Go-Jek boss: we’ve got the secret to converting users from cash to digital payments

Nadiem Makarim on stage at Tech in Asia Jakarta 2016.

“Go-Jek never saw itself as a ride-hailing app. Maybe in the beginning, but we’re so beyond that now,” says Nadiem Makarim.

The CEO of Indonesia’s first official startup unicorn says his company is entering a new level of maturity. He was interviewed today by Tech in Asia’s David Corbin at TIA Jakarta 2016.

GoPay is the game-changer

It’s been adding new services to its on-demand empire. Go-Med lets you have medicine delivered to you within an hour, Go-Pulsa is for topping up phone minutes.

The one new feature Nadiem is most excited about, however, is GoPay – Go-Jek’s electronic payment system.

It’s been available for a while, but a recent campaign successfully drove usage to a tipping point: “In a few days there will be more Go-Pay than non-Go-Pay transactions,” Nadiem says.

“I can’t think of any platform that moved everyone from cash to digital money so fast.”

What’s the secret?

Within a few days, there will be more Go-Pay than non-Go-Pay transactions.

“Obviously, we’re giving you great discounts,” Nadiem grins. But what really made the difference, he says, was coming up with a process that makes it as smooth as possible for newcomers.

This is how it works. Whenever you pay for a ride or service in cash, the Go-Jek driver will ask you if you want to store the change in the form of Go-Pay for future use. If you agree, the driver gets a bonus and you get discounts on your upcoming rides.

“We call this little thing ‘cash top-up on driver.’ We have hundreds of thousands of drivers who become our points of sale,” Nadiem says. “Once you’ve done it, you never wanna go back to cash.”

He didn’t share the current active user base for Go-Pay, but said the startup currently counts 100 million cumulative transactions. “And these are completed, paid orders.”

An edge over Uber and Grab