FREENOW and Phrase Shift Gears Towards Worldwide Mobility
Founded in 2009 in Hamburg, Germany, as mytaxi, FREENOW has grown into a Mobility Super App. With its roots deeply embedded in the taxi industry, FREENOW aggregates numerous mobility brands to give users across Europe access to all types of mobility services within a single app. These services include taxis, PHV (Private Hire Vehicles), carsharing, eScooters, eBikes, eMopeds, and public transport. From its inception, FREENOW has been focused on revolutionizing urban mobility, aiming to make it more efficient and sustainable by providing alternatives that reduce the number of vehicles on the road. The overarching goal of FREENOW is to simplify urban living by offering diverse mobility solutions that set people free.
Led by CEO Thomas Zimmermann and backed by the BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility, FREENOW employs over 1,000 people in more than 26 offices. The app is available in nine European markets and over 150 cities.
Challenge
Streamlining Localization to Fuel FREENOW’s Growth
With the goal of transforming urban mobility globally, FREENOW needed to ensure its app and services were accessible and user-friendly across various languages and cultures. The lack of a streamlined localization process led to inconsistent user experiences and hindered the timely introduction of new features. This fragmentation had a direct impact on FREENOW’s ability to scale and maintain competitiveness in the fast-evolving mobility market.
FREENOW’s challenge was to find a translation and localization solution to support its growing business needs.
Solution
Scaling at Speed with Phrase
FREENOW hired Ilinca Mustatea as its first Localization Manager to optimize its localization processes and operations. “Localization is a crucial aspect of our strategy,” Ilinca says. “Though it operates behind the scenes, it’s essential for reaching the vast majority of our users.”
FREENOW’s strategic deployment of the Phrase Localization Platform streamlined localization of its app and marketing content, enabling the company to:
- Centralize and Simplify Localization Workflows: Expanding the use of Phrase eliminated inefficiencies, standardizing processes across the organization.
- Elevate Translation Quality: Utilizing Phrase’s comprehensive toolset ensured higher translation accuracy, directly enhancing the end-user experience.
- Accelerate Market Responsiveness: The agility of the Phrase Platform facilitated quicker adaptation to new languages and markets, supporting FREENOW’s growth objectives.
Although English is spoken in all countries where FREENOW operates, most users prefer to use the app in their local language. “That means, without the support of Phrase, we wouldn’t have the same reach ,” Ilinca says.
Measurable Success
Why Phrase?
Phrase has fundamentally transformed FREENOW’s approach to translation and localization, offering a suite of benefits. This has been pivotal in streamlining operations, enhancing user satisfaction, and driving success in a competitive marketplace.
“Launching the driver app in Turkish took us under a month from project start to the end. The whole process ran pretty smoothly thanks to Phrase.”
Ilinca Mustatea
Localization Manager
FREENOW
- Centralized Management: Phrase centralized FREENOW’s localization, eliminating fragmented workflows, and enabling cohesive content management across languages and regions. This streamlined approach reduces complexity and increases efficiency.
- Cultural Precision: Phrase’s precision in ensuring culturally relevant translations has significantly boosted user engagement, with the majority of users preferring their native language interface. This tailored experience has strengthened FREENOW’s market presence.
- Accelerated Expansion: With Phrase, FREENOW rapidly adapts its services for new markets, enhancing its scalability and flexibility. This capability is crucial for swift market entry and competitiveness.
- Enhanced Quality: The platform’s features, like global templates, ensure consistency and accuracy in translations, improving the app’s quality and user experience. This attention to detail fosters user trust and loyalty.
- Operational Excellence: Phrase promotes a culture of innovation at FREENOW, optimizing localization processes for peak operational efficiency. This ensures FREENOW remains a leader in mobility services, ready to meet evolving global demands.
Benefits
Driving Quality, Speed, and Customer Satisfaction
FREENOW’s adoption of Phrase has been a game-changer in its global operations, significantly enhancing its approach to localization and customer engagement. This strategic move has yielded tangible benefits, streamlining processes and reinforcing FREENOW’s competitive edge in the mobility services market.
“The integration of Phrase into our localization processes has been a game-changer, allowing us to meet our launch deadlines consistently and improve customer experience.”
Ilinca Mustatea
Localization Manager
FREENOW
- Improved Speed to Market: Achieving 100% of launch deadlines is a testament to FREENOW’s enhanced operational efficiency through Phrase. This milestone ensures that FREENOW consistently delivers timely updates and feature releases, maintaining a competitive edge by swiftly responding to market demands and customer expectations.
- Consistent Customer Experiences: The use of global templates in Phrase, has resulted in a 97% reduction in project template variants, exemplifying strategic project management optimization. By reducing the number of templates from over 80 to a manageable few, FREENOW has significantly simplified its localization workflow. This consolidation has minimized the risk of errors and inconsistencies, leading to more reliable and uniform product experiences across markets.
- Increased Customer Engagement and Satisfaction: Phrase’s ability to facilitate accurate and culturally relevant localization has directly impacted user engagement, with over 60-70% of users in most markets expressing a preference for using the app in their native language. This enhancement in user experience underscores FREENOW’s commitment to customer satisfaction, fostering loyalty and increasing app usage rates among its diverse user base.
These strategic business benefits highlight FREENOW’s successful leveraging of Phrase to redefine its localization strategy, resulting in improved market responsiveness, streamlined operations, and increased customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
FREENOW and Phrase: Steering Towards Business Excellence
FREENOW’s collaboration with Phrase has delivered substantial business benefits, evidenced by improved user satisfaction, operational efficiencies, and its ability to scale. These advancements are underpinned by solid statistical gains, illustrating the tangible impact of effective localization strategies on global mobility services. As FREENOW continues to innovate in the mobility space, the scalability and flexibility offered by Phrase will remain integral to its mission of making urban transportation accessible to all.
Thanks to Phrase and our revolutionized localization strategy, we’ve not only accelerated our market expansion but also significantly improved customer satisfaction and the usability of our app. This strategic shift has empowered us to deliver a seamless, culturally resonant user experience across diverse markets, enhancing our competitive edge and solidifying our commitment to accessible mobility solutions worldwide.
