How to get more taxi customers: channels and customer loyalty

To get more taxi customers you need to combine several channels (the street and ranks, a dispatch or radio taxi service, apps and direct bookings by phone or WhatsApp), make yourself easy to find online, look for repeat customers such as businesses and hotels and, above all, build loyalty among those who have already travelled with you through punctuality and good service. Because fares are official, the competition is not on price but on availability, trust and how easy it is to book.

This guide is aimed at self-employed taxi drivers and small taxi services. The aim is not just to do more fares, but to cut the hours spent driving empty, which are what eat into your margin; we explain it with numbers in making a living with a taxi.

No channel is enough on its own. The drivers who do best combine them depending on the time and the day.

When someone needs a taxi for five o’clock tomorrow morning, they search on their phone and pick the first one that inspires confidence. The basics for being there:

• A Google Business Profile with your phone number, real opening hours and service area, and customer reviews answered politely.
• A simple website that says what you do, where and at what price, with a button to call or book.
• Convenient channels: many customers prefer to write rather than call, which is why being able to book a taxi on WhatsApp works so well.
• Clear prices for the most requested journeys, such as airport trips. A fixed price visible before booking, like the €33 from inside the M-30, removes the customer’s main doubt.

Winning a new customer costs much more than keeping one. What makes someone call you again:

• Punctuality on booked jobs, without exception.
• Memorable service: smooth driving, help with luggage and discretion. We go through every moment of the journey in how to improve the customer experience in a taxi.
• A card or a contact at the end of the trip, so they know how to book next time.
• Remembering their preferences: the time they usually leave for the airport, whether they travel with a child seat or need an invoice.
• Easy payment: card, cash and, for businesses, tidy invoicing.

Specialised services attract customers who are not looking for “just any taxi”:

• Airport: early-morning departures and pickups with a flight number. A customer who books their transfer to Barajas once usually comes back.
• Businesses: trips for executives, visits and trade fairs, with a monthly invoice. We explain it in airport taxi service for businesses.
• Groups and families: a 7-seater taxi handles journeys that would otherwise need two cars.
• Accessibility: adapted vehicles and drivers trained to assist people with reduced mobility.

• Touting for customers away from the rank in the arrivals areas of the airport or stations. As well as being bad practice, it is the method used by the fake taxis we describe in pirate taxi drivers at Barajas.
• Promising what you cannot deliver: a pickup at an impossible time guarantees a bad review.
• Charging outside the fare: fares are official and any improper charge destroys trust.
• Neglecting bookings: an unanswered phone or a message left without a reply for hours is a customer who books with someone else and probably will not come back.

From the passenger’s side, all of this comes down to something very simple: knowing they can book their airport taxi in advance, knowing the price before confirming and finding the driver at the agreed time.