Free pizza, stock work their magic as customers flock to T-Mobile - CNET

Never underestimate the power of free pizza.

When T-Mobile in early June launched its freebie program, which gave away pizza, streaming movies and, for some, shares of the company, it likely didn't have a sense of how quickly its customers would embrace the idea. Its T-Mobile Tuesday app crashed on launch day. The free pizza giveaway overwhelmed partner Domino's, and the pizza chain backed out of the program.

Not that any of this halted T-Mobile's momentum. The carrier replaced Domino's with a $15 voucher for a Lyft ride and earlier this month said that blockbuster hit game Pokemon Go wouldn't count against its customers' data for a year.

The perks offered through T-Mobile's Un-carrier campaign continue to lure in new customers and foster loyalty among existing ones through the brand. The latest evidence: the company's second-quarter results, which saw a gain of 646,000 net new postpaid phone customers, or folks who pay at the end of the month. The tuover rate for postpaid customers, meanwhile, fell to a record low 1.27 percent.

The Un-carrier campaign has helped T-Mobile lead the industry in growth, at times outstripping all of its competitors in the critical metric of new phone customers. Its success underscores how little gestures, including free pizza, can have a big impact on a company like T-Mobile, which remains a much smaller rival to telecom giants Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

3/ OMG @TMobile customers slammed @dominos stores!! They saw 3x & 4x in a typical day and can't handle the volume. pic.twitter.com/jVvDGAqduS

-- John Legere (@JohnLegere) June 15, 2016