Affiliation is an emerging marketing concept in the business world. It is a kind of marketing that is based on performance where a business operator recompenses connected affiliates for bringing customers through their marketing efforts. It is a sales tactic that helps service providers grow sales by letting others target the same audience (who will be called “affiliates”). Such affiliates will be provided with a commission for recommending the service to others.
In the taxi industry, it works in a different way. These types of affiliate marketing are taken up predominantly to get more business from affiliates who are proving similar services. A taxi request will be redirected to another service provider in a case when they do not offer the requested service, do not have the vehicle class, or cannot take up the trip for any other reasons. In this type of affiliation program, the service provider will also become an affiliate for the affiliate by redirecting them the bookings they cannot take up where the affiliate will be recompensed with business referrals.
The passengers do not have to panic about the fare or service quality. They will get only the equally good service they requested, and no additional fare will be collected. However, taxi service providers may have to pay a little amount to the affiliates for every sale they referred or both may be in an agreement.
It is gaining popularity among the businesses and the marketers because it can benefit everyone involved in the process of affiliation:
For Service Provider
Through the affiliation program, the service providers can get more business opportunities from the connected affiliates. Here, when they receive a booking for which they do not have a solution, the affiliates will redirect the request of transportation service to the connected service provider.
For Affiliates
The affiliates can also get benefited by gaining an extra amount or business references. The service provider will also offer the affiliates with a similar kind of favor of redirecting a few services they cannot take up.
For Customers
The customers/passengers can receive their preferred services on time all the time at no extra money.
By doing so, both the service provider and the connected affiliates can gain goodwill among their clients by being reliable all the time. All business opportunities will be converted either by the service provider or by their affiliates, thereby more revenue.
The ride-hailing market has grown tremendously and becomes a highly competitive platform ever. The service providers need a new strategy every day to sustain in the business, resulting in the emergence of affiliates.