As Australia continues its journey towards more connected forms of transport, governments and organisations are constantly looking for ways to drive behaviour change. For governments, this includes the promotion of ‘greener’, ‘healthier’ and ‘safer’ forms of transport, and for organisations, a recent priority has been supporting a return to the office.
An effective solution to meet these objectives is a model that rewards individuals for making choices that align with these priorities. As more Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions come online, the opportunity to leverage preferential pricing offers and discounts to promote new behaviours and engagement will increase.
Intelematics recently developed a fuel finder application for RACV’s arevo MaaS app in recognition of the role the car continues to play in multi-modal journey planning in Victoria. This technology helped forge a new partnership between RACV and fuel company EG – resulting in up to 13C per litre discount for customers, increased brand loyalty among RACV customers and an uptick in sales for EG.
Whilst discounts are a proven tool to drive sales, the technology that facilitates these discounts needs to be equally novel, simple and rewarding to deliver the greatest impact for users, and drive adoption.
Rewards culture on the rise
In recent years governments have launched incentives to promote greener transport and a return to the CBD. These have included cash back schemes in Melbourne, free ‘city’ buses in Brisbane, and free e-Scooter rides in Adelaide.
Alongside government initiatives, businesses have also incentivised alternative forms of travel to and from the office. Vitamin firm Swisse Wellness was one of the first companies in Australia to launch a Ride to Work Scheme – offering employees a tax break for the purchase of a bike. More recently, Melbourne-based travel company Luxury Escapes announced free lunches and the ability to bring pets into the office to entice employees back.
This rewards-based approach is also gaining traction as businesses look to improve their member experiences. A key trend is brands partnering to differentiate themselves – giving subscribers access to multiple platforms and multiple discounts in the process.
The newly launched ‘One Pass’ delivery platform is a prime example – bringing together Kmart, Bunnings, Target, Catch and Disney.
Auto clubs, OEMs and transport service providers are also constantly looking at innovative ways to improve membership offers to customers, while targeting new customers. These have often taken the form of retail partnerships and discounts, but MaaS solutions present new opportunities.
MaaS creating new opportunities
Building on our relationship with RACV, we continue to enhance the arevo journey planning app with new features to deliver better experiences to users. Recently, we optimised the fuel finder feature within arevo to improve customer satisfaction and encourage behaviour change.
The fuel finder identifies the best places to fill up across a range of fuel types and retailers, allows users to filter results by favourite fuel types, and view 7-day and 30-day price trends. Data is updated every 30 mins to provide pricing confidence – a feature unavailable in many existing fuel finder applications.
As part of the rollout of this technology, RACV formed a new partnership with EG (part of Ampol) to offer users up to 13 cents off per litre of petrol and diesel via the arevo app. This capability has improved customer satisfaction, attracted new customers to EG, and helped RACV stand out against its competitors.
Taking a modular approach
Our work with RACV illustrates how innovative solutions, combined with a pricing discount model, can be used to create new partnerships, change behaviour and drive customer satisfaction. The key to success was the modular design of arevo, which enabled us to integrate the new fuel finder capability into the existing platform with no impact on broader systems or functionality.
This approach is not limited to Auto Clubs, but can also benefit governments, transport service providers, OEMs, and enterprises.
For example, an OEM may partner with a parking company to offer discount parking – integrated into the vehicle’s onboard applications. Or, governments may partner with a micromobility provider to offer in-app discounts, to encourage a return to the CBD or to provide access to greener transport options to employees.
Driving behaviour change even further
MaaS has an important role to play in enhancing the future of mobility for many types of organisations, but it can also be used to boost user experience and create new commercial or community partnerships.
Offering discounts to end-users is an effective tool to help governments and businesses meet their objectives, but organisations should also consider how technologies like MaaS can drive behaviour change even further.
MaaS platforms like Intelematics’ Omniway have been designed with co-branding and third-party integration in mind. Omniway brings a convenient ‘plan, pay and ride’ experience together with real-time data, loyalty and rewards. Its modular design also means functionality can be switched on or off – or enhanced seamlessly.
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