Junk Mail partnership supercharges Mxit’s classified ads platform
The number of ads placed on Junk Mail Xchange (JMX), the reinvigorated Mxit classified platform powered by Junk Mail, has doubled in just four months, says Junk Mail MD Felix Erken.
“We’re getting close to 30,000 new ads a week,” says Erken. “This gives the entire Junk Mail community, across all media, access to a much greater range of ads – and we now have a very strong national footprint. For the first time, buyers and sellers can find each other in Kimberley and Queenstown as easily as in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
JMX is fully integrated with Junk Mail’s web site and mobile site, with all of the sites sharing the same database. “No matter what medium our users prefer, they all now have equal access to South Africa’s largest classified ads database,” says Erken.
What distinguishes the Mxit classified users from those on other channels is their high level of interaction and engagement says Erken. “In November alone, three million Mxit users placed an ad or sent a message on JMX; we’re averaging 20,000 responses a day.”
“We also love the volume and detail of the feedback we are getting,” adds Erken. “When we first launched JMX the feedback was honest, direct and constructive – users quickly pointed out where they were having problems, so we were able fix things just as quickly. We responded to every comment. Now we’re getting 40-50 messages a day, and the number of positive comments has increased tremendously.”
This suggests Mxit’s move to become a platform provider is working well, says Erken. “We’re the experts in classified advertising. They allow us to get on with it and do what we do best for our users. As a result, our 20 years of local classifieds experience has helped us to make JMX a serious classified platform, where buying and selling works.
“Taking on specialist partners is a key element of our platform strategy, and we choose those partners carefully,” says Mxit’s head of communications Sarah Rice. “JMX is a real success story for us. Junk Mail is the biggest and most experienced classified ads operator in the country, and that experience has really shown in the way they’ve been able to engage our users.”