How WeWard help their users explore the world with Booking.com

Hi both – can you start by telling us a bit about yourselves?

Yves: I'm Yves, the Co-founder and CEO at WeWard – a mobile app that rewards people for walking. 

It uses social and gaming features, as well as reward points that users can donate to charity, give as a gift or send as cash directly to their own bank account.

Marie-Charlotte: I'm Marie-Charlotte, I’ve been working at WeWard for three years now and I'm VP of Revenue. 

How do you currently partner with Booking.com? 

Marie-Charlotte: In addition to walking, users can gain reward points with WeWard by making purchases through our partners – such as Booking.com.

That means we give Booking.com visibility on our app and users can book their trip while gaining more of those reward points.

What user behaviours or trends are you noticing on the app at the moment?

Marie-Charlotte: We know that our users often travel as a couple, so the most common  trips are for one bedroom with two people. 

It also tends to be more city trips, and often quite local trips, usually for two or three days.

What are the most important channels you're using to attract new users?

Yves: We currently have 20 million users from across Europe, brought into the app via a combination of social media marketing, influencer marketing and through working with press agencies.

As for promoting our partnership with Booking.com, we do a lot to display it to our community through in-app messaging as well as email marketing.  

Do you see our partnership as a successful incentive for users?

Yves: Definitely! The partnership with Booking.com is a great success for us. 

It's a good way to improve the user experience even further, and to give our users rewards for booking through us. Plus, it’s a great partnership in terms of both revenue and as a lead-acquisition channel. 

How do you drive customer loyalty with your app? 

Marie-Charlotte: We drive customer loyalty by offering a seamless experience, from both a UX and a technical perspective.

It’s also important to know who users are so that we can suggest the most appropriate offers. That means there’s a lot of analytics behind the scenes to track engagement – such as when someone connects, and how long they stay. But there’s also the information they give us – such as their gender or age. We're always looking at the best ways to merge the two datasets so we can offer each customer the best message for them. 

And of course, customer support is really important. Our after-sale service is something that really drives loyalty. 

What is the most interesting development in tech you've seen this year? 

Yves: I’d say Booking.com’s products – in particular the app experience – is something that our users really appreciate. 

Our co-branded mobile app is a new feature for this year, and I think it’s going to make a real difference.

What are the benefits of co-branding in your opinion? 

Yves: It comes back to that seamless experience. Users feel like the experience continues organically from the WeWard app to the co-branded mobile app. That means they feel recognised as they move from one app to the other.

Done right, this increases the user experience – and the conversion rate.

Are there any upcoming developments you’re looking forward to? 

Yves: We’re very interested in Booking.com’s Connected Trip. We see this as a different solution we can provide to our users to really help them explore the world – especially by walking! 

We’re also excited about the new things we’re developing with Booking.com, especially the voucher programme where we will be able to let our users convert their reward points straight into vouchers to be used on their next trip.

We’re keen to continue promoting our partnership, offering that seamless experience and helping people travel and explore new cities.

Ready to follow in WeWard’s footsteps and look into becoming a Booking.com affiliate? 

Find out more