Creativity + Innovation: How I used a gambling algorithm to shift a community model
Earlier last year, I was working with a tech start-up, similar to an Uber Eats app.
At the time the app was largely based around a shift work model, kind of a job posting platform — Stores who required delivery couriers could access the app to create shifts — the couriers who had their own account could apply for the shifts — the stores would confirm the couriers they needed.
Stores gained access to a fluid talent pool and Couriers had access to shift work.
At the time of my hiring, the company wanted to move towards a more fluid model, called “Roaming”: similar to what we observe with Uber et al…couriers aren’t booked for any set shifts, instead they float around waiting for individual orders to pop up and be assigned to them.
The puzzle put to me by the CEO within my first week was: “get the drivers off Shifts and onto Roaming”. Initial impressions were ‘easier said than done’ but then, I do like a challenge.
A few questions first… When do we need a result?
ASAP. (It’s always asap).
Do we have any budget?
No.
The way in which the app tracks orders and courier behaviour, do we have any flexibility with this?
No.
Do you understand that what you’re asking for is actually a cultural shift?
The kind of courier attracted to shift work (the majority of our contractors) differs from the kind that would be attracted to Roaming. Attempting to shift a culture from one position to another, is a slow moving snowball?
I want solutions, not excuses.
Ok.
- No budget.
- Immediate timeframe.
- No tech.
- (No support)
- And whatever result I came up with would have to be scalable for the 5,000+ contractors we had operating nationwide.
Here’s what I came up with the following day.
I identified that simply incentivising contractors to ‘try Roaming’ would be insufficient; if couriers switched over or tried it for the first time, and there were insufficient orders to keep them engaged, it would ‘burn’ the experience for them.
Not only would they disengage, but it would burn our word of mouth advertising as well, which at the time, was our key recruiting tool.
So the incentive had to entice the courier to try Roaming, be reasonable enough to keep them there and also reward them for committing to ‘the risk’.
What I devised was reward based incentive, somewhat similar to a gambling algorithm.
Imagine a Pie. The Pie is worth $Y. Every courier that delivers X amount of deliveries on Roaming within, say, seven days, will win the Pie.
It was a unique initiative, focused on rewarding the community for their loyalty to us; they would collect their fee for every completed delivery and in addition every order they completed would count towards the Pie.
It also happened to be at a time where a competitor had recently gone out of business and others were being audited for exploiting workers over wage costs.
With a little bit of promotion via social channels (all free) we could advertise our initiative and drive the community to this new incentive.
Tracking basic analytics, we could assess the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ to offer a reasonable reward, eg: the number of deliveries within an average week vs. the ratio of couriers to deliveries.
But like all gambling algorithms, the magic is in the math.
The more Couriers you push to Roaming, the more competition you create for the Pie, the less likely the possibility of any one Courier achieving X amount of deliveries.
In theory, Y could equal $1,000 or $1,000,000, with the right analytics and marketing, you would never need to pay it out.
As the company expanded, and more Stores are brought on to the platform, we could scale the Pie accordingly.
As we branch into new States, these regions could receive their own Pie. In turn, Couriers would be completing deliveries on time — Stores are happy. Couriers are completing more deliveries — Couriers are happy. Couriers are prioritising our deliveries over competing apps because they know they will be rewarded.
Company achieves greater Store and Courier satisfaction for zero expense. If a Courier does win the Pie… it becomes the golden promotional tool. Who doesn’t love a lottery winner? It proves I can win it too! Couriers talk, word of mouth was our most effective recruiting tool, they bring in more friends to compete for the Pie.
A solution:
- Scalable.
- Effective.
- No tech changes required.
- Distinct point of difference vs. competitors (nobody is doing it or, to my knowledge, has employed this strategy).
- Zero cost.
An atypical solution delivered within one day.
All that was required was a creative, lateral approach to a complex problem.
The Rebel Creative; Author, Speaker and Founder of Applied Creativity, Christopher. S. Sellers is a foremost leader on creativity and innovation — www.cssellers.com
