Tourists on GrabChat!

Just over two years ago we introduced GrabChat, Southeast Asia’s first of its kind in-app messaging platform. Since then we’ve added all sorts of useful features to it. Auto-translated messages, the ability to send photos, and even voice messages! It’s been a great tool to facilitate smoother communications between our driver-partners and our passengers, and one group in particular has found it incredibly useful: tourists!

Now, we’ve analysed tourist data before, but we were curious about how GrabChat in particular has served this demographic. So we looked for interesting insights using sampled tourist chat data from Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia for the period of December 2018 to March 2019. That’s more than 3.7 million individual GrabChat messages sent by tourists! Here’s what we found.

Looking at the volume of the chats being transmitted per booking, we can see that the “chattiest” tourists are from East Timor, Nigeria, and Ukraine with averages of 6.0, 5.6, and 5.1 chats per booking respectively.

Then we wondered: if tourists from all over the world are talking this much to our driver-partners, how are they actually communicating if their mother-tongue is not the local language?

Need a Translator?

When we go to another country, we eat all the heavenly good food, fall in love with the culture, and admire the scenery. Language and communication barriers shouldn’t get in the way of all of that. That’s why Grab’s Chat feature has got it covered!

With Grab’s in-house translation solutions, any Grab passenger can send messages in their preferred language without fear of being misunderstood - or not understood at all! Their messages will be automatically translated into Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Simplified Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese depending on where they are. This applies not only apply to Grab’s transport services- GrabChat can be used when ordering GrabFood too!

Indonesia saw the highest usage of translations on a by-booking basis!

Let’s look deeper into the tourist translation statistics for each country with the donut charts below. We can see that the most popular translation route for tourists in Indonesia was from English to Indonesian. The story is different for Singapore and Malaysia: we can see that there are translations to and from a more diverse set of languages, reflecting a more multicultural demographic.

The most popular translation routes for tourist bookings in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Tap for Templates!

GrabChat also provides a chat template feature. Templates are prewritten messages that you can send with just one tap! Did we mention that they are translated automatically too? Passengers and drivers can have a fast, simple, and translated conversation with each other without typing a single word- and sometimes, templates are really all you need.

Examples of chat templates, as they appear in GrabChat!

As if all this wasn’t convenient enough, you can also make your own custom templates! Use them for those repetitive, identical messages you always seem to be sending out like telling your drivers where the hotel lobby is, or how to navigate right to your doorstep, or even to send a quick description of what you look like to make it easier for a driver to find you!

Taking a look at individual country data, tourists in Indonesia used templates the most with almost 60% of all of them using a template in their conversations at least once. Malaysia and Singapore saw lower but still sizeable utilisation rates of this feature, at 53% and 33% respectively.

Indonesia saw the highest usage of templates on a by-booking basis.

In our analysis, we found an interesting insight! There was a positive correlation between template usage and the success rate of rides. Overall, bookings that used templates in their conversations saw 10% more completions over bookings that didn’t.

Picture This: a Hassle-free Experience

A picture says a thousand words, and for tourists using GrabChat’s image feature, those thousand words don’t even need to be translated. Instead of typing out a description of where they are standing for pickup, they can just click, snap, and send an image!

Our data revealed that GrabChat’s image functionality is most frequently used in areas where the tourist traffic is the highest. In fact, image function in GrabChat saw the most use in pickup areas such as airports, large shopping malls, public transport stations, and hotels, because it was harder for drivers to find their passengers in these crowded areas. Even with our super convenient Entrances feature, every little bit of information goes a long way to help your driver find you!

If we take it a step further and look at the actual areas within the cities where images were sent the most, we see that our initial hypothesis still holds fast.

The top 5 pickup areas per country in which images were the most prevalent in GrabChat (for tourists).

In Singapore, we see the most images being sent out at the Downtown Core area - this area contains the majestic Marina Bay Sands, the Merlion statue, and the Esplanade, amongst other iconic attractions.

In Malaysia, the highest image usage occurs at none other than the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) itself. This area includes the Twin Towers, a plethora of malls and hotels, Bukit Bintang (a bustling and lively night-life zone), and even an aquarium.

Indonesia’s top location for image chats is Kuta. A beach village in Bali, Kuta is a tourist hotspot with surfing, water parks, bars, budget-friendly yet delicious food, and numerous cultural attractions.

Speak Up!

Allowing for two-way communication via GrabChat empowers both passengers and drivers to improve their journeys by divulging useful information, and asking clarifying questions: how many bags do you have? Does your car accommodate my pet dog? I’m standing by the lobby with my two kids- these are the sorts of things that are talked about in GrabChat messages.

During the analysis of our multitudes of wide-ranging GrabChat conversations, we picked up some pro-tips for you to get a Grab ride with even more convenience and ease, whether you’re a tourist or not:

Tip #1: Did Some Shopping on Your Trip? Swamped with Bags? Send a Message to Your Driver to Let Them Know How Many Pieces of Luggage You Have with You.

As one might expect, chats that have keywords such as “luggage” or “baggage” (or any other related term) occur the most when riders are going to, or leaving, an airport. Most of the tourists on GrabChat asked the drivers if there was space for all of their things in the car. Interestingly, some of them also told the drivers how to recognise them for pickup based off of the descriptions of their bags!

Tip #2: Your Children Make Good Landmarks! If You’re in a Crowded Spot and You’re Worried Your Driver Can’t Find You, Drop Them a Message to Let Them Know You’re that Family with a Baby and a Little Girl in Pigtails.

When it comes to children, we found that passengers mainly use them to help identify themselves to the driver. Messages like “I’m with my two kids” or “We are a family with a baby” came up numerous times, and served as descriptions to facilitate fast pickup. These sorts of chats were the most prevalent in crowded areas like airports and shopping centres.

Tip #3: Don’t Get Caught Off Guard - Be Sure Your Furry Friends Have a Seat!

Taking a look at pet related chats, we learned that our tourists have used GrabChat to ask clarifying questions to the driver. Passengers have likely considered that not every driver or vehicle is accommodating towards animals. The most common type of message was about whether pets are allowed in the vehicle. For example: “Is it okay if I bring a puppy?” or “I have a dog with me in a carrier, is that alright?”. Better safe than sorry! Alternatively, if you’re travelling with a pet, why not see if GrabPet is available in your country?

From the chat content analysis we have learned that tourists do indeed use GrabChat to talk to their drivers about specific details of their trip. We see that the chat feature is an invaluable tool that anyone can use to clear up any ambiguities and make their journeys more pleasant.