Disrupting the market with HelloBUS
DIA Gold Winner 2023 in the Disrupter category
Challenge
The current coach travel market is outdated and fragmented. As a booker, you have to fill out one long and extensive form to request a quote. HelloBUS aimed to revolutionize the booking process for coach travel. HelloBUS aspired to become the new platform where users receive real-time instant quotations, making booking a bus with a driver easy and enjoyable.
With a true start-up mentality, the primary goal for HelloBUS was to learn from users for the future of the platform. The platform had to ensure scalability and grow according to customer needs. This required the development of a complex API integration that captures all custom data.
To achieve the goal and also anticipate future opportunities, the HelloBUS platform was developed as a headless application, where the website sends information to the API in the background. With a developed API, the reservation process is automated to instantly request a price.
Result
Less cars on the road
DIA Gold Winner
100k + within a year
Designing the brand identity & branding
Booking a HelloBUS is a lot of fun. They make it easy and fast to book a touring coach. No quotes, no waiting times. Convenience and enjoyment are exactly what the brand identity is all about. Three colours, one main element: the colours represent fun, happiness, and trust. Besides booking a HelloBUS with pleasure, you also want to have confidence that it will take you to your destination. The main element, the smile, is present everywhere. From the website to the bus design. Additionally, a bold and slightly unique typeface has been chosen to create an eye-catching effect.
Design for UX
To make the booking process of HelloBUS user-friendly, users were actively involved during the development process. Various research methods were employed to ensure a pleasant user experience. The Customer Journey was mapped out through interviews, the platform was tested with users, and even the brand identity was tested using Five Second Split Tests.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing has enabled HelloBUS to become data-driven. Through a plan, implementation, and optimisation, we ensure that HelloBUS truly embraces a data-driven approach.
Advertising
For HelloBUS, we launched a social media and Google advertising campaign. Based on the See-Think-Do-Care model, we developed a media plan along with the right channel strategy to create a single brand experience. Additionally, we conducted target audience and keyword research based on personas.
Gold Winner DIA Awards Category Disrupter
From the jury report: "HelloBUS disrupts the coach travel market by reducing the booking process from around two days to just one minute. HelloBUS is essentially a classic concept, acting as an agent. However, the concept is incredibly well-developed and professionally executed, making it stand out: it is scalable, headless, and fully rolled out with just one launch campaign. Redkiwi succeeded in completely breaking open a conservative market, noted the jury."
Taking a data-driven approach on the road
During the platform development, we moved away from the standard analysis capabilities of Google Analytics (GA4) to generate broader insights. Instead, we built our own custom reports based on customer parameters and dimensions. These analyses are available in a user-friendly dashboard for both management and operations. This allows HelloBUS to truly operate in a data-driven manner.
Technology
Of course, none of this would have been possible without a substantial amount of development work. A complex API was integrated to capture all custom data, and an API was developed to automate the reservation process, allowing for instant price quotes for desired bus trips. The HelloBUS platform was designed as a headless application, where the website seamlessly communicates with and receives information from the API in the background. This clear separation between the front-end and back-end allows for complete focus on the user experience on the website without any limitations from the back-end getting in the way.
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