Delta Ndou #digitaldialogue
Per Harvard Business School’s Professor Richard Tedlow, businesses fail either because they leave their customers (by arbitrarily changing a strategy that worked for them in the past) or because their customers leave them. That sentiment made me wonder how many local businesses have been left by their customers and whether those businesses are even aware of the desertion or the reasons behind it.

In my view, much of the customer migration in various sectors can be attributed to the introduction of digital solutions or options that work faster, cheaper and more efficiently than the existing models.

How far should a business go to pursue the migrating customer and how long can it wait hoping the customer will come back to them?

Considering that there is a generation growing up as digital natives, several issues come to mind.

Will the generation that is growing up on mobile devices ever want to set foot in a banking hall to transact physically if the option to do so remotely is available?

With such a generation in mind, would it not make sense to strengthen and invest in digital banking services as well as seamlessly integrated automated payment solutions? How likely is it that a generation of digital natives will grow to love and prefer the printed word over the soft copy version they encounter on the screens of their mobile devices?

Where does the opportunity to attract and engage such a generation lie in terms of choosing how best to package content — digitally or in hard copy?

Is the generation that is growing up on live streaming and video on demand ever going to be excited about making monthly digital satellite TV subscriptions if, for the same amount, they could simply enjoy Internet TV?

Is the generation that lives, works, transacts, plays and thrives on social media ever going to be accessible to and accessed by businesses that aren’t visible in those digital spaces?

A 2017 digital snapshot indicates that of the world’s 7,4 billion population, an estimated 3,8 billion are Internet users, 2,9 billion are mobile users and 2,8 billion are social media users.

These stats may not necessarily capture the local context, but it is reasonable to surmise that your customers are online and that mobile devices are their gadgets of choice.

Perhaps nothing shows how radically customer behaviours have changed quite like the widespread adoption and use of mobile money payment options.

Impactful technology is technology that offers solutions

I have argued in the past that one of the reasons local companies are complacent with regards leveraging on technology and offering digital services is that they mistakenly believe that the target market is too small to yield any worthwhile dividend or return on investment.

They (rightfully) consider the existing digital divide, i.e various barriers to Internet access such as affordability, accessibility and digital literacy, then conclude it wouldn’t be worth their while to adapt their business models to suit a small tech savvy fraction of their target market.

And yet success stories such as the recent triumph by EcoCash, which was named Best Mobile Payment Solution at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) Global Mobile (Glomo) Awards for 2017 is an indicator that Zimbabwe has what it takes to leverage on technology and make impactful change by coming up with solutions that address customers’ pain points.

Part of EcoCash’s success lies in making financial services available to more people by lowering costs and barriers to access whilst providing a locally tailored and convenient Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments solution.

Defined by the Business Insider Intelligence report as informal payments made from one person to another, the daily conduction of small peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions have benefiter EcoCash immensely because individuals transfer funds to each other on a regular basis, whether it’s to make a recurring payment, reimburse a friend, or pay a fare.

Any business that does not offer an e-payment option to clients will see those customers migrate to businesses that let them transact from their digital wallets.

Local banks have commendably stepped up their game by facilitating mobile banking, which is more convenient and far cheaper than walking into a banking hall to make payments.

CABS, for instance, has set the transaction charge for mobile bill payments at 55c, as compared to $1,05 charged if the payment is made in a banking hall.

Be online — that’s where

your customers are

Brands are extremely vulnerable online and if there is an Achilles heel within typical organisational priorities, it is the delegation of social media management to very junior staff who are not empowered to “speak for” the organisation in the face of fierce and unrelenting brand bashing.

As I have noted in past articles, brand bashing is prevalent online and it is fuelled by the ability of online users to mobilise swiftly, channel their grievances through hashtags and amplify their complaints by posting them on social media.

A domino effect ensues when one person complains about a service or issue and others, who are similarly aggrieved, echo the same grievances, thus reinforcing whatever negative perception of the service provider triggered by the initial complainant.

On Facebook pages like ZimVine, where the digital equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing manifests, users request for and receive recommendations from one another to influence purchasing decisions and customer perception of brands.

It makes sense to make sure that business owners and executives are as invested in tracking and understanding social media discourses around their businesses as they are in growing their bottom line.

One business that has immersed itself in social media is Steward Bank, which has also harnessed the popularity of comedic video content creators such as Tyra Chikocho aka Madam Boss (co-hosting the bank’s Facebook Live Talkshow) to market their products and services.

The adoption of comedy skits by brands as communication and marketing channels shows an appreciation of the fact that customers are online and engaging them on those social networks requires content to be packaged in ways digital communities will consume.

Examples abound of amateur and semi-amateur video content being the voices or faces of brands on social media. For example, Prosper Ngomashi aka Comic Pastor recently marketed Herentals Group of Colleges, whilst Bustop TV have marketed Diaspora money transfers for Steward Bank’s iMoney facility and the duo of Bhutisi and Boss Kedha marketed a Musina and Polokwane-based business (LPS) owned by a Zimbabwean that pimps rides including Ford Rangers. Not only do businesses have to be online, they also must endeavour to speak the “language” of the online customer — what better way to do that than by leveraging on hugely popular content creators?

Whenever customers migrate, it is a sign that the business has to change its strategy to survive, even if it means using unconventional, even comedic, means of communicating.

Delta is an advocate of technology-driven solutions. You can follow her on Twitter: @deltandou

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