An interview question: How did Uber recruit 1,000 drivers in a week?

An interview question and answer for an Uber operations manager that I came across by chance: How to recruit 1,000 car owners in a week?

I have to admit that as a person with many years of operational experience , I was also stumped by this question. I believe that Uber solved this problem very well when it was first founded, otherwise it would not have survived to this day and become one of the representatives of the sharing economy. Now that we have to answer the question, we can go back and look at Uber’s classic marketing case , as follows:

1. [Tong Dawei becomes a driver] - KOL marketing

On April 6, 2015, a video went viral online - in Shanghai, celebrity Tong Dawei was driving a Tesla electric car worth nearly 1 million yuan, driving around the city as an Uber driver to pick up passengers.

2. [Ice Cream Day] – Event Marketing

In July 2014, several Uber customized ice cream trucks will hit the streets in Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Users only need to select the "Ice Cream" button in the Uber App, and the nearest ice cream truck will deliver the ice cream to the designated location as quickly as possible, allowing users to enjoy the ice cream in as little as a few minutes.

3. [Mom’s Car] - Joint Marketing

On September 1, 2014, Uber cooperated with Mama.com to provide special car pick-up and drop-off services for the babies of Mama.com netizens who were newly admitted to kindergarten, and used cameras to record the babies' most precious moments. The event received positive feedback from many mothers, who believed that it gave their babies a meaningful start-of-school commemoration.

4. [Princess Pumpkin Carriage] - Theme Marketing

On the eve of Children's Day, Uber and GOELIA have launched an on-demand service to realize the "Princess Dream". With just one click, Uber's extended Lincoln white princess car will help you realize your childhood princess dream. The company has also jointly customized beauty plans to help girls realize their princess dreams.

5. [One-click call to land, sea and air] - Event Marketing

After April Fools' Day this year, Uber Hangzhou announced on its official Weibo that Uber Hangzhou can call Uber by land, sea and air with one click. In Hangzhou, you can use Uber to take a taxi or a boat. With the addition of the plane this time, Uber's services cover land, sea and air.

6. [Excited Car Co-pilot] - Event Marketing

Uber and MINI have jointly launched the "Exciting Car Co-pilot" experience in Chengdu. 10 specially customized MINIs can satisfy your five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch at one time. Massage devices, top-notch erotic fragrances, psychedelic slow-rock electronic music, exciting videos built into iPads, functional drinks and food, Men’s Health magazine, hand sanitizer, bold and outstanding texts...

Please forgive me for simply and roughly dividing these typical marketing cases into so-called KOL marketing, event marketing, theme marketing, and joint marketing. To be more rough, all of the above can be classified into one type: event marketing. What determines the success or failure of marketing is "either creativity, resources, or getting out."

To achieve the goal of recruiting 1,000 car owners, there is only about 1 method available among the above creative ideas, which has the lowest cost and the highest feasibility among the 6 methods. However, even if you can get KOLs on board, it is still difficult to establish local online and offline communication channels.

Key Point: Resources

Given Uber’s current popularity in China, it is possible for it to acquire local KOLs through its brand effect.

Media company, find one that covers local online and offline media. If you can’t find one, you’re doomed.

Find KOLs and follow up on the three-stage communication: warm-up, detonation, and continuous communication. However, the fermentation period of event marketing may have exceeded 7 days, and it is hard to imagine that this method of communication can bring in 1,000 car owners.

Back to the topic:

【Assume Uber is a zero start】

If you want to quickly recruit 1,000 car owners, you must first understand their needs. This picture clearly expresses Uber's model, and the core point is very clear: drivers and passengers, similar to Taobao's early recruitment of sellers. It is impossible for Uber, which is in the cold start stage, to sit in the office and wait for the car owner to come to the door automatically, otherwise it will be a hassle.

At this moment, it doesn't make much sense for Uber to do brand, event or theme marketing. Taking the initiative is the way to go, dear. Uber needs to complete To B + To C at the same time, otherwise it cannot form a closed transaction loop.

In fact, Uber's strategy is also very direct: To C: 30 yuan new rider voucher; cheaper price than taxi; very long-lasting 20% ​​discount/N free trips this week

If my memory is correct, new users can get it after completing the registration, and they can get another one by inviting friends to register. Is there any upper limit? I'm not sure, I haven't tested it. The cost is 30 yuan per person.

Let’s recall among whom the word about Uber first came to be known: white-collar workers in commercial centers? You are wrong to go to the CBD for ground promotion . Please carefully observe the residential areas 5 to 10 kilometers away from the CBD. I don’t know if this guess is correct. If possible, ground promotion should be carried out at both ends at the same time, using different QR codes, and analyzing user downloads and taxi calls for data verification.

With the initial crowd positioning, B-style is also here.

To B: Peak hour rewards, cumulative order rewards, weekly rewards, always ongoing and never stopped

Compared with passengers, it may be more difficult to obtain car owners, or it may not be difficult. There are many car owners working near every community. How to persuade them to become Uber drivers?

“ Uber is a smartphone app that helps you make money driving. It’s easy to use, so you can go online anytime, pick up passengers, and earn extra money. You’ll see your earnings after each trip. And your fares are billed weekly.”

This is the official statement, which is not violent or direct enough, so let’s use our imagination:

Sales pitch: Uber is recruiting drivers. You can drive as long as you have a car. You can earn 8,000 yuan a week, 20,000 to 30,000 yuan a month...

Hey, hey, hey, don’t go. You can follow our official WeChat account to find out more. Have you ever seen a salesman who attracts crowds with his loud voice? I have seen it.

Forgive me for not having any ideas, please let the drivers understand

Now that you have boasted about your achievements, you need to find passengers for your drivers and cars for your passengers. The closer the geographical coverage of car owners and passengers is, the better.

The problem is that it is hard to believe that Uber can form a closed transaction loop purely through promotion. Once passengers cannot call a car and car owners cannot pick up passengers, loss is inevitable. The most feasible approach is to directly target both car owners and passengers in the target market.

Come on, let’s take a look at how Uber puts it out there (check out these awesome “one-click calls”):

1. UBER x McDonald's One-click call for U Burger
2. UBER x Call God with one click
3. UBER x GE One-click call for Pink Health
4. UBER x HBO One-click call to the Iron Throne
5. UBER x Taobao One-click call for mobile fitting room
6. UBER x Magnum One-click ice cream ordering
7. UBER x Yao Energy One-click call for a hero car
8. UBER x Dream Drive: Call a supercar with one click
9. UBER x PPmoney One-click call to send money to a ghost
10. UBER x Olay: Call a beautiful car with one click

…

I won’t give any examples, but look at how this little bitch Uber has done a magical job of targeting car owners and also included event marketing. The principle of placement: cars should be wherever the passengers are; passengers should be wherever the car owners are. A ratio of 1:10 is probably pretty good. How to deliver? This is another topic, so I won’t go into details about it.

It goes without saying that it is difficult to recruit 1,000 car owners in a week from a pure cold start. I cannot give an ideal answer to this question, so why not take a look at what Uber is doing now.

How does Uber operate now?

How is Uber’s team configured in each city?

The basic configuration consists of three people, including a marketing manager, an operations manager and a city general manager. The marketing manager is mainly responsible for marketing, media connection and some creative activities; the operations manager is responsible for data analysis and resource allocation, such as ensuring that the car ordered by the user can arrive in time and better serve the demand side; the city general manager is mainly responsible for strategic work, such as controlling the city's tone, understanding the industry situation, and making some strategic plans.

What do team KPIs assess?

The marketing manager is responsible for the demand side, which includes the growth of new users, city order volume, service quality, customer service satisfaction, and media connection. For example, for an event, what is the media coverage rate, quality, and brand recognition.

The operations manager is responsible for the supply side. For example, Uber users who have just arrived in Shenzhen take an average of 15-20 minutes to pick up a ride. His job is to reduce this number to 10 minutes or even 5 minutes as quickly as possible. He also has to ensure the quality of service provided by drivers and reduce trip cancellations due to insufficient pick-up capacity and inadequate service.

The above content comes from an interview with an early Uber employee circulated on the Internet. To c is the responsibility of the marketing manager, while to b is the responsibility of the operations manager. Back to the original question, if it is a complete cold start, with insufficient resources, it would be difficult for an operations manager to handle it. Kranick was not a loser like you and me back then, so Uber cannot be considered a counterattack. It is a series of precise marketing to taxi-hailing users, an all-round XXOO from consumer behavior to consumer psychology.

What I want to mention in particular is the marketing + operations operating model. I follow a lot of media or subscription accounts related to product operations , including many statements circulating online about the job functions of operations managers, which are said to be responsible for attracting new customers, activation, and conversion. This statement that almost covers all work goals is really not something that should be taken seriously, and Uber has done a good job of interpreting the division of functions.

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