USSD Banking and Marketing Performance of Selected Transport Companies in Port Harcourt

The world has gone digital with almost every business activities coming up with more avenues to providing convenience and ensuring ease of use of their products and services by consumers. drawing on the social belongingness theory, this paper aimed at exploring the relationship between Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) banking and marketing performance in the transport sector. In order to achieve the study’s aim, field survey was carried out and 84 copies of structured questionnaire were distributed to 14 travelers/ customers of each of the 6 selected transport companies using cluster and systematic sampling techniques. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rho) analytical tool was employed for analyzing data generated. The outcome of analysis revealed that USSD contributed greatly to marketing performance of the studied transport companies. More so, it was revealed that USSD created a sense of financial inclusion to the low income earners who were able to enjoy digital services like bookings and reservations technically without actually being connected to the internet. The study further recommended that transport companies that are yet to utilize the USSD banking technology should embrace it as it makes the consumer delighted, having a sense of belonging to the digital world even without a smart phone or any sophisticated device. The study is relevant to the day-to-day operations of banks and transport firms in Port Harcourt.