State Media
Zimbabwe’s largest mobile money platform, EcoCash, has moved to create a new level of customer convenience by automating its key customer support services, including PIN resets and automatic reversals for failed transactions and of funds sent by mistake to the wrong person.
In a development that is set to significantly enhance its customer experience, the EcoCash said this has been made possible due to the major core system upgrade it carried out less than a year ago.
Mr Eddie Chibi, the Chief Executive Officer of Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe, the holding company of EcoCash, said the group was focused on enhancing customer experience by leveraging digital innovations to deliver convenient, automated customer solutions.
“We believe that the success of our products and services is driven by the experience of our customers, which enables repeat usage and ultimately customer loyalty.
“To that end, our teams have been working hard to roll out various digital innovations to ensure our customers have a hassle-free journey when they use our products and when they interact with our services – especially at this time when the world is struggling to cope with the effects of Covid-19,” Mr Chibi said.
“The upgrade of our EcoCash platform has helped in this regard in that it added modules to the platform that offer customers extra convenience in a safe and secure environment” he said.
Mr Givemore Jojo, Cassava Smartech’s Chief Commercial Officer, who is in charge of the overall customer experience Cassava Smartech’s business units, said EcoCash was taking advantage of its features-rich platform to improve the experience of its customers and channel partners by deploying end-to-end automation processes.
“On our upgraded EcoCash platform we have now been able to activate a number of modules, that offer real convenience to our customers, such as the auto-reversal capabilities for failed transactions when our customers are purchasing Zesa tokens.
“This has brought great relief to customers as failed transactions are automatically reversed back into the customers’ wallet in less than 10 minutes,” Mr Jojo said.
He said for the customers’ convenience, EcoCash was working closely with its partners Powertel and Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) to educate customers on the purchase of the ‘‘lifeline’’ Zesa tokens, in particular to dispel the misconception that electricity tokens are only cheaper at the beginning of a calendar month.
(The lifeline tariff is the price of the first 50 units of power that is charged at a base tariff of ZW$1,67 per unit, compared to ZW$3,65 for the next 51-200 units, ZW$9,92 for the next 201-300 units, and ZW$15,57 for over 301 units in a particular month.)
Mr Jojo noted that over 70 percent of traffic to all EcoCash customer touch-points (shops) was attributed to two human self-induced errors: PIN resets and peer-to-peer transaction reversals, owing to customers mistakenly sending money to the wrong person.
“To help address that, we have now launched the EcoCash Web Portal, as well as a USSD solution, which empower customers to reset their own PIN numbers and to similarly initiate funds reversals. The Web and USSD initiatives are very safe and easy to use,” he added.
Customers can use the USSD solution by simply dialling *150#, or they access the EcoCash Selfcare Web Portal by making a once-off registration on https://selfcare.ecocash.co.zw/portal/
“We are really excited about these self-care initiatives as we can already see the convenience they have begun to offer our customers, in a secure environment,” Mr Jojo said.