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#MobExAwards highlight: EZ-Link provides solutions to the sandwich generation

#MobExAwards highlight: EZ-Link provides solutions to the sandwich generation

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EZ-Link noticed that while children and the elderly make up the bulk of its consumers, it is primarily the sandwich generation that is funding the dependents’ cards. 

It decided to eliminate the hassle of having to make these caregivers physically travel to a ticket office or general ticketing machine (GTM) to top-up the cards by adding an Express Top-up feature on its app. Its next order of business was to market this feature to its target audience so they would download the app and use the added feature. 

To that end, EZ-Link worked with media partners to create content that was curated to the needs and lifestyles of the sandwich generation. The content would also show how the app would allow them to top-up their dependents’ cards with ease, and save them time. 

The campaign was successful as EZ-Link saw a 129% increase in average monthly active users for the Express Top-up feature during the period of the campaign. 

EZ-Link’s ability to look past just the riders to identify a small, yet crucial audience segment, and increase its usage by addressing this audience’s challenges, impressed the judges, and secured it the silver award for Government, Utility & Services at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s MobEx Awards 2021.

Challenge

For many children and senior citizens, who form the bulk of EZ-Link card users, card top-ups are managed by their caregivers. Commonly referred to as the sandwich generation, these caregivers face the challenge of juggling multiple family, work and personal responsibilities.

With both ageing parents and their own children to care for, time holds the highest value for the sandwich generation. They are often looking for ways to make everyday activities more frictionless and less time consuming – including ensuring their dependents’ concession cards have sufficient value for the daily commute.

As a product managed by TransitLink, public transport concession cards could only be topped-up at physical locations such as TransitLink ticket offices and GTMs. Caregivers were then left with no choice, but to travel to these locations just to top up their dependents’ EZ-Link cards, which took up their already scarce time. 

The pandemic was an added hassle, as everyone in Singapore was encouraged to stay at home as much as possible and reduce the need to be in public areas.

Recognising these challenges, and the opportunity for a better way to manage card top-ups, EZ-Link decided to develop a new Express Top-up feature on its EZ-Link app that would allow consumers to top-up and manage their EZ-Link cards from the convenience of their smartphones.

Strategy

First, EZ-Link had to develop and launch the Express Top-up feature on the EZ-Link app for card top-ups to provide users with a more seamless experience. It then had to change the long-standing impression of the sandwich generation and get them to switch to the new top-up method.

Many individuals in the sandwich generation grew up using a physical EZ-Link card, and had personally queued at GTMs and ticket offices to perform card top-ups. Hence, they held on to a sentimental version of EZ-Link, and were less aware of the new, digital and mobile-first innovations that had since been introduced.

For its target audience to switch to this new system for their dependents’ concession cards, they would have to download the EZ-Link app, set up an account, and register their dependents’ concession cards for Express Top-up.

However, with more than two million apps on Apple’s App Store and almost 3.5 million apps on Google’s Play Store in Q1 2021, competition for a spot on consumers’ smartphones was rife. EZ-Link had to ensure its newly enhanced app caught the attention of the sandwich generation audience segment the Express Top-up feature was designed to serve.

Recognising they may also be facing a financial burden, EZ-Link decided to build on the insight the sandwich generation are often on the lookout for ways to maximise their finances and time.

This brought about the “Cashback with Express Top-up” campaign. Launched to drive EZ-Link app downloads, and ultimately Express Top-up activations for EZ-Link card holders, the campaign adopted a two-pronged approach in addressing the target audience’s challenges and needs.

First, to incentivise consumers to download the EZ-Link app and lower their barrier to entry for a new mobile card top-up solution, cashback for top-ups made via the EZ-Link app’s Express Top-up feature were offered as part of the campaign.

Additionally, the convenience of being able to track transactions and top-ups of family members and their own EZ-Link cards, with just a few taps on their phone, was built into the campaign’s key message.

Execution

As people were at the heart of its campaign strategy, EZ-Link had to identify and understand the needs and user experience of its target audience – including the challenges and pain points they faced – so it could tailor and personalise its content accordingly. 

For instance, EZ-Link found that many working parents experience frustration and anxiety on a school night, if they do not know or are uncertain about whether their child’s concession EZ-Link card has sufficient funds for the journey to school the next day. 

Caregivers also have to juggle many practical considerations such as the additional time they need to allocate in the morning to top-up the cards at GTMs or ticket offices, or providing their children with a sensible amount of cash if they were to top-up at the stations themselves. 

EZ-Link developed a campaign that would speak to the hearts and minds of these consumers, and leveraged informative content to drive awareness about the Express Top-up function, and how it could alleviate their pain points as an innovative, mobile-first solution. 

To that end, EZ-Link focused on delivering content through mediums and platforms that its target audience were most likely to engage with.

As part of this, it partnered with a variety of content creators, including parenting media, lifestyle media and parenting influencers on Instagram to develop targeted story angles that spoke to specific motivations and barriers throughout its target audience’s consumer journey; which would establish EZ-Link as a digital brand that can meet their needs. 

The content was then delivered in different formats such as long-form editorials, videos, social media excerpts and blurbs, and even Telegram prompts. EZ-Link’s owned channels, including targeted app push notifications and EDM blasts, were also used to amplify the campaign message among the EZ-Link app’s existing user base. 

Beyond those marketing efforts, it was also crucial its new mobile-first solution delivered its promise of creating greater convenience to its target audience. Hence, EZ-Link’s product and technology teams worked to include the EZ-Link Wallet and DBS Paylah! as accepted sources of funds for Express Top-up on the EZ-Link app.

Additionally, the team built a new module on top of the existing top-up service to support the cashback campaign. Beyond tracking, validating and awarding users with cashback incentives whenever they perform a top-up using the Express Top-up feature, the module keeps track of the total number of top-ups based on the type of cards – such as EZ-Link adult cards and TransitLink concession cards – and the source of funds used such as debit and credit cards, Paylah! and the EZ-Link Wallet.

This allowed EZ-Link to validate if the top-ups met the campaign’s requirements; while also performing a deeper analysis of user behaviour that was needed to optimise the app’s UI and UX. 

Results

The Cashback with Express Top-up campaign was initially launched in March 2020. However, shortly after the campaign launched, Singapore entered into its Circuit Breaker period. With people stuck at home and daily commutes coming close to a complete halt, the campaign was put on hold and postponed to July 2020. 

Following the end of the Circuit Breaker period, EZ-Link resumed its marketing activities in July 2020 and consistently saw a month-on-month increase in the number of Express Top-up transactions, as well as the volume of top-up amounts. 

At the end of the 12-month campaign, EZ-Link saw a 129% increase in average monthly active users for the Express Top-up feature, from 2,518 to 5,760. In addition, the number of top-ups increased by 234%, from an average of 12,688 top-ups to 42,331 top-ups per month. 

At the same time, EZ-Link’s content pieces with The Smart Local saw more than 30,000 impressions, while its video with SGAG had over 406,000 impressions on Instagram. Additionally, its partnership with parenting influencers on Instagram garnered a total of over 60,000 impressions. 

As a result of the campaign, EZ-Link was able to raise awareness and drive increased adoption for its Express Top-up feature, proving it effective in addressing the needs of the sandwich generation.

It not only changed the long-standing impression of EZ-Link – from a traditional, legacy brand to one that is digital and mobile-first – but also consumers’ behaviour by getting them to switch to a new concession card top-up method.

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