MTN Puts You In Charge Of Your Data Usage!

In my opinion, this is a big one and the first of its kind (that I have seen so far) in Nigeria!

One reason why I opt for unlimited data plans or sometimes buy less data than I need in a month is because I really have not been able to wrap my head around accurately knowing how much data I use month on month. Quite a number of times, I have had to top up on data twice in a month due to my usage.

This innovation by MTN puts you in control i.e. informs you about what you typically use data for, what the unit data consumption is per activity and helps you estimate or rather make an informed decision about how much data to subscribe for on a daily, weekly or monthly basis based on your consumption or preference.

From a customer experience perspective, I can very quickly perceive the following;

1. Data highlighting top data activities per subscriber or subscriber segment has been analyzed informing the 7 data usage buckets provided i.e. surf the net, send an receive emails with attachments, send and receive emails without attachments, games online, stream non-HD videos, use social media, stream music and stream HD videos
2. Average MB per activity per minute has also been calculated and analyzed (not sure if this is done per customer segment or generally but I am sure its been carefully figured out)

Overall, this innovation will help customers make smarter decisions about data consumption especially in locations where data is not cheap. I tried this out just playing around with it and when I saw that I ended up with 225.7GB my eyes popped open and I immediately scrolled back up to each activity to reduce my estimated usage! 😅Data on a budget anyone? 😅

From a customer experience perspective, this is both beneficial to MTN data subscribers and MTN! Why?

For Customers;

1. Now I can be very intentional about how much data I can buy and use
2. When estimating my usage, I can very quickly see/know what activities I spend a lot of data on and if I choose to reduce my spend month on month, I take responsibility for thinking about alternatives to reduce my data spend    
3. I have information about how my data bill is calculated i.e. unit MB per minute per data activity

For MTN;

1. It provides more insight into the average data consumption per customer or customer segment depending on what information can be gleaned when anyone uses the calculator
2. If segmentation is right, it also helps with subscriber targeting for cross selling and up selling purposes. If as a subscriber, my estimation ends at 2GB and within the month I use more, MTN can have access to this information and prompt me to upgrade with any possible loyalty/reward/discounts depending on the value proposition per data plan (if that's how this innovation is designed)
3. MTN wins from a customer loyalty and advocacy perspective because data subscribers may see this as MTN helping them to make smart decisions i.e. all about the customer so definitely, customers will stay with MTN and encourage others to get on the MTN network 
4. If MTN chooses to expand on this, it can embed this into all its self service channels *131# and even at the point when you are buying data, you see your last 3 data bills and a plan is recommended for you based on your usage
5. From a customer loyalty perspective, rewards given to customers are more in line with their usage for example rather than sending a free 200MB free data per plan, does anything extra go to subscribers that purchase 10GB and above monthly data whether corporate or individuals?
6. There are endless opportunities for MTN if customer behavior using the calculator is observed closely and openly!

I applaud this experience improvement innovation by MTN and encourage other telecommunication companies in Nigeria and across Africa to do same. 

For MTN, I will say, engage your subscribers post launching this and get their feedback using the calculator. Some of the things you may want to pay attention to really quickly are; 

1. Customer Effort. Do your subscribers find this easy to use?
2. Customer Understanding. Do all your subscribers across all customer segments understand what each data activity means in plain English?
3. Customer Suggestions To Improve: Do your customers want to see the amount to purchase right after the estimate is calculated and are there any direct links to purchased data estimated? 

Again, congratulations MTN and keep improving your customers'/subscribers' experience!

Have a good one!

deBBie