I’m not an authority on matters marketing, but this last Saturday I discovered the biggest reason why Zain is a distant second to Safaricom at the moment. Poor marketing.
The typical customer doesn’t know half the services Zain has, and in my opinion if you’re selling a retail product, you should sing about it till your customers want you to shut up. Safaricom got this right. Case in point, I don’t listen to radio, don’t watch local TV channels, yet for some reason, the phrase ‘Niko na Safaricom’ is in my head. Go to any small town in Kenya, and the predominant colour is green. Over 50% of shops are the Safaricom green, with one Zain shop tucked in a corner.
I’m a Zain customer and last Saturday I had some time to spare, so I toured their customer care centre , again where they have failed in having 3 care centres in Nairobi if I’m not wrong (Sarit, Mombasa Road and Koinange Street).
Anyway, I discovered the customer care area was departmentalised, and one department’s staff, didn’t know about products offered by the other department (very mysterious).
At the end of the day, these are the products I discovered, and I’m willing to bet there are more but no one knows:
- Zain probably has the best postpaid package (this I knew a while back). The Kshs 4,000 package gives you access to equivalent credit, Zain to Zain calls (1 bob), Zain to other networks (12 bob), Zain texts (2 bob), other network texts (3 bob). Very clear network in my opinion.
- In addition to its unlimited internet packages (which is all it markets), Zain has a facility where you can buy prepaid bundles. I’d always incurred such high costs using internet from my phone. I visited 3 different customer care staff members to find out how this works, but apparently if you dial *180# you get options to do this, the bundles come at almost half the price of the Safaricom bundles. Of course the speeds are much slower, but on phone it doesn’t make much of a difference really.
- Zap. The most under marketed service ever. It’s actually free to pay your KPLC and DSTV bills using zap, and one gets a confirmation text immediately and it takes up to 1 hour to have the account updated. I’m testing this, we’ll see this evening if it actually works (registered and used it to pay my DSTV bill). All I paid was KShs 10 when loading money on my phone, the actual bill payment was free.
I’m sure there are more, and I just wonder. When will Zain wake up? It’s a great network to be on, but who knows?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Slow internet for those who use computers/laptops for more than just e-mails…
@coldtusker Yeah, Zain internet is incredibly slow, but this was a suprise to me. I always used my Safaricom line on phone because Zain prepaid internet was too expensive. Wasn’t aware of bundles.
Apparently with Zap, one can access their bank accounts (from my menu). I was too tired of moving from one staff member to another to ask more about this though.
As a Zain’s customer, dating back to when it was known as Kencell, I’ve found them quite queer in marketing their super products. Talk about Z-Control, Zap, Unlimited Internet, the list is endless.
I’ve always doubted whether they really shy from making a hit or are just waiting for the murky waters (read Safaricom’s mess) or that the marketing department is understaffed and poorly paid.
I’ve also noticed that if you call the Customer care and pay a visit to one of their centres, the information one gets is a contrast.
It’s either that they are not sure of what the customer is talking about or requesting, when calling them.
I’ve noticed that they have one advert on TV, the now-famed ‘Popote ulipo’. It has been there for months and there is no sign of another one coming up soon.
If only they could pull a string of adverts to counter Safaricom’s!
Talking about Zap, I haven’t seen, read or heard an advert of the same, unless you visit their centres.
Methinks, the company, while it is the best network in Kenya, is not willing to bite the bullet, and conduct an aggressive marketing of their products. After all, how do the consumers know of a product, if they are not conversant with it?
The management, in my little opinion, might not have realized the importance of marketing even interns can be hired to do this if the department is not fully staffed!
@mburu you’re very right. It’s like they’re scared of marketing their products. Do they expect the millions of their subscribers in Nairobi to all troop into their 3 care centres in search of information I wonder?
I wanted to mention the shabby dressing by it’s staff, and the poor ambiance of the care centres, but decided against it.
I agree with you on Zain’s poor customer sensitization. Zain would be lucky to even be second after Safaricom by mid next year. I believe YU (Econet) will take over as the second best. YU’s Ksh.6 flat calling rate across all networks is the best option in the market right now and they seem to be marketing quite aggressively [though they need to work on their adverts]. In fact its easier to get a YU prepaid card from kiosks in most Nairobi estates than a Zain one.
Zain’s offers are always the best. I’ve been calling Accra – Ghana for free for like two months now . Their family and friends offer on the Vuka Tarrif is also something they could shout about. I’ve not yet used ZAP but I just registered recently because of the bills payment thing with StanChart.
I think the main problem is the numerous change management every time they sale to ‘new investors’. I believe even right now they are looking for another buyer. It definitely affects their employees’ morale. Every Zain customer I know complains about their customer care representatives, who on a face to face conversation they come out as being somehow rude. I’m surprised you did touch on it. (Sorry for the mini post)
Leme jump on this Zain gravy train. My Safcom line doesnt’ have a single Zain number on it. My biz lines are safcom, YU and Orange. I bet a majority of people also fall in this category.
I believe what ails Zain is their lack of aggressive marketing as pointed out by Mburu. Even my 2yr niece can sing the ‘niko na safaricom’ jiggle. No point in having killer products/service if no one knows about you.
I agree with @coldtusker. Their internet speeds are painfully sloooow you can actually have ur grandma chase a chicken, catch it, de-feather it, dice it, cook it on a charcoal jiko and escort it down your throat with tasty pilau before Zain loads the first page. Thats their biggest flaw.
@Kainvestors’ observation is spot on. If Zain doesn’t watch its tail YU will dethrone them from number2 before they actually find a new investor/buyer. Whats with the change in management every so often, anyway?
Rookie, this i such a true piece. I love it. Marketing is missing in such a place immensely. Maybe they clean house first by training their staff.
So true. Safaricom will force you to know about their offers, whether or not you are a customer.
I don’t listen to radio neither and I watch very little TV, I learned about zain’s unlimited internet through print media. Now I can’t remember much from that advert. I also understand there is an offer running for prepaid customers where you can make free calls, i don’t understand it. Anyway, am not their customer.
And kellie, nothing disgusts me the most like poor customer service! Most times i’d reject a product just to teach the business a lesson regardles of how good the product may be. But that’s me.
When I was around I remember thinking……Zain is the best network in terms of service and price, but even though their service sucks and they charge too much, I must be on Safaricom.
Dunno if it was peer pressure, nostalgia or the fact that Safaricom is more obvious than Coca Cola and MO1 pictures in the 90s but Safcom clearly have perfected the art of connecting their 2nd rate products to wallets……..
@Kainvestor Thanks for the excellent comment. Yu seems to be intense on targeting the younger crowd and they’ll actually capture them. My experience with Yu (used the line for one week) is that the network isn’t too reliable (internet kept disconnecting), I could only get low denomination scratch cards (imagine taking ten 50 bob scratch cards for reimbursement) and the digits on those scratch cards were too small. I gave up and reverted to my Zain and Safaricom. Yu isn’t any better on information either. I had to hunt for a Yu subscriber to find out how to check my balance for example. They should be sending a new subscriber a text with all these short codes.
Zain needs to settle down. You’re right. The company lacks vision because every 2 years the top management is shifted. You can’t compare with Safaricom where the vision carrier has been at the helm since inception.
@Kenyan Freelancer true their internet is slow, but then even those that are willing to use it (me on phone) don’t know how to buy internet credits. How now? They also need to come up with Kenyan adverts. Then my biggest question. How much does it cost to have an updated website seriously?
@joyunspeakable thanks so much for reading and commenting
@Wyndago you and the non customers are at the same place where Zain and their products are concerned. I also know there’s something about free calls, but no idea how it works. If this were a Safaricom offer, other network customers would be decamping to the network mostly because of the hype.
@Mwangi yes, you’re on Safaricom. It sure is more obvious than MO1 and coca cola and the obvious choice.
The ‘rot’ starts from the top. How many times have I heard Zain is soon changing hands? From Kencell days. No wonder staff may not be very familiar with products/services offered by the next department. For all we know there could be high staff turnover in the said department.
I have a hard time even trying to decide which tariff would best suit me. Hence I follow the masses – there is surely safety in number, I hope? So Zain will always play catch up to Safaricom.
Finally, is there really a bargain in this market? I would not think so and if there is it is so minimal that it cannot be justified me running around looking for it. It simply doesn’t exist to simple non technical guys like me.
Get me a network that offers a ‘good’ service and I will follow them. Hence Safaricom is still far much ahead.
(PS: First time here – sorry I talk too much!)
After outrageous speeds when surfing with Zain today http://yfrog.com/3n5ztp I simply tossed my line out of the window. Absolutely absurd. If they can’t sustain the service then they should not offer it to customers!
We all agree that Zain’s Marketing is rubbish. Period!
Kellie, your inability to check your YU balance is largely a failure on your part.
1) You did not read the small booklet that came with your YU line. Page 2 has these bold words: “Simply Check your Balance…” The back cover again, contains this and other “Simple Access Numbers”.
2) YU has done one better, and included in all SIM cards, vital numbers: Balance *131#, Customer Care 100, Police 999, Emergency 112, Child Helpline 116 etc… so, the short codes are already in your SIM card.
In fact, YU offers suggestions when you dial the wrong code. Just try *133#
It’s true these Telcos do have their faults, but let us be objective and give credit where it’s due, and not blame them when we are negligent.
For instance, I have major issues with Safaricom’s high tariffs, low quality network and crappy EDGE speeds outside Nai, but I totally admire Safaricom’s brilliant marketing.
For the record, I do not work for, and neither am I affiliated in any way, to any of these GSM companies.
Thanks Pete. I didn’t get to see said booklet, someone else got the line for me. Why assume all customers have the time to read?
Isn’t it cheaper to send an auto text with all these shortcuts, like Safaricom do to guide on bundle purchases?
By the way Pete, in marketing information, there’s nothing like customer negligence. A customer should be bombarded with information from all angles. The fact that the Yu booklet is better than Safcom’s doesn’t mean they’ve done all they possibly can to put the information out there.
The free calls to one @sweetestshaboo, and the fact that I was on Celtel (Now Zain) Africa Challenge, have somewhat endeared me to Zain… They’ve got decent service, I’ll give them that, but everything’s run from Head Office, that’s what generally sucks about their whole organization.
true their marketing is pathetic, net is slow too, even their EDGE is slower than safcom EDGE.
Safcom have done a good job of marketing and locking in their subscribers
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