Why Boosted Board Remains the King of Electric Skateboards
This article originally appeared on LEVRevolution.com
Since Boosted Board first opened shop in 2012, they’ve grown to become the most recognized brand in the electric skateboard world.
While they’ve faced an increase in competition from other high-end electric skateboard companies, such as Inboard and Evolve, Boosted has retained a consumer base whose fervent devotion keeps the brand elevated above the rest.
The brand loyalty demonstrated by Boosted riders is impressive and frankly an interesting case study.
A cursory look at Boosted Board social media, compared against those of Inboard and Evolve, reveals where Boosted falls in the pack.
So where did Boosted’s popularity come from?
Well, the fact they were one of the first company’s to enter the electric skateboard fray certainly helped. When Boosted Board’s Kickstarter campaign first launched in 2012, the excitement was palpable. Many people contributed to the campaign and thus had a greater interest in the company.
The world had never seen an electric skateboard of that caliber and the fanboys united, including YouTube star Casey Neistat, who spent much of 2015–2016 riding a Boosted Board around NYC on his popular channel.
But Neistat alone isn’t responsible for the people’s love for Boosted, although he certainly helped advertise the brand. A walk through the Boosted Board subreddit shows an active group of 4,300 riders discussing every aspect of Boosted, from DIY tech modifications to experiences with their customer service.
Despite all this love, Boosted is not without it’s flaws. Their boards are expensive, lack the range of other competitors, are not water resistant, and have experienced several shipping delays. Plus, in November of 2016, the company went through a much-publicized recall of their 2ndgeneration electric skateboard, caused by a battery issue two users experienced. In short, water entered the lithium-ion batteries and caused short-circuiting and overheating. Luckily, the fire retardant cases housing the batteries did their job and prevented any fires from spreading.
Nevertheless, a scandal of that nature would have been disastrous for most brands, but not for Boosted.
Why Do People Love Boosted So Much?
The Boosted Board V2: A Look at the Product
While companies like Inboard, Stary, and Evolve have all released products that give Boosted a run for their money, the Boosted Board is still considered by most to be the best electric skateboard on the market.
Let’s take a look at what makes the 2nd Gen board so special.
The most frequent praise for Boosted concerns the board’s minimalistic and modular design. The seamless engineering allows for easy maintenance and user-replaceable parts.
Boosted is also renowned for the board’s stability and smoothness while riding, even at high speeds. It’s stability and reliability makes it a trusted device for those using the board as their daily commuter. While other electric skateboards may experience connectivity problems with the remote, or shuddering and jolting when cruising at high speeds, Boosted has earned a reputation as one smooth cup of tea.
Boosted fans also rave about the remote control, which is ergonomically designed and allows the rider to move forwards / backwards, shift between four riding modes, and check battery level.
The flexible bamboo deck is another huge selling point. Where most electric skateboards make use of carbon fiber decks, which are stiffer than wood, Boosted uses a deck one might find on a traditional longboard.
So, for longboarders transitioning from a regular board to an electric skateboard, a Boosted Board has them feeling right at home.
Other product features include:
- Built in battery indicator
- 80 mm wheels
- Removable battery
- 60 minute charge time
- 25% hill grade capabilities
- 22 mph max speed
- 7 mile range
- 6 month warranty
The most often heard critique of the Boosted Board is its low range. The company had initially planned to offer an extended range battery with the 2nd Gen board capable of a 14-mile range, but the venting recall led this product to be delayed until Q4 2017.
Boosted’s Customer Service: Transparency & Authenticity
Despite going through a battery recall similar — albeit not as severe — to the hoverboard scandal in 2015, Boosted’s brand has remained virtually untarnished.
How can this be?
Simple. They have amazing customer service.
As soon as Boosted knew about the battery problems they released a public statement notifying their customers of the situation and issued a recall. Almost every week since, they’ve published posts on their site with updates and information regarding the recall.
In fact, if Reddit is any indicator, the general stance towards the whole situation is understanding and sympathy for Boosted. The customer feels bad for them. Now that’s brand loyalty!
A perfect example of how Boosted goes above and beyond other companies is seen in a post they wrote on Removing and Recycling your Battery. In the post, they provide the following instruction:
“For all 2nd generation board owners, you will need a 4mm hex wrench to remove the battery pack from your board. If you do not have a hex wrench, please email us at recall@boostedboards.com and we will send you one immediately.”
The fact that they’re willing to mail you a hex wrench makes them seem, well, genuinely kind.
This is further demonstrated in numerous Reddit threads where customers rave about Boosted providing them with free shipping for replacement parts and out of warranty repairs.
Boosted Board’s practice of complete transparency and authenticity creates a sense of loyalty so strong customers will overlook almost everything, from shipping delays to short-circuiting batteries to a repeal of the water-resistant claim.
The loyalty Boosted’s customer base feels toward the brand is reminiscent of Apple. People love Apple so much they’ll overlook tax evasion, poor working conditions, and the Apple watch.
Boosted is on their way to building the same quality of consumer devotion as Apple.
Hopefully, unlike Apple, they won’t abuse it.
