1 in 2 Western students use Tilt.
Over 9,500 Western students already love and use the app for things like group dinners, parties, fundraisers, group trips, and concerts. So, in case you missed it, Tilt has a game-changing new feature in the app. You can now easily pay or request money from friends and family! It’s perfect for drinks, bills, ride-sharing, and more. Plus, it’s completely FREE to use (say goodbye to those $1.50 e-transfer fees).
Robyn Ross, Tilt’s Country Manager of Canada, not only uses the app on a personal level but she says the company uses their own application daily. “My favourite usage is definitely when it’s someone’s birthday in the office,” she said. “We send out a campaign across all the offices in San Francisco, London, and even Australia to buy someone a bigger gift that we all chip in on.”
Tilt’s growth as a company continuously comes from its user’s voices and opinions. “The users are what shapes where our product is going in the future,” said Ross.
Originally when Tilt first came to Canada in 2014, its prime focus was on collecting money as groups. However, they began to analyse how people were using the product, and Canadian students, in particular were using it more to collect small amounts of money, like splitting a pizza with their friends.
“So really it was our Canadian students that helped shaped the product to the peer to peer transfer system,” said Ross.
Ross further explained their new feature to the app of a one to one money transfer is “like a modern e-transfer. E-transfers have been around for 10 years without any changes. Tilt offers the exact same thing, but free, so it’s that much better!”
Individuals often don’t realise how much money adds up for the charge of e-transfers. “Especially for students it can make a really big difference,” said Ross. “It’s crazy when you add up how many students use e-transfer on a regular basis.”
The e-transfer is extremely easy to use. You click on the pay feature, type in the amount of money you want to send, type in the person’s name or number. The app will then send them a notification on the app, or a text, and they can accept the money right then and there.
Students are currently the largest demographic using Tilt. They are early adopters of new technology, socially inclined and constantly organising and collaborating with their social network. This is why the spread across universities in Canada is a main asset to raising awareness of the app.
They have a lot of ambassadors at schools in Ontario, specifically Western and Queens. Over the past two year it has taken off at Western immensely. “We ended up working with some really incredible students,” said Ross. “The talent is very strong, specifically in Ivey, but since the take-off we’ve expanded outside the business school and found incredible students who are looking for start-up experience and are passionate about working in business.”
In the last month, Western’s Tilt usage by students actually surpassed Queen’s University, which used to be the biggest contributor school. This is all thanks to Western’s ambassadors. “Aaron Fried, a Western ambassador, has been working really hard on the business developments and partnerships with communities on Western campus,” said Ross. “But to be totally honest, our whole Western team of ambassadors is very very strong.”
The team at Western was so successful that two students, Tony Yu and Emily Lonetto, who both graduated from Western last spring, now have full-time jobs with Tilt.
“I remember being in their shoes and remembering I had to make sure I had $5.00 at the door,” said Ross. “I wish Tilt was around when we were students, so it’s good to know we’re fixing that problem for them.”