Update: As of June 2020, Uber Ride no longer offers a referral programme due to the company’s mounting financial problems brought on by COVID-19. It’s unfortunate to see the programme expire because Uber’s refer-a-friend campaign was the cornerstone of its business, and this particular initiative was a major factor in the company’s expansion. Nevertheless, despite its recent shutdown, I still think it’s important to consider what made the Uber programme such a smashing success.

Heavy software equipment is a key component of one of the sharing economy’s most successful client acquisition channels. We have information on how to create a similar referral engine and how particular cogs affect the bottom line.

We got your back. Learn more about the workings of the Uber referral programme by reading this article, after which you can learn how to achieve comparable outcomes using our API for a lot less money and effort.

Be aware that while putting the Uber referral programme into action is a positive step, getting the system ready for growth and requests from the marketing and customer success teams is a whole different matter.

upkeep of the Uber referral programme
Implementing your referral campaign’s initial idea is one thing; making sure it complies with market realities is quite another. The work that requires the most effort is frequently the upkeep of the programme. This comprises:

Changing the duration of the programme.

Modifying programme elements, such as enhancing prizes throughout the Christmas season.
A/B testing several referral campaigns that are being launched at once.
supplying marketing with analysis and performance data.
assisting customer service representatives with “invalid” code issues.
fraud detection and blocking questionable accounts and referral codes.
adding fresh marketing avenues to promote the programme.

In the end, a wide range of items are required to deal with market dynamics caused by rivals, legislation, or simply the calendar.

There are specific websites set up to keep track of the numerous changes made to the Uber refer-a-friend programme over the course of the year. Given this scope, I bet it took a lot of development resources to create a system capable of running their software.

How can a referral scheme similar to Uber be created for a much lower price?

Uber has changed several aspects of commuter life. They have also succeeded in online marketing. They decided to implement a custom referral programme rather than integrating one of the many off-the-shelf, cookie-cutter referral software solutions since they are aware of the constantly shifting customer preferences and the emergence of new marketing channels.

It probably did cost a lot, but in return it gave them unmatched flexibility.

You might want to give Evolve a try if your company requires a comparable level of configurability but you don’t feel like investing months of development time in creating a referral platform from scratch.