Case study: How does a bike-share navigate speedy success?

In this case study, I took on the role of a junior data analyst working on the marketing analyst team at Cyclistic, a fictional bike share company based in Chicago.

Characters and teams:

• Cyclistic: a bike share program that features more than 5,800 bicycles and 600 docking stations. It stands out by offering reclining bikes, hand tricycles, and cargo bikes, making bike share more inclusive to people with disabilities and riders who cannot use a standard two-wheeled bike. While the majority of riders choose traditional bikes, about 8 percent of them use the assistive options. Cyclistic users are more likely to ride for leisure, though about 30 percent use the bikes to commute to work each day.
• Lily Moreno: the director of marketing and also my manager. She is responsible for developing campaigns and initiatives to promote the bike share program. These may include channels such as email, social media, and more.
• Cyclistic marketing analytics team: This is the team of data analysts I work with. We are responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data that helps guide Cyclistic’s marketing strategy. I joined this team six months ago and have been actively learning about Cyclistic’s mission and business goals—as well as how I, as a junior data analyst, can contribute to achieving them.
• Cyclistic executive team: This is the detail-oriented executive team that will ultimately decide whether to approve our recommended marketing program.
• Customers who purchase single-ride or full-day passes are referred to as casual riders.
• Customers who purchase annual memberships are Cyclistic members.

Cyclistic’s finance analysts have concluded that annual membersare much more profitable than casual riders. Although the pricing flexibility helps Cyclistic attract more customers, Moreno believes that maximizing the number of annual members will be key to future growth. Rather than creating a marketing campaign that targets all-new customers, Moreno believes there is a solid opportunity to convert casual riders into members . She notes that casual riders are already aware of the Cyclistic program and have chosen Cyclistic for their mobility needs.

Moreno has set a clear goal: Design marketing strategies aimed at converting casual riders into annual members. In order to do that, however, the team needs to better understand: how annual members and casual riders differ, why casual riders would buy a membership, and how digital media could affect their marketing tactics. As a result, the team identified three guiding questions for the future marketing program:

Three questions will guide the future marketing program:

1. How do annual member and casual riders use Cyclistic bikes differently?
2. Why would casual riders buy Cyclistic annual memberships?
3. How can Cyclistic use digital media to influence casual riders to become members?

Moreno and her team are interested in analyzing the Cyclistic historical bike trip data to identify trends. To kick off the analysis, Moreno assigned me, a junior data analyst on the marketing analytics team, the responsibility to investigate the first question.

To answer the question "How do annual members and casual riders use Cyclisticbikes differently?" assigned by Moreno, I followed the six-step data analysis process: