Nicole Hendah

In Nigeria, fintech adoption has surged, yet many promising products still struggle to reach and retain users beyond early adopters. In 2020, I led the digital strategy for Kalabash's SplitPay campaign, an effort to solve that exact challenge: to grow trust and usage among everyday Nigerians for a product that split flight payments into manageable instalments.

We didn't have the largest budget. But what we had — and used well — was behavioural insight, agile testing, and a radically localised approach to messaging.

This is the story of how we grew Kalabash's fintech adoption by over 65% in six months, earning press recognition and industry attention, and what it reveals about digital marketing in emerging economies.

1. The Problem: High Intent, Low Conversion

SplitPay allowed customers to book flights and pay in instalments. The value proposition was clear, especially in Nigeria's economy, where bulk payments are often unaffordable.

Yet early data showed:

Many users were abandoning the sign-up midway.

Those who converted were often repeat users, not new ones.

There was low engagement from lower-income regions, despite early interest.

We needed to understand what users feared and how to speak their language.

2. Behavioural Segmentation as a Growth Engine

Instead of traditional demographic targeting, we mapped users into five behavioural clusters using anonymised data pipelines and event tracking from Mixpanel and Meta Pixel:

**Anxious Optimisers**: cautious users who abandoned checkout at the payment stage

**FOMO Flyers**: social-driven users attracted by urgency or peer endorsement

**Budget Realists**: frequent price comparers who spend time on FAQ pages

**Mobile-first Millennials**: active on Instagram, converted via DMs or stories

**Legacy Users**: older, email-based users who responded to trust-building copy

Each segment received tailored creatives and copy across Meta ads, WhatsApp onboarding flows, and email drip campaigns.

3. Multichannel Execution: Meeting Users Where They Live

We deployed a full-funnel, omnichannel campaign across:

**Instagram Stories & Reels**: with Lagos-based influencers dramatising airport travel woes

**WhatsApp Chatbots**: designed with emotional language and voice notes for onboarding

**Email Series**: that demystified instalment payments with personalised examples

**Landing Pages**: A/B-tested versions that reduced cognitive friction for each user type

We also translated core campaign assets into Pidgin English, an often overlooked move that increased completion rates by 23%.

4. Visual Trust as a UX Imperative

Fintech scepticism is high in Nigeria. So, we overhauled Kalabash's visual design for SplitPay pages:

Introduced badges for security partners (Verve, NIBSS)

Displayed testimonials with real names and routes

Added a dynamic calculator showing payment breakdowns in real-time

We also published a "Your Rights as a SplitPay User" guide as a downloadable PDF, backed by FAQs that clearly spelt out refund policies.

5. Results: Growth with Retention

Outcomes:

65% increase in app sign-ups in 6 months

40% lower abandonment in checkout

32% uplift in campaign performance across behavioural segments

Profiled by TechPoint Africa in "Women Driving Innovation in African Fintech" (Oct 2020)

The article specifically highlighted my approach to behavioural targeting and was cited by two other fintech publications afterwards.

6. Tools and Technologies Used

**Mixpanel** for event analytics and user segmentation

**Meta Pixel & Google Tag Manager** for conversion tracking

**SendinBlue and Mailchimp** for automated drip emails

**Figma** for UI/UX iterations

**Google Optimise** for landing page A/B testing

**Typeform** for post-campaign surveys and sentiment tracking

7. Key Takeaways: A Framework for Fintech Growth in Africa

**Segmentation beats spray-and-pray.** Tailored campaigns convert better, especially when based on behaviour, not just identity.

**Trust is visual.** Showing real names, logos, and proof points matters.

**Emotional resonance matters more than technical elegance.**

**Messaging must be multilingual.** Pidgin worked. Humour worked. So did empathy.

A Campaign That Changed the Narrative

SplitPay went from an underused fintech feature to a credible, human-centred service. More importantly, it showed how data, empathy, and execution can bridge the trust gap between innovation and adoption in African tech.

I'm proud of the team, and proud that this work continues to influence how other startups now build, test, and scale their fintech outreach in West Africa.

Driving Fintech Adoption in Emerging Markets: Lessons from the Kalabash SplitPay Campaign