Germany's largest public transport company, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), achieved an impressive 208% increase in Monthly Active Riders for its all-in-one transportation app, Jelbi, between 2021 and 2023.
This customer story highlights how BVG combined innovative CRM strategies powered by Batch’s Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) to revolutionize customer engagement in a traditionally conservative industry.
The customer story was presented by Julia Roitsch, Team Leader of Digital Sales at BVG, and Simon Dawlat, CEO of Batch, during one of Europe’s leading MarTech events in Amsterdam, the Piano Academy Live, gathering more than 600 customer engagement and analytics experts at the Beurs van Berlage conference center on November 2024.
For the past 3 years, Batch has been our partner for everything customer engagement and personalized messaging for all those Berliners out there using our services each month. The Batch platform handles our push notification, in-app messaging and email marketing campaigns while their team have helped us bring our vision for lifecycle marketing to life.
About Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
Founded in 1928, BVG employs over 16,000 people and transports more than 1 billion passengers annually in Berlin. The organization operates across multiple transportation channels, including buses, trams, subways, and ferries, as well as four distinct apps:
- BVG Fahrinfo-App. Comprehensive timetable information, plus ticket purchase.
- BVG Ticket-App. Ultra-fast ticket purchase.
- BVG Muva. On-demand mobility service promoting shared rides.
- BVG Jelbi-App. A one-stop-shop, multi-modal mobility app that centralizes all transportation modes across Berlin, integrating partners like Bolt, Lime, Sixt, and more.
Jelbi is the cornerstone of BVG's digital strategy, addressing the growing demand for convenience in urban mobility.
Challenges BVG Faced
Despite its success, BVG faced significant challenges for Jelbi:
- Retention and Engagement: Encouraging sustained app usage while retaining dormant and one-time users.
- Scaling with a Small Team: Operating CRM and customer engagement programs effectively across multiple apps with a small team.
- Data Activation: Quickly activating and utilizing fragmented data stored across different systems.
- Multilingual Support: Expanding language capabilities beyond German and English, which are currently supported.
- GDPR Compliance: Maintaining robust privacy standards as a highly security-conscious organization.
Selecting the Right Customer Engagement Platform
To meet these challenges and set-up the foundation of its lifecycle marketing operations, BVG opted to work with Batch, a cutting-edge Customer Engagement Platform (CEP).
Unlike legacy CRMs, Batch enables real-time cross-channel engagement across Web and Mobile via Email, SMS, Push notifications and In-App Messaging, spanning the entire funnel, helping 400+ businesses like BVG personalize user experiences at scale.
BVG's Key Product Requirements
At the beginning of the vendor selection process, BVG submitted a map of all use-cases it seeked to execute wich translated into 5 key product requirements Batch had to have an answer for:
- Easy Data Activation: Quickly activating user data and applying segmentation to create targeted campaigns.
- Cross-Channel Engagement: Reaching users through multiple touchpoints for maximum effectiveness.
- Advanced Automation: Scheduling and delivering messages to users at the right time, even with a small team.
- Multilingual Support: Using AI to enable additional languages beyond German and English.
- GDPR & Security: Ensuring compliance with stringent data protection regulations.
Aditionnally, BVG’s required that Batch could easily identify and communicate with all three core customer segments:
- Anonymous Users: First-time app users who had yet to register.
- Registered Users: Customers who signed up but were not fully engaged.
- Connected Users: Active users leveraging the app for regular commuting or other transportation needs.
The Results
After 3 years of working with Batch, the results are in.
833% Increase in Customer Engagement Activity
By unlocking unprecedented marketing autonomy for its small team, BVG was able to deliver a steep increase in customer engagement activity between 2021 and 2023.
The team was able to launch hundreds of marketing experiments very quickly each year, without the need of their technical counterparts, enabling the rapid identification of best-performing triggers through trial and error.
208% Growth in Monthly Active Riders
This increase in customer engagement activity unlocked a steep +208% increase of Jelbi’s north star metrics: Monthly Active Riders (MARs) as exemplified by the graph below.
This growth was driven by:
- A steady expansion of channel mix and experimentation with various customer engagement strategies.
- A deeper understanding of user behavior, enabling more effective and personalized outreach.
- A shift from one-time ticket buyers to online recurring customers.
An All-Time High Happiness Score of 85%
Last but not least, BVG reported higher customer satisfaction rates and an all-time high Happiness Score of 85%.
If you've enjoyed this customer story, discover Julia's testimonial on LinkedIn to learn more and contact us to set-up a demo of Batch's Customer Engagement Platform for your team 🔥
Simon Dawlat
CEO @ Batch
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