how frequent people use M-Pesa, the act
of using M-Pesa in itself is a low stake
transaction.
the terms of the transaction that are
important to customers, but also what
terms are a pleasure to customers and a
pain.
it can pick a contact from your SIM, your
phone memory and your Gmail account
if you are an android user. This is a good
example of innovating, while keeping in
mind consumers’ irrational behavior. ability to think either in an abstract or
in a concrete manner. Two popular forms
of construal that help in understanding a
culture are low-level construal and high-
level construal. Irrationality should not be confused for
stupidity neither should it be labelled as
being overly emotional. These labels only
seem to vilify what makes humans human,
when the decision they make leads to an
unsavory or unintended outcome. We have
to remember that as humans, our minds
did not and have not evolved to be fully
rational. This is not to say that we should
forget all use of rational thinking. There
are times, like mentioned earlier, where
You quickly realize after you have rational thinking is necessary and applied
confidently and hastily pressed, “Cancel” consciously.
that you have inadvertently approved
the transaction. The numerous calls to
Safaricom begin in hopes of getting the So far, I have been able to showcase how
transaction reversed. You then tell yourself, irrationality governs us on a day-to-day
“I will never be that stupid again.” Next basis and how this irrationality leads us
time you do an M-Pesa transaction you are to value transactional utility more over
extra cautious that every digit is correct, acquisition utility. When consumers value
and maybe even go to the extent of writing transactional utility more, they expect
brands and/or people they transact with
the number on a piece of a paper.
to operate in a fair manner. We have also
At Safaricom, we have embraced this seen that we are willing to spend money to
irrational behavior by encouraging users punish brands or people who we feel acted
to use the MySafaricom App for M-Pesa. unfairly towards us. Kenya, and most African countries, is a
low-level construal culture. A low-level
construal culture is one where people
think concretely about things and are
more concerned with the specifics. When
people are engaged in low-level construal,
they are focusing on the present in detail.
At the low level, people focus on the
peripheral, secondary features that are less
essential to the overall gist of the situation
or object. mSurvey is one company in Kenya that is
helping brands like Java, Chloride Exide
and even Safaricom better understand how
to drive positive transactional utility, with
the help of mobile surveys administered
instantaneously, after the conclusion of a
transaction between the customer and the
brand. Such information, to any brand
custodian, is gold because it gives you
laser focus on what your priorities should
be in driving positive transactional utility
and seeming fair.
A high-level construal culture is one where
people think in abstract and bigger picture.
When thinking on this level, people are
looking at the bigger picture; not focusing
on details. At the high level, people focus
on central features that capture the overall
gist of the situation or object. I was pleasantly surprised the first time
I got a prompt to give feedback to Java
after paying with M-Pesa for a meal.
Over time, I have seen Java change a few
things based on feedback from me and
their other customers.
For instance, if someone from a low-level
construal cultural background passes a
group of children and is asked what they
are doing, they are more than likely to
describe the activity - the children are
playing football and running around.
On the other hand, an individual from a
high-level construal cultural background
is simply going to say “The children are
playing”. Chloride Exide Dial-A-Battery is
another example of a brand understanding
the terms of the transaction that are
important for the customer when buying
a battery. In this case, it is annoying to
have to go pick up a battery when the car
I could have used cannot start because
of a low battery. I am sure customers
were experiencing negative transactional
utility before Chloride Exide decided
to enhance the process by delivering the
battery to where the user is.
If you are an avid user of M-Pesa you have
probably experienced this panic situation
when you realize you are about to send
the money to the wrong recipient. Because
of the cognitive load (i.e. panic, coupled
with the need to be fast), system 1 tells
you that cancel is the best option to stop
the transaction. After all, you have grown
up knowing that cancel means STOP. But
in this case, cancel means, “take away this
prompt from my screen and just send the
money”.
With the app, users are able to select
contacts from their contacts and the
confirmation message comes before you
put your PIN. The best part is that within
the app, you can actually press cancel when
the confirmation message comes and the
transaction will be cancelled. Moreover,
unlike the sim toolkit which only picks
contacts from your SIM card, via the app
One last observation to note is the impact
of culture and its role as a strong catalyst
to our irrational behavior. By culture I
am referring to the lens in how people
living in different countries use to view
the world. Construal level theory breaks
down how peoples view of the world
(because of their culture) influences their
Irrationality should not be confused for
stupidity neither should it be labelled as
being overly emotional. These labels only
seem to vilify what makes humans hu-
man, when the decision they make leads
to an unsavory or unintended outcome.
We have to remember that as humans, our
minds did not and have not evolved to be
fully rational. This is not to say that we
should forget all use of rational thinking.
There are times where rational thinking
is necessary and applied consciously.
54 MAL28/19 ISSUE
Because most Kenyans see things from
a low-level construal position, they are
more focused on functional elements of a
product and service, and hence privilege
transactional utility over acquisition
utility. It is difficult for most of us to see
the bigger picture (the perceived emotive
benefit), and easier for us to focus on the
tangible aspects - price and functionality.
It should be noted that it is not uncommon
to find individuals within a low-level
construal culture to think on a high-level
construal.
As a brand, if you are expecting your
consumers to think on a high-level
construal, and your products and services
are part of those small stakes/frequent
interactions, it is as good as flogging a
dead horse and your brand is likely to be
perceived as unfair and selfish.
Brands in Kenya are now starting to invest
in Transactional NPS (TNPS for short)
research to be able to not only understand
For most, well at least for me, it was a
pleasant surprise to call to get a battery
and was told that they can deliver or I
can pick it up. I experienced positive
transactional utility and as a result,
whenever the topic comes up on buying
a new battery, I eagerly and willingly
recommend
Chloride
Exide
and
emphasize their delivery as part of their
terms of the transaction.
It must be noted though, that in the
pursuit for gaining feedback on how to
optimize the terms of the transaction, the
time between the end of the transaction
and the survey should be as brief as
possible. You want to get the feedback
when it is hot and more recent. The longer
it takes to obtain feedback on the level of
transactional utility derived, the higher
the likelihood that the consumer has
either forgotten or moved on and cannot
be bothered recalling the experience.
Humans get by based on irrational be-
havior that is punctuated with a series of
biases (both conscious and unconscious)
and rules of thumb, to allow us to save
brain energy to focus on tasks that will
require more brain power, like studying
for an exam or picking the right mort-
gage plan. In short, as humans, we have
not evolved this far based on rational de-
cisions - irrationality is what got us this
far, and will continue to take us farther.
The value of seeming fair and building
positive transactional utility is more
important for brands that plan to sell to
the same customers for a long period. Not
only will you, the brand, appear fair, but
it gives the brand much needed goodwill
which money cannot buy. You are literally
tagging at emotive strings by seeming to
act fair as a brand.
FMCG brands and Telcos are just but a
few of some of the industries that have a
lot to lose, in terms of long-term goodwill,
by seeming to act unfairly. Traditional
economics are likely to dismiss this with
adage “the world is not fair”. While that
might be true, why should a brand or you
as in individual have to subscribe to the
majority notion, even if you know it is not
right?
A brands character and longevity is often
determined by the selfless or selfish actions
it decides to make. Brand custodians owe
it to the customer and to the longevity of
the brand, to make decisions that are not
self-seeking but altruistic.
This should not be confused to mean
businesses should be philanthropic or
increase their philanthropic initiatives
to counter their acquisition utility
approach, and neither am I advocating
for businesses to price all their products/
services low - not at all. I am simply saying
that brand custodians need to embrace
their consumers’ irrationality instead of
dismissing it as outliers or customers who
“just don’t get it”.
For brands that are in the midst of
innovating and/or are in industries
that have frequent transactions with the
same customers, phrases and boardroom
questions that are by-products of adopting
an acquisition utility approach should be
avoided, or at the very least used sparingly.
Such phrases include, but are not limited
to: How do we justify our pricing? What
extra value can we showcase about our
product/service? How do we amplify the
benefit of the product/service/experience?
Such phrases and questions ought to be
substituted with phrases and questions
that seek to build positive transactional
utility among its customers. Simply put,
brands need to understand the terms of
trade that need to be enhanced, in order to
drive positive transactional utility towards
their brand. Both brand and customer are
bound to benefit from such an approach,
thanks to the one thing that has helped us
survive all these years as a human race…
IRRATIONALITY.
The views and opinions shared herein
are for the author, and are in no way a
representation of any brand or company
that the author has, or currently works
for.
Andrew
Riungu
works
for
Safaricom Limited, within the
Research & Insights department,
where he is tasked with helping the
brand address the evolving needs of
the diverse consumers Safaricom
serves. You can commune with him
on this or related matters via email
at: [email protected].