About the company:
TO-MI, founded in the Czech Republic, initially launched an electric scooter rental service before expanding into the taxi industry. In May 2024, the company began their taxi operations in the city of Chomutov and soon expanded to Prague and Melnik. Starting with a different service enabled them to gather feedback early on, address issues quickly, and change to the service type that the local market demanded most.
Today, TO-MI is a local taxi service provider that offers predictable fares without surges, a pet-friendly service and has achieved impressive results with Onde marketing campaigns right from the start.
Challenge
The ride-hailing market in the Czech Republic is highly competitive, with Uber and Bolt as dominant players. At the same time, the majority of the population still relies on traditional methods, such as phone calls, to book rides. However, TO-MI still saw an opportunity for a new local taxi service.
Solution
Technically advanced ride-hailing software
The founders of TO-MI recognized the importance of matching the technical and operational level of their service with market standards in their area. To compete with Uber and Bolt, they required reliable mobile apps with all the necessary features, multiple payment options, safety features, and a flexible management system. They found all that in the Onde ride-hailing platform.
ASO and marketing promotion from the start
TO-MI founders didn’t postpone promoting their apps. Once the driver plans were set and drivers were trained and activated, the Onde marketing team launched digital marketing campaigns.
Promotion channels:
Summary
- App Store Optimization — an essential process of getting the app higher in search results of the app stores (included in every plan)
- Apple Search Ads — ads on the App Store
- Google App campaign — ads on Google resources such as YouTube, Search, Google Play, Gmail, etc.
- Facebook Ads — ads on Facebook and Instagram
Paid marketing campaigns
Digital marketing tools enable ride-hailing companies to attract potential customers instantly. For TO-MI, the marketing campaigns included banners and videos that focused on TO-MI’s benefits compared to other services:
- Predictable pricing
- Pet-friendly taxi services
- Card payments
- Safety features: SOS button and the Share My Ride feature
The benefits were discovered through competitive analysis that included researching competitors’ reviews and local discussions to uncover gaps in the market.
Out of all the methods, the ad video grabbed the attention of potential customers the best and resulted in most of the app downloads.
App Store Optimization (ASO)
The ASO team targeted niche and less competitive keywords due to a highly competitive market with players like Uber and Bolt. The ASO team also focused on niche keywords that highlighted the benefits of the service compared to other competitors.
After collecting the keywords and preparing different versions of the screenshots, team A/B tested their options and used the ones that worked best. For screenshots, it was effective to show:
- Clear and upfront pricing
- Features that allow easy and familiar booking and paying
- App localization: The app was tailored to a specific town or city
Results
The marketing campaigns resulted in:
- 7x growth in monthly orders
Number of Orders. Source: Internal Onde analytics
- 4x growth in monthly passengers
- 5x growth in new Customer app users
Number of new Customer app users. Source: Google Analytics
- The visibility on the App Store increased by 135%
The Increase of app visibility on the App Store. Source: AppFollow
What’s next for TO-MI?
Advertising and ASO play a crucial role in attracting new app downloads, but the real challenge lies in converting those users into loyal customers. When launching a taxi business, long-term success depends on engaging two core audiences: drivers and passengers.
Fast arrival times are a key differentiator, especially in competitive markets. By combining an intelligent order-assignment algorithm by Onde with an engaged driver network, TO-MI achieved an impressive result. At the moment, they accept most ride requests within just 10 seconds!
And this is just the beginning. The local taxi service founders have ambitious plans for TO-MI, and we’re eager to watch them succeed.
Key takeaways
- Launch ASO and marketing campaigns once you’re ready for customers. Get the initial cohort of drivers and train them first!
- Research the market to discover your service’s benefits
- Use niche and less competitive keywords for highly competitive locations
- Have a good-quality ad video when it comes to digital advertising. Keep it short and straight to the point — 15 sec maximum.
