LinktGO Mobile Tolling Solution

Historically, toll payment options have been business- rather than customer-centric. We resolved to put customer first. Taking a human-centred design approach, we started with desirability, conducting quantitative and qualitative research. Insights informed a working proof of concept developed in just six weeks in partnership with ARQ, application design and UX experts. Next, concurrent to performing system usability tests, we rapidly released a beta to 1,200 users to gather data and feedback from real customers.

LinktGO was fully released as an MVP with a feedback function embedded, providing a continuous loop for improvement driven by those who matter most – customers.

LinktGO has been received positively by customers:

* Rated 4.5/5 and 4.1/5, respectively, in the Google Play and App stores
* NPS of +40, where most industry scores are negative
* LinktGO customers have taken 220,000+ trips

LinktGO has contributed to Transurban’s customer acquisition objective with 65,000+ downloads to date. Rather than cannibalising Transurban’s existing customer base, LinktGO has grown the pie, attracting drivers who previously used toll roads without arrangement. These drivers were previously receiving toll notices with hefty fees attached. LinktGO helps them avoid such extra costs.

LinktGO has been recognised via awards from Good Design, DRIVENxDESIGN and Customer Experience Excellence.

The success of LinktGO through the use of a human-centred design approach has bolstered the influence of design in the company.

All new initiatives start with desirability, doing customer research with a focus on emphathising with the customer. The business is now more comfortable with iterating by leveraging a continuous feedback loop.

In an organisation where design talent wasn’t considered a core internal competency, there is now new investment in hiring design talent and sharing the principles of design thinking via formal training at all levels.

LinktGO is a world-first innovation that shifts the paradigm in how customers pay for tolls: it replaces the physical tag with an app. A wholly digital experience, LinktGO uses a smartphone – something everyone has in their pocket – to create a real-time tolling experience. LinktGO puts the customer first, offering a “no account feeling” to those who don’t want a relationship but could benefit from one.

Customers were demanding a more immediate experience, which existing business systems couldn’t support. Leveraging a smartphone’s GPS coupled with geo-fencing technology, we virtualised the physical tolling infrastructure to develop the world’s first tolling app to offer real time updates.

Infrequent drivers’ needs presented several challenges and corresponding solutions:

• Provide clarity to customers unfamiliar with toll payments
• Designed an easy-to-use, intuitive app, in both user interface and messaging
• Serve personalised in-app hints to help give customers a frictionless experience

Accurately track travel

• Used geo-fencing and partnered with Bluedot, experts in high-accuracy location services

Preserve battery life

• Bluedot’s proprietary technology allowed us to deliver high accuracy tolling without battery drain

Promote safety

• Developed world-first features to support safe driving, including safety warnings and silencing notifications if the app detects the user is driving