In mid-March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic started hitting the United States hard, companies were presented with a unique opportunity: setting their business goals aside and putting their customers first.
The brands that did this by offering support, helpful content, and even lenient return and cancellation policies, have since seen an increase in positive brand sentiment, and this taught us one major lesson …
Now, more than ever, consumers are watching what brands do. And they are forming conclusions about brands based on their reaction and ability to prioritize the community above your own business needs.
There is no longer a place for tone-deaf ads and generalized statements, as personalization has been a growing trend with consumers who expect more from advertisers. COVID-19 has pushed personalized messaging and targeting to the top of the pyramid as the most important pieces of the advertising strategy.
This is especially true for rideshare drivers.
When riders stopped pinging them, a big part of their lives was taken away. They lost income—and that’s just the beginning. They also lost their daily routines, not to mention opportunities to interact with a variety of interesting human beings several times a day.
As drivers wait patiently for normal to return, they are more willing and able than ever to engage with brands that can speak directly to them. Which presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for companies in the rideshare industry to set themselves apart.
In this blog post, we’ll detail how the team at Gridwise has been able to increase engagement with rideshare and delivery drivers amid COVID-19, and how brands in the ride-hailing space can do the same.
Start by understanding how deeply drivers have been affected by COVID-19
The first step in engaging rideshare drivers in a COVID-19 world is to understand who they are and how they have been affected. If you haven’t already read The Ultimate Guide to Marketing to Rideshare Drivers, we recommend starting there to get an idea of who these drivers are.
Let’s take a look at some of the challenges drivers are facing right now.
Many drivers are struggling to pay household bills
In early April, the Gridwise team conducted a study of more than 2,000 rideshare drivers to better understand just how much of an impact COVID-19 had on them.
In that study, we asked drivers if they would be able to cover their household bills if they had to take unpaid time off because of COVID-19, and an astounding 81% said they would not be able to make their household bills.
Most drivers have either stopped driving or have switched to delivery
As COVID-19 gripped the country, many drivers felt they had no choice but to get out of the driver’s seat until they had reassurances that it was safe to work.
To put it bluntly, 57% of drivers have completely removed themselves from the road to stay safe amid the COVID-19 crisis. Another 14% have turned completely to delivery driving as a way to continue earning a living while staying safe .
That’s 71% of the supply of rideshare drivers being sucked off the road.
Surprisingly, rideshare earnings have increased
One of the most astounding developments that we unearthed as we analyzed the rideshare industry was that drivers who are on the road are making a lot of money. In fact in some markets, those active drivers are making more than they did pre-COVID-19.
Why? Supply and demand.
To put it simply, the demand for rideshare is returning, but drivers aren’t necessarily flocking back at the same rate.
In Figure 1 below, you can see that during the week of March 16th, hourly driver earnings plummeted 36% in a matter of two weeks.
After such a drastic decline, we were surprised to see that driver earnings started climbing back toward pre-COVID-19 levels rather quickly. As you can see in Figure 1 above, drivers were earning $20.04 per hour for the week beginning May 24, 2020.
What opportunities do brands have to engage rideshare and delivery drivers?
So in a world where many rideshare drivers are getting off the road, some are flocking to delivery, and some are making more than they have in years, how do you engage drivers?
Opportunity #1: Use content and partnerships to offer help
Remember what we said at the beginning of this article about brands being watched now more than ever? Companies that look for ways to support their audiences and the community during this time are viewed more positively.
We took steps like that at Gridwise.
After listening to the concerns and questions of our drivers and partners, we built a coronavirus resource section that includes helpful and informative content. This included building content on unemployment benefits, how to get facemasks, how to sign up for delivery platforms, and even how to find gigs you can do from home.
We even partnered with Ro to give drivers free telehealth assessments.
By leveraging our app to distribute content that genuinely helped drivers, we were not only helping drivers, but also increasing app usage.
And the very best part was how thankful drivers were for the information.
We’ve also seen great examples of rideshare industry brands finding ways to help. DriveWhip, for instance, offers free sanitation stations for rideshare drivers.
Another company, Driver, collects masks for essential employees, delivers hand sanitizer, and even encourages consumers to donate a meal to their delivery drivers.
Using content to reach drivers and educate them is crucial at this time.
Opportunity #2: Connect with drivers on a deeper level with two-way conversations
One of my favorite ways to get to know drivers is through old-fashioned email. That’s why all of our marketing emails come from a real inbox, and replies to those emails come right back to my inbox.
This practice has never been more important for the Gridwise team than during these scary times as we get a lot of questions from drivers who are looking for information that can help them make decisions about what is best for them.
Most of these questions come in via email, and we do our best to thoughtfully respond to every one of them, ensuring that we’re supportive and empathetic to drivers.
Producing tools and content to support your audience will make them look to you as a resource they can count on for expert advice. Prioritize responding to inquiries and create two-way conversations to solidify their view of you as an expert.
When we published our unemployment article, we received dozens of questions in the comment section, and by email.
By taking the time to answer these questions and engage with the community, we were able to better understand the needs of the community and build content that addressed less obvious issues that many drivers face.
Opportunity #3: Use email to meet drivers where they’re spending time
With people spending more time at home, consumption of content across various platforms is at an all-time high. Get a good understanding of who your audience is, and then focus on placing your messages in channels where you’d expect to find them.
Email open rates, for example, are sky-high right now with millions of Americans finally having time to sift through the information and look for what’s valuable.
Gridwise emails have recently seen a 40% open rate and 7% CTR amid COVID-19, which we like to think is due to the helpful content we’ve been providing drivers.
The key here, of course, is to create engaging email content. Check out this email that garnered a 40% open rate and 7.5% CTR on a list of over 150k rideshare and delivery drivers.
This email was a success because the content was incredibly top of mind for drivers and well put together. Just as important, it was short, sweet, and to the point.
Drivers don’t want long emails with fancy language; speak in short, clear, understandable sentences and you’ll have no problem reaching them.
Opportunity #4: Don’t forget about social media
Along with email, drivers spend a lot of time on social media.
There are hundreds of groups where rideshare drivers are discussing how COVID-19 has affected them, so it’s never been a better time to reach drivers using Facebook paid advertising.
But if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that rideshare drivers hate a sales pitch—especially one that isn’t relevant to them or their interests. Now more than ever is the time to be extremely targeted, leveraging paid ads in only the right places.
Gridwise, for example, has attracted a large audience of rideshare and delivery drivers on Facebook, which allows us to have a hyper-targeted message. By tapping into this network and creating ultra-personalized messaging, the Gridwise team has been able to actually lower our acquisition costs on Facebook amid COVID-19.
Advertisers can work with our brand partnerships team to leverage our audience and get in front of drivers via Facebook ads with the right message.
BONUS: Be positive, but NOT tone-deaf
As much as we’d all like to remain positive through these crazy times, the reality is that we’re in the middle of a pandemic and it sucks. Empathize with your audience on this, and stay up to date on industry trends and relevant news to avoid sounding uneducated, unaware, or tone-deaf in your messaging.
How does Gridwise connect you with the driver community?
Rideshare and delivery drivers now use Gridwise more than ever to maximize their income with rider demand insights, cross-platform earnings comparisons, and automatic mileage tracking.
When they’re not working, drivers still use the app to get weather reports, calculate their tax deductions, and … get news on what it means to be a driver in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
When you put your message out through Gridwise, you get a direct connection to the driver community you’re targeting, and your very own dashboard to gauge how well your pieces are doing. Gridwise team members will walk you through the process and stand there with you through the whole thing.
Gridwise also offers the flexibility of targeting your message to our local markets, to a few different regions, or to the entire Gridwise community.
Gridwise is constantly concerned about delivering quality information to drivers, and we hope part of that will be delivering your important message to the specific community you want to reach. Let us bring you together.
See how to be an advertising partner with Gridwise now!
