Very often, loyalty reward schemes by corporate organizations tend to favor high-end customers and shortchange low spenders because there is usually a participation fee, but the ongoing MTN @25 Mega Promo is designed to give both high-end and low-end customers a level playing field.
The GHC10 million mega promo is set to give out 25 Hyundai Sonata saloon cars, cash and many other juicy prizes over the next three months, all for free.
For starters, the promo does not require customers to pay any amount to participate; rather, customers who join the promo by dialing *156# and selecting option 5 (MTN @25 Mega Promo), will start gaining points as they continue to use their phone normally, and stand a chance to win.
Senior Specialist for Segmented Marketing at MTN, Maxwell Arthur told journalists at a virtual presser that, per the rules of the promo, every 1Gp spent via voice (calls), SMS, data, VAS (value added service), digital and mobile money, earns the customer one point, but there is additional value for people who access MTN services via the digital channels like MyMTN, MTNPulse and Ayoba.
“When you access MTN services via the digital channels you get 10 points for every pesewa spent, instead of just one point,” he said.
This is to encourage customers to use the digital channels as MTN works towards becoming a fully digital operator by year 2023.
He also explained that with mobile money, customers only gain points when they transact a minimum of GHC100 upwards.
Mechanics
But the part that even works for low-end customers most is the deliberate design of the mechanics of the promo to ensure both high and low-enders stand equal chance of winning.
Maxwell Arthur explained that, working with reputable audit firm, KPMG, MTN has come up with a tailor-made threshold of minimum points each customer should cross in order to stand a chance, based on each person’s own spending pattern over the last three months.
So the required threshold for a typical high spender, over the last three months, is higher than that for a typical low spender over the same period, which means low spenders are not required to spend as high as high-end customers before they can qualify to win.
Maxwell Arthur further explained that the metric for qualification would be based on the percentage by which one exceeds their specific threshold. So if, for instance, customer ‘A’ (low ender) with a threshold of 10 points is able to accumulate 20 points at the end of the month, it means he crossed his threshold by 10 points, which is 100 per cent.
If customer ‘B’ (high ender) has a threshold of 20 points, and he accumulates 35 points by the end of the month, it means he crossed his threshold by 15points, which is 75 percent.
So, even though customer B’s 15 points is higher than customer A’s 10 points, customer A will win the prize because he crossed his threshold by 100 per cent, which is higher than customer B’s 75 per cent.
All 16 regions
Maxwell Arthur also noted that to further deepen the fairness of the playing ground, the promo has been designed such that “at least one person in all 16 regions of the country will win at least one car.”
He explained that of the 25 cars, only nine would be made available to be won by people at random, irrespective of the regions they live in, but the remaining 16 will be deliberately allocated, one to each of the 16 regions.
Maxwell Arthur said for the three-month promo period, five cars would be won in August, 10 cars in September and another 10 cars in October, adding that three cars each would be available for random wins for each of the three months, and the remaining cars will be allocated to the regions in an alphabetic order, beginning from Ahafo Region to Volta Region.
Already, MTN has given all customers free on-net calls dubbed “Good Morning Ghana” for the whole month of June, plus some other juicy packages to selected categories of customers who have been with the telco since inception 25 years ago.
Caution
Maxwell Arthur took the opportunity to caution MTN customers that participation is free and MTN would not charge the customer any money to redeem a prize, so any call from anyone demanding money or air time for prizes should be reported to MTN via 1515.
He said winners would only be contacted via phone call on 0244300000 so calls from any other number regarding the promo should be treated as fake.
