Chat&Go: WhatsApp Ticketing

AVM is a 100% public company of the Municipality of Venice which acts as the parent company for the subsidiaries Actv and VeLa. AVM is the owner of the contracts for local public transport of the municipal territory and the metropolitan City of Venice as well as the integrated mobility services of the Municipality of Venice. In particular, AVM manages, directly or through its subsidiaries, all the local public mobility services in the lagoon and on the mainland, namely:

Public transport service through its subsidiary Actv S.p.A.;
Parking facilities;
Traffic-restricted zone;
Bike-park;
Automated tramway (“People Mover”);
Docking area for boats.

CHALLENGE

AVM got in touch with OpenMove to ask for a solution that could make the purchase of transport tickets easier and faster for customers. In particular, the customer had to be able to purchase tickets without downloading and registering to any new mobile applications, relying instead on well-known tools.

The main target of this solution were tourists who, being mainly foreigners, once in Venice often struggle to understand where and how to buy tickets to travel around, also due to a language barrier and currency problem.

SOLUTION

The collaboration between OpenMove and AVM has led to an innovative Account Based Ticketing solution, called Chat&Go®. This new system uses the messaging app WhatsApp – known and used worldwide – allowing customers to buy tickets for buses, waterbuses, automated tramway (“People Mover”) and transfers to the airport with few simple clicks, through a tool used daily even by the most inexperienced.

The Chat&Go® platform provides a number of advantages, for both customers and AVM.

First of all, the interaction takes place within a single communication environment, that is WhatsApp. To complete the purchase of a ticket, the customer needs to follow 3 simple steps:

Thanks to the QR codes placed at public transport stops and in other key points of the city, the customers land on the WhatsApp platform by simply framing the QR Code with the smartphone (or registering the phone number among the personal contacts). In this way, they do not need to look for a ticket office, pay a surcharge for the ticket purchased on board, download an app or register in any application.
By starting the conversation, the customers receive a link leading to the web app where they can choose the desired ticket and proceed with the purchase with different payment methods (credit or debit card, Google Pay and Apple Pay). Therefore, yet another app is not downloaded onto the mobile phone and, as regards the payment, foreign customers are also facilitated by the use of internationally known payment gateways.
The digital ticket is received directly on WhatsApp within the initial conversation. Thanks to the ABT logic of OpenMove, the customers will always have their travel tickets safely saved in the cloud and at hand on any device.

INNOVATION

Thanks to the solution implemented by OpenMove, AVM was able to benefit from significant advantages:

€300,000 of tickets sold per month which, as measured by AVM, do not subtract revenues from other sales channels;
Customers coming from the 5 continents, revealing how foreign customers, the primary target of the project, are largely benefiting from this new ticketing system which appears to be tourist-friendly;
Market penetration of 5%, indicating a clear desire among customers to use online channels to purchase travel tickets;
Average purchase of 3.3 tickets per person which demonstrates how the solution is valued and widely used when traveling with several people and for repeat purchases.

In other words, if on the one hand this innovative tool allows a quick and easy purchase experience, on the other hand it contributes significantly to increase revenues.

WhatsApp proved to be a cutting-edge channel able to satisfy the needs of both parties, the transport company and passengers.

AVM, to boost the positive trend that sees customers easily purchasing tickets throughChat&Go®, has included the sale of tickets of the extra-urban network and is planning to extend it to the tickets currently uploadable on the Venezia Unica card. In this way, not only tourists but also residents will be able to benefit from this new online purchasing channel.

“Chat&Go® represents an important innovation, not only for the mobility sector but more generally for ticketing systems, similar to what happens today with EMV. The market penetration achieved just a few days after the launch of Chat&Go® confirms our intuition to prioritize an easy-to-use solution that meets the customer in a familiar environment such as WhatsApp”.

Giovanni Santoro, Director of External Relations, Innovative Processes and Controls of the AVM Group

CONCLUSION

The Chat&Go® solution proved to be up to AVM’s needs, making the access to public transport services easy, fast and innovative.

The use of WhatsApp as a meeting platform between transport companies and customers has simplified the purchasing process, concentrating it into 3 quick steps, while at the same time increasing revenues for AVM.

Customer satisfaction has translated into widespread use, set to increase with the introduction of new travel tickets, proving that the simplest solutions are often also the most effective.

“We often associate tariff evasion and avoidance with deliberately fraudulent behaviors on the part of disadvantaged target customers. In reality, however, the willingness not to pay for the service must be distinguished from the difficulty of purchasing the ticket, also in consideration of the different habits present in many foreign countries where purchasing the ticket on board is absolutely normal. Finding immediate, usable and easy-to-use ticketing solutions is certainly an innovative way to increase revenues from fares and reduce those forms of involuntary or induced evasion”.

Giovanni Santoro, Director of External Relations, Innovative Processes and Controls of the AVM Group