How to reach the mass market between data top ups

By Nicholas Bednall, Chief Commercial Officer at MoyaApp

Statistically significant research indicates that 8% of South African mobile users run out of mobile data every day, and 36% only recharge their data once a month. For brands targeting mass market consumers, this means a significant portion of their digital marketing could be landing on deaf ears – when their market has no data to go online.

Big brands trying to reach mass market audiences generally spread their marketing across traditional media – TV, radio and print, and more recently digital platforms such as Google and Facebook. However, their use of digital channels is often based on the assumption that people have data all the time. Our research, covering over 250 000 people, shows they don’t always have data. 

In the same way as with electricity where loadshedding brings everything to a stop, a lack of data puts the brakes on engagement with digital media, which requires paid data to access it.

MoyaApp, however, keeps the lights on all the time. MoyaApp, the #datafree super app, enables discovery and engagement for 6.5 million monthly and 4 million daily active users – even when they have no airtime or data balance. Using reverse billing, MoyaApp gives users access to chat, calling, content, services and MoyaPay accounts at no data cost to them.

For marketers, this means MoyaApp offers uninterrupted digital reach and engagement with the South African mass market. Key enterprises growing strongly in the mass market space have already embraced MoyaApp as an important component of their digital marketing mix. The likes of Shoprite, Unilever and Capitec, all of which understand how to look after the mass market, are on MoyaApp. And a new partnership with South African Loyalty Whitepaper (Truth and BrandMapp) is set to reveal the motives of where consumers shop, bank and buy products – this should of great interest to SA marketing and business leadership.

More than #datafree

What makes MoyaApp such an outstanding digital channel is that its approach differs from platforms such as Facebook, which might serve up pet food ads to a user who once clicked on a video featuring a puppy.

In contrast, MoyaApp allows users to gravitate to topics they are interested in via Discovery. It then gives them the option of clicking on ads they may be interested in. If they click, direct interaction can then take place between the advertiser and the potential customer. From here, the engagement might progress to a request for further information via Moya Chat, a direct conversation or even a purchase via MoyaPay – all within the same app.

With over 300 web services and apps available, users can explore virtual “aisles” of products and services, and select those they’d like to know more about.

In addition, MoyaApp’s users are directly aligned with national mass market demographics, and are available and willing to participate in market research through the app. This gives brands unprecedented market research opportunities.

In only four years, MoyaApp has passed the milestone of 10 million downloads, with the relatively new MoyaPay at 350 000 registered users and gaining 6 000 new users a day. Much of this growth has been through word of mouth, and there’s no sign of it slowing down. With reach like this, we expect MoyaApp to become a critical part of every brand’s digital marketing mix over the next few years.