Over the past few months, Econet has been aggressively entering some kind of field: fitness, transport, and media. The respective launches of Maisha (or Ada), Kwese Iflix, Vaya, and Yo Mix all have some similarities. All these offerings are app-based, which means that, unlike EcoFarmer or EcoCash, which might be predominantly USSD offerings, Econet is concentrated on the app market with these offerings.
The agent way
When Econet launches any product, they make several noises about that product, and in reality, we have to have predicted a similar method with the apps above. Econet has marketers that spark people to download those four apps. You’ve possibly met them at some unspecified time in the future, e-book-in-hand asking you if you understand any of the above utility and whether or not you’ve established it. If you don’t, the college will talk to you briefly and explain why you want the apps for your life. If you decide to download the software(s), your name may be taken down from the agent’s pocketbook. This looks like a quite green manner for Econet to ramp up their installation numbers while agents can also make some money for the new clients they bring on board. It all sounds first-rate; however, that’s not to mention it’s a fit made in heaven. We will communicate approximately the hassle with this method in a while.
The promotions…
Econet’s other route to boost its install base is through promotions. The Vaya Million Dollar Promotion was introduced recently. There became a comparable promoting for Kwese-iflix, remaining yr as properly. If you tell human beings that they stand to win something after downloading your app and signing in, they’ll do precisely that. It’s just like gambling the lotto; the desire for the rewards is enough to lure players. This method will provide absolute confidence in the person installation base. However, I’m not positive about how it bodes for person retention.
The blessings of these methods
Using marketers is outstanding because those marketers act as salespersons, familiarising the general public with the benefits of using these apps. However, there’s a hazard of capacity conversion for a few folks who knew that these apps existed but didn’t genuinely apprehend how they worked. The desire is that once the application has been mounted, customers will now recognize a way to use it. There’s less of gaining knowledge of curves.
The promoting approach also has its blessings, and if we take a look at Vaya’s most recent promotion, we will see a few blessings. First, many folks who haven’t mounted the software will do so because they need to win something. Secondly, because you have to take a ride to stand a chance to win, the new installs are compelled to discover ways to use the application, and you then get direct revenue once they do. It’s a great way for people to enjoy your provider and come up with their money. The equal element applies to the Kwese iflix promotions, which caused people to shop for bundles and stand a hazard to win. The installation numbers type back this up as nicely. In November, Vaya had over 5,000 installations on Google Play, and now that wide variety has doubled, they have over 10,000.
The problems with both techniques
Suppose there’s one aspect I’m not keen on, the subject of dealers, because the agents receive a commission for the variety of human beings they get to install the apps. In that case, the guys may also tell you what it takes to install the utility. A colleague recently learned that the Yo Mix app works irrespective of age, which isn’t genuine. Maybe the agent wasn’t outright lying to him, and perhaps they didn’t recognize the age restriction; however, if my colleague had long gone directly to download an app, that wouldn’t work for them.
The handiest hassle I even have with the promotions is that it’s tough to ease repeat clients through this channel. We’ve seen it before with the OneFusion promotion and the impact tweaking it had on NetOne’s subscriber base, and the structuring of the Vaya Million Dollar is comparable. How many Vaya clients will continue taking government rides when the Million Dollar Promotion ends and they haven’t won anything? Of course, some customers will remain when they have experienced your career; however, how many will still use the utility after promotion? It’s hard to tell.
Among the blessings, I pointed out the doubling of installs Vaya has done when you consider November, but even that is hard to quantify. In November, Hindi, just like Vaya, had over five 000 downloads, and now their app web page also says they have over 10,000. With this method, they’ve successfully doubled their deployment base without needing promotions or hiring bodily retailers to persuade people to install their apps. It’s a slippery slope; however, based on the look alone, Hwindi might have the upper hand because their acquisitions are more natural.
