes elders tickets are booked by their kids

Mapping user journey and target

User Journey in app	Target Via
Drop off after Journey Destination selection page	Engagement campaign
Drop off at Bus selection Page in app	Engagement campaign
Drop off at Seat selection page in app	Retention campaign
Drop off at Payment page	Retention campaign

Engagement campaign :

From the above user categorizations using ICP, frequency and user behviour, we club into different buckets based on behavior to run campaigns.

User segmentation to target	Casual	Core/loyalist	power/Champion	In-danger	Value seeker
Goal	Move them from casual to core. Providing seasonal offers. To not forget and create memories this holiday season (Improve frequency of usage in this app)	move users from core to power. Increase perceived value as per usage.providing ease of utility (Increase Frequency)	Holding the champion. Incentivising good behaviour and complimenting to retain cosistency ( Increase Depth)	Indanger to needs attention.reminding of extraordinary journey so far and bringing back ( Inrease Awareness and build engagement with app with providing solutions Additional benefits	Final payment page dropper to casual user.Increase awareness and nudge to build habit show price drop moments!( make them do first purchase to build trust with intrcity)
Pitch	Take a break this summer/winter.we assure seats with best prices(*50% for family) for prebooking	Sudden Business Trips? Worried of preferred seat unavailability? No Worries.We are here to help! Choose your dates.we take care end to end.here a complimentary uber ride to boarding/departure point from us to make your journey comfortable with us	Heyy name, happy happy for an year of journey with us.Here a Complimentary Stay with us for your next trip.Valid for 20 days.And also here are curated best stays at your preferred cities-20% OFF only for you.(based on your travel info)	Hey..we have something special for you this time.We are happy to add you to savings club member at free of your cost.this is priority seat and top deals at your fingers for your next journey(valid for 30 Days)	Splash!! Purse empty,? Worried about cancelling palnning with friends..here is your pass to travel at 25% off during chekout.enjoy our added benefits of A/C Lounge.best in class food stops.lavatories in bus.evrything included in this for you. We help you to also save to spend for the best!
Channel to use	Instagram,whatsapp,SMS	PUSH notifications,if enabled),email marketing,SMS	PUSH notifications,inapp notifications, whatsapp	targetted ads in other other OTA platforms and SMS and social apps like youtube,newsapp	Hostar ads,youtube,browser ,SMS,
Offer	*50%off for family booking this summer/winter season	Priority Double Seats for comfortable journey with complimentary uber pass and 500 travel miles	Complimenatry stay for next travel.valid-20 days	Price drop and included in intrcity CLUB to get exclusive offers reserved for frequent travellers.	Save now to spend later.25 % Plus added benefits of free lounge and in built washroom.what better way to travel than this.
Frequency and Timing	Every Friday for next 1 month before summer/winter	All week campiagn ,repeated alternate weeks after one month of zero activity.	Focussed campaign only two weeks.twice a week to remind them of losing out of offers	Once every 15 days for next 2 months to user with more than 6 months of inactivity	two months after inactivity. to creat excitement to check again.every Friday for 1 month and mention limited super saver offerings .
Success Metrics	1.App open count 2. Journey Seats checked withina week 3. No of ppl travelled using offer in next 45 days	1.time taken to do Booking action in next 15 days. 2.Usage of coupon on select date to ensure its is complimenting users needs or to tweak offers. 3. Redemption of miles in next trip and trip rating given 4. Top up in wallet for next trip	1. CTA validates effective copy. 2.Checking dates to see best offers.Including saving club redemption 3.usage of hotel pass and feedback on stay experience	1. Response to ads like value derived or not after journey rating 2. Additonal top up of SAVINGS CLUB card for Benefits happening or not 3. Referral clicked on msg link to unlock more benefits after trip 4.app downloads in playstore for more exlcsuive benefits	1. app download 2.Frequency of opens to gauge add continuity 3. No . Of Ticket reserved and journey . 4.user engagement with app checking all features like reference and CLUB .

Product Hooks :

Goal	Engage deeply and hold loyality of champion/core users by providing additional features in app in beta stage like hotel listings and best rated place to visit/stay. Additonal cab integration during booking as priority before going live for all customers.
Success Metric	No. of clicks on new icon for hotel preview and booked cab after trip.No of trips taken in a month
Problem Statement	Power users juggling with various apps for travel,hotel,And intracity travel.we can value by providing additonal value added services within one app for make customer life hassle free .
Current alternative	User intrcity for outstation,uber for intracity and oyo for stays .
Solution	Start off with listing of popular stays in frequently visited locations of champions,and providing and added option to book by call within app.and also uber integration as an tab for intracity mobility
Metrics to Track	1.% of Users engaged with new release 2.No. of car bookings after beta launch in two weeks. 3.% increase in hotel enquiry for our customers Via of app. 4. ratings on hotel stays
Ramp up milestones	Slowly release it every month in one geography from one hub to multiple nodes where intrcity operates its buses. Scale it across with cab launch in app users with discounts for one month to drive engagement and awarenss of features in app

Retention :

Understand

Macro view:

As per secondary search, its found that intrcity has a retention of about 50% . Considering that core and power users ,loyalists contribute majority to the business. if not nudged casual user go into in-danger or hibernation over 4-6 months.

Retention graph looks as below.

Micro View:

We have Understood from user data that working professionals & business person in Tier-1/metro contribute to major users of intrcity. Data below from user survey

Men contribute to majority of business. Though it has all safety features in places,women travel in intrcity and quite low. Data from sample survey
Majority of travel decisions are taken by men and majority of travellers are well versed with mobile usage and are aged between 20-50. Data from sample survey

Top Reasons for retention :

After discussing with customers its is observed these are frequent feedback got for continuing usage of intrcity

1.On-time pick up and drop

2.Clean buses and interiors

3.Decent spacious waiting lounges at prime locations

4.member offers

5.In built Washroom at distance routes

Channel Insights:

from data , we have came to know that majority of users come via organic channel

95 % of traffic comes via mobile apps

During user survey ,user said that they have not seen any ads. Product discovery is only in listing platforms and friends referral to two major channels. Below is graph from the sample set.

Define

After speaking to users and observations of feedback across platforms , Below are the reasons for churn.

Voluntary churn :

Group	Churn Reason	Explanation
Group-2	A/C not working properly during last trip	bad experience left an impression on traveller to mover over to other app
Group-1	Previous encounter with bus captain is rude	Not welcome behaviour by driver.not stopping bus at designated points. Irresponsible feedback by the
Group-1	Not on time	Not adhering to plan as caused a customer to miss a an important meeting.so, he prefers reliable old school transporters over tech apps
Group-3	Price are too high .fluctuating prices	conscious spender who is not willing to shell extra bucks for peak demand weekends
Group-2	Buses are not clean	one customer bedcover were not changed and unkempt during boarding and told silly reasons like unavilability of cover.this damaged the opinion of company on the user.so,he prefered,other OTA apps
Group-2	Customer service is not responsive of previous issues raised	Seeing poor feedback on past issue raised regarding refund on cancellation of tickets
Group-1	Bumpy driving by driver	Driving discipline is poor. disturbing the sleep of fellow passengers in the night. so, user opted out
Group-2	app not working	booking was not confirmed even after completion of payment due to Tech glitch .so user is unwilling to face the uncertainty of seat confirmation

Here we have the voluntary churn reasons and grouped them in 3 buckets considering their user behaviour

Group-1 - " users with basic expectations wants On-time , good pleasant rides,"
Group-2 - " Users are convenience seeker ,expects dignity and respect. he used to use all facilities like lounge and savings club "
Group-3- "User is value seekers who wants best options at standard prices "

we will be targeting our resurrection campaign for these groups of user separately below.

Involuntary Churn:

churn Reason	Explanation
Services Not available at my preferred time	Limited availability of intrcity during the day
Not servicing my new city	not plying across the country. Capital required for expansion.so not focussing on them now
Multi axle buses not there.Journey not comfortable for elders	our partners dont have full luxury fleet,which increases operational cost also well.not targeting them now
Non-AC buses not available	we want to provided a standardized experience.NON-AC may pollute interiors and disturbing sleep with noise .so,org.not providing non AC now
Switched to different country	NOT serviced by intrcity.NA
Other alternatives are nearby with waiting facilities	proximity to user look is one of reason choose other travels.not providing feeder buses .this may increase cost.not servicing these limited customers
One time use	not a value to spend time in resurrecting them

Negative actions to track :

Non-renewal of SAVINGS CLUB PASS
removing added card details in payment
App not opened for more than 6 months
Not interacting with push Notifcations
App Un-install.
Negative review after last trip
poor rating of app on playstore.
back to back complaint to customer care about both leg of the last round trip.

These are the at-Risk who are also be targeted after getting feedback by talking to them personally before they completely move out of the platform and re-instigate their ideal user behaviour.

Resurrection Campaign:

Target Segment	Group-1(basic timely trip and response seekers)	Group-2(convenience seekers)	Group-3,Drop off at payment page(value seekers)	At risk	Hibernation
Goal	Engage them back to platform who disenaged after a short bad experience	Bring back interest on the plaftorm conveying comfort and convenience	Increase Adoption and make it GO TO platform for bus travel	Assure users of best services at with fixed cost for second trip in round trip	Spice up and create interest on the platform ,as user forgot about intrcity experience which is an year back
Pitch and Content	Here ,we go!we are rated the best In industry in timely performance in india.live across 600+ routes to serve you round the clock.with our best Certified captains on board.dont wait .grab your best prices now .	You have an upgrade !! New buses on your route .enhanced comfort ,enhanced pleasure!! Experience heaven on roads.	Your bus is waiting to fulfill your travel dreams.last few seats for never seen offers !! 35% off in season!!unbelievable right? Come have an undisturbed journey	Best assured.rest assured by us.! Take a nap,get free pre-ordered meals during journey..free access to savings CLUB.we cant wait to serve you again	Heyy !! Its been long time since we met..can we catch up? Decide your location.we will sponsor your favorite trip.
Channel	Push notification, In App, WA,on top of OTA platforms	Inapp, Push notification, WA, Email,	Insatgram, WA,web ads ,SMS	push notification, WA, Email,from OTA apps	Social medial platform like OTT,OTA platform YT ,facebook
Offer	Discount is staggered across 6 months 1. 25 % off for 1st per now. 2. 2nd trip is 15 % off.	Offer discount for ordering Prebooked fresh food during the journey at the pit stop and complimentary uber pass worth Rs.259 for use at destination	35 % off for this trip	Free Access to year long savings via savings CLUB.	Discounts upto 15 % off and Complimentary Miles to redeem as savings and lite snacks in journey.refer and get extra 15% off and do family trips
Frequency and Timing	every 15 days.evry Thursday night to remind them to plan for weekend	Every week Sunday morning for next 6 weeks	every 2nd Friday for next for 2 months	Every 10 days for 2 months	Evry thursay night for 8 weeks
Metrics	seats booked,App Bus iternary reviewed.coupons encashed.CSAT score	seats reserved fro coming month.check reinterest in joining the SAVINGS CLUB. Through app clicks on app.Complains raised,feedback rating after completion of trip.	Confirmed tickets booked,app downloads for additonal offers. SAVINGS CLUB click rate	App opened,Bookings done for no. of users.savings club used or for for other members involved in journey to claim fixed prices.this ensures customer has has reactivated and experienced CVP again	Page visits done,offers checked, trips booked,ratings ,app download
Reasons	Incentive to come back after a bad experience.to experience the renewed experience served with care	Users who had great experiences in the past.lost interest as company scaled. seeing drop in comfort in rides.enticing them with great rides and providing assurance and best service is prominent to bring repeat customers	Users who have dropped due to high prices at peak demand .need to rebuild trust to say we are accesible to all.	Ensure user has top of mind awareness during family trips or personal emergency trips is important.this increase engagement on platform thereby increasing our occupany and also retaining an existing customer without churn.	Retaining an user who exp. CVP by unique ways can engage their family also in group trips which increase user base