Doing More with Testimonials: A Case Study of PalmPay.

Have you been in a situation where you discovered you left a million dollars on the table while you walked away with ₦500,000? The pain is quite similar to stubbing your toe on a freezing Harmattan morning. A lot of us have been there before. What makes it worse is when you reflect on how you were feeling fly like a unicorn for walking away with that ₦500k. A few moments later, you're feeling like a donkey.

Alas, it was a moment of weakness. You wish you could turn back the hands of time but you can't. The memories of how you bottled such an opportunity will haunt you for weeks and you will cringe badly each time they resurface.

If you think the above image is very vivid, it's because we've been there too. However, it became important to write this article to prevent other brands from getting there. We’ll be using PalmPay as a case study.

Why PalmPay?

Two things stood out during the last cash crisis in Nigeria: POS merchants taking people for a ride by charging high commissions and two fintech apps that made the transfer of funds easy and fast – PalmPay and Opay. These two apps grew in popularity during this period and they became the most downloaded apps with Opay taking the number one spot while PalmPay took the second spot. This development was a no-brainer because these apps fill the gaps that traditional banks couldn't fill. However, things took a different turn for PalmPay along the line.

What started as innocent online memes developed into skits that put PalmPay's brand image in a bad light. Unlike Opay that have its loan service deployed on a different app called Okash, PalmPay has its loan services bunched together with other financial services they render on the same app. It is uncertain what triggered the chain of events, but some content creators jumped on the trend of displaying PalmPay agents using extreme means to retrieve loan repayments from defaulters. It seems the skits stopped as mysteriously as they started but is that the case?

We have Stopped Seeing these Skits. What Did PalmPay Do?

The moves by PalmPay to address the misrepresentation of their brand are quite commendable. These skits were damaging the brand identity of PalmPay and it was crucial to address it. One such move by PalmPay was to release a notice denouncing such skits and stating clearly they are not from PalmPay. They also threatened to take legal action against such malicious content creators. This used to be their pinned post and it has been seen by over 1 million Tweeps.

To top it all, in what can be considered a PR masterstroke, PalmPay employed the use of testimonials to seal it off. They launched a campaign with the hashtag #TheTruthAboutPalmPay to counter the disinformation.

This PR decision is a smart one because it is rooted in the value of testimonials: people are more likely to believe what your customers are saying about your brand than what you are saying about your brand. The goal of this campaign was to encourage actual PalmPay users to share testimonials about their experience with the app. As we have suggested in one of our blogs, they provided incentives in the form of a contest with an attached prize for the best entry.

How to Leave No Dime on the Table as a Brand

It is fascinating to discover that there are currently no testimonials on PalmPay’s website. However, a look through PalmPay's website as of last year will reveal 3 short testimonials from their users. It is a curious thing to wonder what could have informed the decision to remove testimonials totally from the website. Well, not every B2C company can afford this. It leaves room for more improvement because it has been shown that more testimonials are related to more conversion of leads. Interestingly, like many brands, a lot of positive reviews can be found in the review section of PalmPay app on Google Play Store. These can easily be turned into testimonials and shared on social media as well as their website with Custimony.

Finally, the entries for #TheTruthAboutPalmPay don't have to end on social media. Winning entries and those that didn't even make the cut can also be featured in a single place using Custimony.