Through its non-profit segment Arth Nirmithi, Choice Tech, a leading fintech company provides free financial literacy on stock markets to individuals in rural India and urban Gen Z.
 
To set itself apart from the competition and the typical customer engagement approach, Choice Tech wanted to connect with its audience on a deeper level, build trust, and make learning about stocks fun and engaging.
 
To do so, they needed to invest in a unified omnichannel communication platform that allows them to:

What they needed was partnering with a single communications platform that enhances their omnichannel capabilities, diversifies their channel portfolio, and helps them connect with students in a personalized and engaging manner.

After a thorough search, Choice Tech decided to partner with Infobip to build a holistic omnichannel student engagement solution.

They built an automated end-to-end customer journey over WhatsApp using our chatbot building platform, customer engagement solution, and customer data platform.

Using our chatbot-building platform, Answers, Choice Tech developed an intelligent WhatsApp chatbot that tailored the interactions with students, simplified onboarding and automated the entire process of issuing course certificates.

The company conducted frequent workshops and events in colleges to expand its reach and educate students on the stock market. To encourage proactive conversation after the workshop, Choice Tech launched a QR code that allows students to initiate conversation on WhatsApp with the help of pre-filled messages and download their workshop certificates.

Given the diverse topics of the workshops, it was very important to customize the messages so that the students received the correct certificate.

The next step was to get the students enrolled in a 21-day financial course segregating them into different groups with the help of our customer engagement platform, Moments. While Answers played a key role in streamlining the entire onboarding process, Moments helped send video courses on WhatsApp.

To keep the students engaged and reduce the number of dropouts, frequent reminders were sent to complete the course. Upon completing each day’s lesson, students earned some points against which they were rewarded with physical and digital products.

Thanks to our customer data platform, People CDP, Choice Tech was able to keep track of the accumulated points and leverage this data to reward the most deserving students and drive loyalty.

Interactions with the students were mostly done in local languages such as Hindi and Marathi apart from English, which made the overall communication quite engaging. Every now and then, student feedback was collected to understand the level of knowledge acquired and assess whether they were ready to experiment in the stock market.

Choice Tech partnered with Fin X to deliver a hands-on platform for students to apply their stock market knowledge in real-world scenarios.

Our conversational experience solutions empowered Choice Tech to create a communication flow to identify the users who had started the practical training using the company’s Fin X application. Accordingly, the company supported the users throughout the learning process with tailored communication.

The seamless WhatsApp integration with Answers and Moments transformed how Choice Tech connected with its students. From instant certificate delivery to personalized learning journeys, every interaction became smooth and purposeful, driving higher engagement than using traditional email communication.

By utilizing Answers for onboarding and engagement and Moments for reminders through WhatsApp, they achieved:

 
Localizing financial education in Hindi, Marathi, and English helped Choice Tech break down barriers to financial education across India. Through our omnichannel communication platform, Choice Tech achieved its goal of making financial literacy truly accessible to its target audience in 3-6 cities of India.  

zingala is a leading brand in innovative consumer payments, specializing in large-amount installment plans and small-amount payments. It offers flexible and diverse payment solutions, dedicated to promoting inclusive finance and helping customers achieve their desired lifestyles effortlessly.
 
An essential step for zingala in being more financially inclusive for customers was to ensure data centralization, so they could tailor their messaging based on each customer’s preferences. 
 
To optimize company operations, they needed to implement a robust system that seamlessly integrated customer data from various touchpoints.

Centralized data management:  
 
Consolidating member data into a single location to have one single source of truth was a priority for zingala. Due to scattered data and a manual process for managing it, the company faced challenges in executing its marketing campaigns.  
 
For example, launching an SMS or email campaign was time-consuming as it required coordination with multiple departments.  
 
Automated marketing workflows:  
 
Automating marketing campaigns across various channels in a synchronized manner was needed to save time and effort. This was needed not only to speed up processes but also to ensure customers received timely and relevant communication

zingala partnered with Infobip to overcome the challenges related to personalization and data management. Our conversational customer experience platform provided them with the following:

In addition, our omnichannel customer engagement solution, Moments, enabled them to personalize the customer journey over SMS, Email, their mobile app, LINE, and Instagram. This omnichannel approach helped encourage repeat purchases from existing customers and design activities and content to acquire new customers.

Welcoming new members: 
 
To offer a quick onboarding experience for new members, zingala created a personalized onboarding flow. A gamified approach, dubbed the “survival mission,” was implemented to encourage new members to explore the app and learn about its features. The new members were informed about key features and ongoing offers with personalized notifications and reminders. 
 
Engaging existing members: 
 
zingala adopted an omnichannel approach to interact with existing members effectively by leveraging SMS, push notifications, email, and Instagram so that members receive relevant messages across their preferred channels. Using our platform, zingala segmented users based on customer attributes such as age, purchase history, and preferences to personalize their experience and deliver highly relevant messages. 

Enhancing customer loyalty: 
 
To elevate customer loyalty, zingala implemented several initiatives, such as launching personalized birthday campaigns with offers. By leveraging RFM (recency, frequency, and monetary value) based segmentation, the company was able to identify high-value customers and tailor campaigns accordingly. Similarly, customer satisfaction surveys were launched via our customer engagement solution to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement.  
 
Interactive gamification on social media 
 
Through our platform, they used our chatbot building solution Answers, to create an interactive experience on LINE, and Instagram Chatbots were used to engage with potential customers, collect leads, and provide information about the zingala service. The chatbots played an important part in creating gamified interactions such as quizzes and games, to increase engagement and collect customer data. 

zingala leveraged our platform to provide an end-to-end conversational customer experience with a complete nurture flow and personalization.

Here are the key results:

 
Apart from these, using Answers, zingala was able to minimize its operational cost and reduce the workload equivalent to three customer service representatives.  

Not only can they reliably verify more people during the sign-up process, the use of SMS as a communication channel has led to a reduction in loan defaults as more customers can be reached and encouraged to continue with payments. Using SMS as a primary channel, backed up by push notifications ensures the best chance of reaching people.

With a rise in smartphone users across the globe, Branch is building a customer-first financial product that can be accessed completely by phone. With no need to visit physical branches that may be a long way away, or to fill out excessive paperwork, Branch is democratizing the loan market by making their products available to a far larger section of society. This led to them being named Best Digital Lending Platform of the Year award at the 13th Africa Bank 4.0 Summit in 2023 and Most Innovative Loan & Finance Brand of the Year by Africa Fintech Brands Innovation Awards in 2024.

Branch is a personal finance app based in Nigeria that provides access to instant loans for mobile phone users. 

With a mission to deliver world-class financial services to the mobile generation, Branch uses machine learning to determine each applicant’s credit worthiness using information provided via their smartphones. 

With no requirement to provide physical documentation, and the ease and speed of the application process, Branch makes loan products available to sections of the population that have been underserved by traditional banks.

To date it has issued 7.4 million loans to over 1.7 million customers, totaling over 282 million US dollars.

As with any service that has an application process, one of the biggest challenges for Branch is to provide a seamless onboarding experience for new users. Part of this process is to get people verified to ensure that they are who they say they are.

If this process is difficult then they are more likely to abort their application and possibly start an application with a less reputable loan company that may not comply with Nigeria’s privacy and compliance regulations. To avoid this, it is crucial that Branch has a direct and reliable way of communicating with customers during and after the application process so that they can get verified and receive any encouragement that they require.

For people who get distracted during the application process or who lose network signal, reminders sent on a channel that they check often are the most effective way of bringing them back to complete their application.

With Branch’s sister company in Kenya already using Infobip successfully, the team reached out to us to see how we could help.

The most important requirement was the reliable delivery of messages during the application process. However, the cost effectiveness of the messaging solution was also important – it had to align with Branch’s business goals without impacting profitability.

SMS was identified as the best option due to its widespread use by customers and the excellent cellular coverage in Nigeria. As a backup channel, push notifications from the app could also be used in situations where a person did not have cellular signal but was connected to the internet.

For pure marketing use cases, email would also be used where the message was more detailed and needed to incorporate rich media or attached documents. Utilizing an omnichannel approach to their customer communication would give Branch the flexibility to leverage the strengths of each channel. 

The quicker that this process can be completed the less chance there is of a person aborting their application because they get distracted or lose network connectivity.

Branch commented on how easy the implementation process was. Their engineers had conversations with our staff who talked through the setup process and provided all the API documentation and support that they needed to get the solution up and running.

Branch were particularly happy with the service that they received from their dedicated Infobip account representative in Nigeria, who they said went above and beyond to help when they had a query.

Being able to achieve consistently high delivery rates for business-critical messages has enabled Branch to streamline the loan application process. This has contributed towards achieving their goal of giving more people access to loan products.

Not only can they reliably verify more people during the sign-up process, the use of SMS as a communication channel has led to a reduction in loan defaults as more customers can be reached and encouraged to continue with payments. Using SMS as a primary channel, backed up by push notifications ensures the best chance of reaching people.

With a rise in smartphone users across the globe, Branch is building a customer-first financial product that can be accessed completely by phone. With no need to visit physical branches that may be a long way away, or to fill out excessive paperwork, Branch is democratizing the loan market by making their products available to a far larger section of society. This led to them being named Best Digital Lending Platform of the Year award at the 13th Africa Bank 4.0 Summit in 2023 and Most Innovative Loan & Finance Brand of the Year by Africa Fintech Brands Innovation Awards in 2024.

Jumia, one of Africa’s leading eCommerce platforms, connects millions of customers with a wide range of products, from electronics and fashion to home goods and groceries. With innovative services like JumiaPay for secure online payments and Jumia Logistics for reliable deliveries, they have become an essential player in Africa’s digital economy, driving growth and empowering businesses.

As Jumia expands its footprint across multiple African countries, maintaining customer trust and security is at the forefront of its priorities. Strong authentication measures are central to Jumia’s commitment to safeguarding customer interactions, fostering loyalty, and enhancing overall satisfaction. Infobip has been a trusted partner in this journey, providing Jumia with SMS one-time passwords (OTPs) for account and transaction verification. 

However, in mid-2023, Jumia faced a new challenge amidst rising inflation and tighter consumer spending: escalating costs associated with SMS for OTP delivery.

The high volume of daily OTP requests resulted in high operational costs. With security remaining paramount, Jumia knew they needed to find a way to reduce costs while continuing to prioritize customer safety. For example, they introduced mandatory phone number verification for all customers to combat fraud and improve the accuracy of contact information. This proactive measure led to fewer failed deliveries and improved customer experience but increased the need for a cost-effective authentication solution.

In their quest to improve cost efficiencies, Jumia explored alternative communication channels. They discovered that while SMS remains widely used, WhatsApp is the second most used channel among their customers, except for markets like Algeria, where Viber is more popular.

To match their customers’ channel preferences and lower the overall cost, Jumia started considering adding these channels to its authentication portfolio. 

But, since chat apps require data connectivity for receiving and sending messages, Jumia needed an omnichannel solution to send OTPs at the right time, on the most cost-effective channel. To achieve this, they needed to find the right authentication solution to implement reliable failover measures so no single OTP gets lost. 

As one of our established customers, Jumia was already enjoying the benefits of our 800+ direct operator connections, which ensures deliverability via secure routes, giving them confidence that their authentication processes are secure and legally sound.

That’s why expanding our partnership to an effective omnichannel authentication solution like Infobip Authenticate was a logical choice.

Jumia decided to use WhatsApp, along with SMS as a failover when customers register new accounts, and to send delivery codes to confirm their identities when they receive orders.

Now, whenever a customer requires an OTP, it first goes to WhatsApp, and if they don’t have an internet connection, they will get an SMS in real-time. 

Best of all? Jumia only pays for the message that is delivered. In markets where Viber is the preferred channel, Jumia follows a similar strategy, starting with Viber and then using SMS as a failover channel.

From an operational perspective, Infobip Authenticate is fully automated, so Jumia only had to say “yes” to cost savings. We did all the work of routing and finding the best possible way to deliver OTP messages.

All of this guaranteed uninterrupted service while enhancing both Jumia’s and their customers’ experience and minimizing costs and operational efforts.

Jumia’s adoption of Infobip’s Authenticate solution has led to substantial cost savings and operational efficiencies, with notable reductions in OTP delivery costs across key markets. 

A detailed analysis of Jumia’s newly-implemented omnichannel authentication costs highlights consistent month-on-month savings, ranging from 5% to as high as 54%.

For instance, in June 2024, Jumia reduced costs by 36%. Even in months where the cost reductions were smaller, like November 2023, they still managed to save 5%.

These savings were achieved without compromising the security or reliability of OTP delivery. Jumia can now maintain uninterrupted service, improve customer experience, and deliver continuous authentication across all regions.

Furthermore, their experience highlights the growing presence of WhatsApp as a critical communication channel in Africa. Jumia is now looking to expand its use of our services further by exploring additional automation options—such as integrating FAQs into the OTP chatbot to enhance customer experience further and reduce operational costs.

The strategic shift towards omnichannel authentication has allowed Jumia to lower costs and create new opportunities for innovation and customer engagement in the future.