To enhance the taxi-hiring experience in Dubai, a local customer experience specialist analyzed two years of taxi rider complaints to develop a user-friendly app.
Rodrigo de Mingo, the Chief of User Experience at Dubai Municipality, reviewed over 2,200 complaints, took taxis, and interviewed both drivers and passengers to improve the S’hail app during his previous role.
“Our primary goal in the research phase was to gather user feedback and identify their challenges,” he explained. Rodrigo collected data from the Customer Experience (CX) Lab, Apple store, Google Play store, and customer satisfaction meetings. When his car broke down during the study, he took over 18 taxis to speak with every driver, identifying pain points firsthand.
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Speaking at the CX Evolve event by Khaleej Times, Rodrigo showcased how businesses can leverage customer insights to enhance services, foster loyalty, and boost revenue.
He emphasized the necessity of experiencing issues personally. “Many at the CX lab are confined to their desks, missing out on genuine feedback and emotions from users facing these issues,” he noted.
Challenges
Rodrigo devised a system to manage the large volume of complaints efficiently. “With over 2,000 complaints, individual resolution isn’t feasible,” he said. “I ranked keywords, grouped feedback, and identified patterns.”
He found that the most frequent issue, affecting 88% of users, was taxis not arriving. “I dissected each complaint,” he stated. “Every complaint reflects a real user concern. My task was to uncover the true issue by interviewing each one.”
Other problems included inadequate payment options, lack of live updates, and communication hurdles with drivers. Using techniques like affinity mapping and sentiment analysis, he tackled these pain points.
“We combined a traditional design with modern features, allowing users to select taxi types, view trip durations, and leave driver notes,” he shared. During this process, he also identified unmet needs such as child seat requests, pet transport, and accessibility challenges.
