Safaricom, one of Kenya’s leading telecommunications companies, has reversed its plans to introduce an expiry date for its popular Bonga Points loyalty program. This move comes after the company announced earlier that points accumulated before 2019 would have been rendered useless if the implementation had begun on January 1, 2023. However, Safaricom disputes this claim and states that it never announced that Bonga points were expiring.
Bonga Points is a clever loyalty scheme program that rewards Safaricom customers with points everytime they consume services on its network. Safaricom services that are eligible for Bonga Points include making calls, sending text messages, and using data. They can be redeemed for a wide range of products and services, including airtime, data bundles, and even cash. Recently, the program has extended to include shopping at various outlets in the country.
The company had accumulated a liability of Sh4.5 billion by March 2022, which may have been one of the reasons behind the decision to introduce an expiry date for the points. However, after receiving feedback from its customers, Safaricom has decided to reverse this decision and customers will still be able to redeem their Bonga Points without any expiration date.
In 2020, Safaricom customers redeemed over 1 billion Bonga points through the Bonga for Good Initiative, which ended on June 4th 2020.
The Bonga for Good initiative, launched by Safaricom, aimed to support Kenyans affected by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this program, over 600,000 customers were able to donate points, equivalent to over Sh330 million, to over 40,000 merchants across the country. The majority of these points were redeemed for essential items such as food and household necessities, solar lighting solutions and entertainment. Additionally, many Kenyans also transferred their points as a sign of generosity, with more than Sh150 million being redeemed from this type of transfer.
Safaricom’s decision to reverse the expiry date for Bonga Points is a positive move for its customers, as it allows them to continue to accumulate and redeem their points without any limitations. This move will also help to maintain the loyalty of Safaricom’s customers, and will likely increase customer satisfaction and retention.