UBER Engage

Word of mouths - Recognition - Reputation

Much of UBER's success can be attributed, as mentioned above, to the fact that it is totally mind blowing compared to the frustrating and broken taxi experience. Max Crowley of UBER Chicago explains:

“We've found that our growth is driven substantially by word of mouth. When someone sees the ease of use, the fact that they press a button on their phone and in under 5 minutes a car appears, they inevitably become a brand advocate.”

According to Kalanick, UBER relies almost exclusively on word of mouth, spending virtually nothing on marketing. He explains, “I’m talking old school word of mouth, you know at the water cooler in the office, at a restaurant when you’re paying the bill, at a party with friends – ‘Who’s Ubering home?’ 95% of all our riders have heard about UBER from other UBER riders.” In fact, for every 7 UBER rides, word of mouth generates a new UBER user.

UBER has even gotten attention from the likes of comedian Dave Chappelle, actor Edward Norton, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen—who calls it a “killer experience,”—and AirBnB CEO Brian Chesky—who claims that “UBER makes it very easy to not own a car.”

This word of mouth is as much today’s growth engine as it was in early days. UBER doesn’t need to do traditional marketing to drive users, they simply find ways to fan the flame of that first trial to reach new people and grow their user base.