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Case study

MTN Nigeria: Up to 36% Higher SMS Conversion Through Smarter Timing

See how Intent HQ helped MTN Nigeria move from generic campaign scheduling to customer-level timing, using behavioral intelligence to identify a better moment to engage each customer and improve conversion across a campaign reaching millions.

See how MTN improved conversion by up to 36%

Up to36%

Improvement in conversion vs Business as Usual

Illustration: a woman at a Lagos bus stop in the morning, glancing at her phone as minibuses pass.
One customer's better moment might be the morning commute.
Illustration: a man outside a Lagos apartment block in the evening, reading his phone after work.
Another's might be the evening, after work.

The Results

Better Timing. Higher Conversion. Millions of Customers.

Across MTN's high-volume Smart Data campaign:

  • Up to 36%

    Improvement in conversion vs Business as Usual

  • Millions

    Of customers reached through the Smart Data campaign

  • Uplift from first use

    Best Time to Send delivered improved conversion from its first use in Smart Data.

The Challenge

When Campaign Timing Is Driven by Operations, Not Customer Behavior

MTN Nigeria was already running SMS campaigns at significant scale. With millions of customers to reach, audiences had to be distributed across predefined sending windows, for example, with portions contacted at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and so on.

But who received a message at which time wasn't determined by individual customer behavior. Campaigns were often executed during the afternoon because that was when teams were operationally able to send them.

The challenge? Operationally convenient didn't necessarily mean effective. Some middle-of-the-day hours could be among the least effective times to engage customers, while earlier or later windows could be more appropriate.

Intent HQ helped MTN turn campaign timing into a customer-level decision.

Generic Timing → Individual Timing

Instead of distributing customers across predefined sending windows, Best Time to Send used behavioral intelligence to select a more appropriate one-hour window for each customer.

Illustrative

Generic Timing → Individual Timing

Predefined sending windows, set by when teams could send

Each dot stands for a group of customers. The pattern is illustrative, not campaign data.

  • Generic timing: the campaign's customers are split across predefined afternoon sending windows, from 1pm to 5pm.
  • Individual timing: each customer receives the message in a one-hour window chosen for them, spread from early morning to late evening.

What You'll Learn

In the Case Study, You'll See:

The breakthrough was making timing itself more intelligent — using behavioral intelligence to move from campaign-level scheduling to customer-level decisions.

  1. Why MTN's existing SMS scheduling approach created an opportunity to improve customer engagement.

  2. How Intent HQ helped MTN move from generic sending windows to individualized timing.

  3. How Best Time to Send selected a more appropriate one-hour window for each customer.

  4. How the approach delivered up to 36% higher conversion in MTN's Smart Data campaign.

  5. How MTN achieved conversion uplift from the first use of Best Time to Send.

Download the full case study

The opportunity wasn't more messaging. It was choosing a better moment for every customer.

The Full Story

Download the Full Case Study

Discover how MTN Nigeria moved beyond operational campaign scheduling to make smarter timing decisions at customer level — and how Intent HQ's behavioral intelligence helped turn that shift into measurable conversion improvement.

Download the full case study
Cover of the MTN Nigeria case study PDF: Up to 36% higher SMS conversion through smarter timing.