First impressions of the My Econet App

At some point, self-care and customer care applications weren’t that much of a big deal in Zimbabwe. After all, mobile internet wasn’t that prolific. But, things are changing with the increasing access to mobile broadband and a growing appreciation of apps.

It’s not surprising that the leading provider of mobile broadband, Econet Wireless has launched its own self-care app. Called My Econet, this is meant to be Econet’s attempt at offering prepaid subscribers access to their accounts through a simplified gateway to a bouquet of services.

There are only so many names you can give self-care apps, but when you hear the My Econet app name, it’s easy to think of the myZOL app which was launched by ZOL Zimbabwe, a local internet provider and Econet affiliate.

The app is available for Android and iOS and we had a chance to play around with the Android version which can be downloaded on Google Play by following this link.

Downloading the app won’t burn a hole in your data balance (it’s a mere 4.2 MB in size) and Econet was smart enough to zero rate access to the app.

Once you download it and register your number, you can, through a grid made up of tiles that represent different options, access services that pretty much sum up the Econet prepaid experience.

Some of the services accessible to subscribers include checking balances; buying bundles for data services; effortlessly activating or deactivating services like voicemail, roaming, missed call alerts and ring back tones; airtime transfer, over-scratched card redemption, accessing online support services, getting directions to Econet shops and checking out the latest Econet promotions.

For good measure, the terms and conditions of using the app have been included, along with contact details as well as standard but grey features like info about Econet and a feature for sharing the app on social media (which wasn’t responsive when I tried to use it)

Besides the lack of integration with EcoCash, the frustration of an occasional freeze and the inability to navigate back to the home screen using the traditional device keys (you have to tap on the back arrow, which isn’t instinctive) Econet appears to have developed a useful tool with this app.

I think the access to Econet’s online chat is a big deal, not only because self-care apps are supposed to deliver that one major feature, but because for Econet customer care, that appears to be the easiest channel to get help on.

Interestingly the app has a view of social media feeds on all things Econet which had some feedback from customers airing their grievances. As much as that might be a sobering page to look at for Econet when it’s laced with angry comments, it helps subscribers know when a challenge they are facing is common for all subscribers.

It’s an extension of social media and as such Econet should embrace it for such functionality. Hopefully future iterations of the app will do more than just offer a glance, and give users an option to report features outside the online feature.

Econet and every other Zimbabwean company that is going to jump onto the self-care app bandwagon should remember that at the end of the day these apps should be tools that enhance customer care, not substitute it.

It’s a cool app, but it becomes a great tool when the company responds to queries, explains service outages (Econet has been fraught with those lately) and use information gathered to make product and service improvement decisions.