Case study: How 100+ drivers informed Uber Pro launch

The challenge: launching a new Rewards program

In November 2018, Uber launched Uber Pro, a Rewards program aiming to recognize drivers’ quality and commitment. This case study describes the research program we executed to validate the program impact on drivers and the Uber business.

The program definition was informed by a global discovery research that uncovered the drivers’ needs and aspirations. Alongside with program definition, we conducted a series of evaluative research work to ensure Uber Pro’s product-market fit and determine the essentials of the program: a tiering system, the categories of rewards and the mechanisms to access those rewards.

For the first time in Uber’s history, the program was fully integrated into the driver app, spread across more than 30 screens. The team knew that gathering early feedback from drivers in different tier-levels would help us learn and iterate the MVP quickly.

Planning a collective research approach

We started with a Beta launch in the US and its results determined how and whether the program would scale globally. We combined large-scale A/B testing experiments with a research to inform the ‘what’, the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of questions like:

• Would drivers become aware and understand the program?
• Which rewards are perceived as valuable? Are they motivating enough to change drivers’ behaviors?
• Are the qualifying criteria (quality and engagement) fair and inclusive to all drivers?
• Which driver segments would show best results and why?
• How would the market size influence all this?
• What needs to be iterated?
• Should we expand the program to 100% of the drivers and to global markets?

As the Global UX Research Lead, I put together a research plan that involved qualitative and quantitative methods. But more important than the chosen methods was the research approach and scope. The Beta markets had a very different size (i.e. Chicago is 10 times bigger than Orlando), the drivers in these markets engage with the platform very differently…