Context & challenge: Orchestrate the Go-to-market strategy of Train in Spain

BlaBlaCar is the world's leading carpooling platform, with 100M+ members and operating in over 22 countries. After successfully integrating buses alongside carpooling in markets like France, Brazil, and Eastern Europe, the company next step was to integrate a third supply: Trains.

Spain, one of the biggest markets of BlaBlaCar, was chosen as the launch pad for this new offer. The objective was clear: progressively roll out train bookings during the summer of 2024, test the product with early adopters, and start generating traction.

This meant building a go-to-market strategy that:

1. Leveraged BlaBlaCar’s existing user base to generate bookings from day one.

2. Unified Product, Marketing, and Brand efforts to create a cohesive experience for users.

3. Established a foundation for sustainable growth, all while working within tight resource constraints.

My role was to lead the GTM strategy orchestration. Working as part of the Western Europe growth team, I collaborated with several teams to align messaging, product touchpoints, and long-term growth strategies for a successful launch.

The approach: Build a go-to-market strategy based on owned channels to start generating train bookings organically

Step 1: Crafting the messaging and value proposition

The first step of the go-to-market strategy was to define the messaging and value proposition for BlaBlaCar’s train offering. We needed a strong claim to differentiate from competitors like Trainline or Omio. Working closely with the Brand and Marketing teams, we developed a narrative that positioned trains as an integral part of BlaBlaCar’s multimodal platform.

The messaging focused on three key value points:

• One app for all your travel needs: Centralize all your bookings—carpooling and train—in one app.

• No extra fees: Book your train tickets without any additional charges, offering full transparency.

• Find your best journey: Compare train ticket prices with carpooling options and choose the solution that best fits your needs.

This messaging served as the backbone for the entire GTM strategy and was adapted for each owned channel to ensure consistency and clarity.

Step 2: Generate bookings through CRM, Product Touchpoints, and SEO

To start generating train bookings in Spain, the go-to-market strategy I designed focused on leveraging BlaBlaCar’s owned and organic channels. The goal was to generate traction quickly and cost-effectively while progressively expanding the rollout.

1. CRM Communications: Targeted, then scaled

We began first by segmenting and targeting a small subset of BlaBlaCar’s user base, focusing on the users who were most likely to benefit from train bookings:

• Members who had previously booked a carpool on an axis where we launched train, like Madrid-Barcelona.

• Most active members in regions where train lines were first launched.

The CRM strategy was leveraging different mediums: push notifications, emails, and in-app messages. We decided to progressively tease and introduce the new train option, starting with high-value members, before scaling to a broader audience.

2. In-app and website touchpoints: Highlighting the train offering in-product

This phase required close collaboration with Product Marketing to ensure the messaging was seamlessly integrated into the user experience. The goal was to make the train offering both visible and easy to discover.

• Search results: Train options appeared alongside carpooling results for the routes where the train was available as an option, making the offer multimodal.

• In-app fullscreen: A fullscreen triggered to a part of BlaBlaCar's passengers to announce the train launch when they launched the app.

• Dedicated train homepage: A new train-specific landing page was created to properly present the benefits of booking a train on BlaBlaCar.

These product touchpoints ensured that users could easily discover and explore the train service during their journey planning.

3. SEO landing pages: leveraging BlaBlaCar's strong SEO authority

BlaBlaCar already had a strong SEO reputation in Spain, thanks to all the work done on carpool. With a dedicated SEO team in-house, launching dedicated landing pages was a no-brainer. The GTM strategy was focusing on rolling out the following page typologies:

• Most popular Route-specific pages: For example, “Train Madrid-Barcelona” and “Train Valencia-Seville,” optimized to rank for high-intent keywords. We built it with a programmatic approach, inspired from the work done on buses landing pages in other countries.

• Train companies pages: Dedicated pages for each train company selling train tickets on BlaBlaCar.

• Homepage for train bookings: A central page capturing broader traffic, presenting the offer, and guiding users toward relevant routes.

The SEO effort laid the groundwork for long-term traffic growth and positioning BlaBlaCar as a multimodal leader in the Spanish market.

Results: A scalable launch with the foundation for long-term success

This project was successfully launched with all key components in place. The owned-channel approach ensured:

1. Effective targeting: The phased rollout leveraging BlaBlaCar’s existing user base, starting with high-intent audiences and progressively expanding reach, helped kickstart the growth engine by generating the first bookings.

2. Visibility and discoverability: The train offer and value proposition were integrated into the app and website, with dedicated touchpoints for good discoverability.

3. Strong growth potential: The SEO strategy provided a solid foundation for ongoing traffic growth, with pages targeting high-value keywords ready to scale. A second phase of the GTM strategy includes broader communications to scale the train supply.

By aligning messaging, product touchpoints, and SEO efforts, I ensured the successful launch of BlaBlaCar’s train offering in Spain, setting the stage for multimodal growth and long-term success.