Imagine there is someone with a smartphone but the same person doesn’t use the new mySafaricom App. Imagine how they buy data, or even operate MPESA. Imagine them using the newly introduced *334# MPESA short code. The process… six steps? Where in every step you have to reply with 1 or 2? Or if they are buying data they have to press *544#, reply with whatever suitable number then once they selected the desired option they have to send 1 or 2 to choose whether to buy using Airtime or MPESA, then again send 1 or 2 to Confirm?

All that process has been simplified with a new mySafaricom App, the beauty of which was best explained in this article. And it gets better. Two months ago Safaricom relaunched mySafaricom App to enable customers to have an easy and efficient way to access all Safaricom products and services under one roof.

It however seems that just a handful of Safaricom subscribers with smartphones use the app, given the number of times mySafaricom App has been downloaded on Google Play Store.A paltry 500,000 times. If we judge by its subscription base of 35 million, no, let’s talk about the current 28.63 million one month mobile data active subscribers that accounts for 16.2% of its service revenue, from that figure, we can still conclude that the number of downloads is obviously a drop in the ocean. So, could it be that you are so attached to the analog way of life or the company, Safaricom has not invested heavily in the marketing of the app as it does for other products such as Tunukiwa minutes?

If telcos need to catch up with giant over-the-top media services and have a share of the multi-billion digital economy, then putting more focus on improving customer experience through the development of friendly mobile and web-based applications is the only way to win customer loyalty and improve network traffic. Safaricom has embarked on that journey through its new mySafaricom app and Safaricom.com web. What it however needs to do in order to migrate the millions of dormant Sim toolkit customers would be to clearly explain and demonstrate the immediate functional benefits of using mySafaricom App such as the convenience of MPESA in the app.

That said, it is important to remember that the new mySafaricom app allows you to select your contacts directly from your phone book when you want to sambaza them airtime or MPESA some money, the name of the person you selected, and the transaction charges will be shown to you before you hit the send button. It also allows you to share M-PESA transaction messages once completed, meaning you now have a way of stopping those people who ask you to show them the messages (Hebu nionyeshe message) by sending them the transaction directly to their phones either by WhatsApp or SMS.

The user interface is so friendly and engaging with only 5 tabs i.e, Home, MPESA, Safaricom Button, Discover, and Account. You will be able to access your credit balance or to load airtime on your line with its amazing feature that allows you to scan the scratch card to top up easily instead of keying in the digits. The only issue that I’m sure many do not like is that access to the app is limited to active mobile data with the transacting sim on the device. Safaricom says it is designed that way for security reasons and anyway, you won’t be charged, plus many of you have twin sim gadgets. This might only be a disadvantage for those outside the country and wish to use the app, as it would require them to roam, which will be expensive.  

But honestly, you need to abandon the 18th-century USSD codes. I’m surprised you still put up with the tedious process of purchasing mobile data on the toolkit which you could have done smoothly through the app as it only requires you to run, press on Services from the Menu List, choose the plan you would want, and finally activate it. Don’t you think it’s time to make your life easy by installing the app?

To get yourself the new mySafaricom App, simply follow these links.

 Android – https://bit.ly/Kachwanya    

IOS – https://bit.ly/Kachwanya01