Ecocash Reward Points, Are They Even Worth It?

As we outlined in our earlier article: things are not OK at Ecocash whose revenue contributions to the Cassava group have slipped. The truth is that Ecocash is no longer as indispensable as it once was. Personally, unlike last year, I can go for more than two weeks without even using my Ecocash Wallet. Even those who earn RTGS these days are preferring to use their bank accounts instead of moving the money to their Ecocash wallet.

In a bid to stem the slide, Ecocash introduced their points reward system in October. Like all things Ecocash, the promotion was announced by a deluge of cryptic SMS messages that were sent directly to customers. Turns out these messages had been a bit vague causing a bit of excitement among customers who thought that there were about to win something big. The truth is a bit underwhelming, to be honest.

How Ecocash Rewards work?

As already said thanks to macro-economic shift and regulations Ecocash has seen a drop in business. To counter this, the company wants to encourage people to keep using the platform and possibly lure other people back. So at its heart, the promotion is about encouraging people to transact using Ecocash. That’s an understandable goal. So how does it all work:

• You get 1 point for each $200 ZWL you spend using Ecocash
• Remember:
  • You can only spend up to $35 000 per week due to RBZ limits
  • This means each week you can get a maximum of 175 points per week this way
  • Depending on the month you can accumulate a maximum of 700 points
• You can then redeem the points on the last day of the month in exchange for airtime.
• You need a minimum of 5 points to be able to do this.
• Points are redeemed at $0.40 ZWL per point
• This gives you a maximum of $280 ZWL worth of airtime or US$2.80

In other words you need to spend $140 000 ZWL per month just so you can make $280 ZWL in airtime. Personally I don’t see how this is worth the effort unless you already have so much money lying somewhere in your wallet in which case this is a nice little reward. Banks charge you more than this to move $140 000 ZWL from your account to your wallet so doing so would be foolish on your part. Just keep the money where it is and buy yourself airtime using mobile banking.

Think otherwise? Then dial *151*300# and waste your time.