$1,200 in Lyft Credits in 3 Hours
…And what I did with them
I had some free time the night before New Year’s Eve, so I decided to do what every digital native does to kill time — surf the web. As I clicked from site to site, I eventually stumbled across this article about how two USC students made six figures recruiting Lyft users. Giving it a read, I felt motivated to see how many ride referrals I could generate.
I first went to Lyft’s website and checked out their referral program. The ride-sharing app rewards users $20 per ride for each new ride referred, and new riders receive $50 credits on the ride-sharing app ($5 off 10 rides). On their website, they also have this handy tool that allows users to create multiple customized promo codes and track how many new riders have redeemed and used your code(s). The ability to customize promo codes is actually pretty powerful, allowing you to create codes to target different events and demographics. For example, if you’re sharing the code among an incoming class at Babson College, you can make your promo code BABSON2021.
In the spirit of it being New Year’s Eve, I generated the promo code PARTYNYE. It was a win-win: earn a cash-strapped college students several free trips into Boston and try and help NYE party-goers find their way home safely. Note, during the holiday season, an estimated 1,200 Americans will lose their lives due to drinking and driving. On New Year’s Eve, 42% of driving accidents are DUI related.
I then put on my marketer’s hat. I know who I want to reach — people who are the most likely to party during NYE and consume alcohol. The more specific demographics that immediately came to mind were one I was quite familiar with: college students. I needed a medium to reach them, so I turned to Facebook to help me reach my peers. During the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, I spent 2 hours posting in ~60 university and college class groups (Babson Class of 2021, Harvard Class of 2019, etc.).
I also posted in several on several pages for NYE festivities being thrown by night clubs. Felt like those club-goers might also need a ride back from the party.
Here’s what I posted in the groups and pages:
PSA: For those of you celebrating New Year’s Eve, be safe! Use the promo code PARTYNYE to get $50 in free Lyft ride credits or click the link: http://bit.ly/lyftnye
Stay 🔥 tonight.
Along with the following graphic that I put together in ~30 minutes:
Having stayed in for New Year’s Eve, I slept pretty early and woke up the morning with a sh*t ton of notifications from Lyft. I realized, in less than 16 hours, I racked up over $500 in Lyft credits, and in the next few days, that number more than doubled. To date, 170 riders had entered my promo code into the app.
In the holiday spirit (and because I couldn’t possibly use all my credits), I started offering to call Lyft rides for all my friends (mainly Christina Gee). So, if you need a ride, I might still have some credits left…
Here are a couple quick lessons learned from the whole thing:
1) Facebook works well for referrals, especially Facebook groups. No other social media platform allows you to target large swaths of users with share interests / similar demographics who aren’t in your immediate network.
2) Understand intent. On NYE, many seek to attend some sort of festivities, which means they intend on finding a way to get there, whether that’s driving or taking a cab. Understanding their intent, I offered them the best solution, one that is safer and cheaper. If people aren’t looking for a ride somewhere, your Lyft promo means nothings.
Shameless Plug: I’m a product-oriented digital marketer who has worked at several venture-backed startups as well as started a couple of my own.
Currently working on lead-capture tools for video and empowering women entrepreneurs.
Thanks to Prabha for encouraging me to share!
