Since SingTel started its wholly owned MVNO, GOMO, in April 2019, the funky new telco has successfully penetrated into the crowded local telco space, making a name for itself.
But what is the lure of GOMO compared to other players like Circles.Life, Giga, MyRepublic and etc.? We’ll reveal this in a plan breakdown below.
Matching its price with its data volume
This sounds really easy, but other than Giga (launched later than GOMO), no other telcos has had their data volume matching with its price.
GOMO’s 20GB for $20 is a product construct that is not only easy to remember, but also convey an immediate message that each GB will only cost the consumer $1, and for customers who have long been over-paying for their telco bills, this directly addresses their desire list.
While one can argue that competitors like Circles.Life and Grid Mobile offer a lesser per GB price; 20GB for $18 (Circles.Life) and 40GB for $24.90 (Grid Mobile), a difference in data volume and price is simply not memorable. For Circles.Life’s case, it would simply be easy to forget the construct and lead customers to doubt whether its 20GB for $18 or $20 for 18GB. For Grid Mobile, while the .90 pricing makes the price distinct from the data volume, the lack of marketing effort (compared to GOMO and Circles.Life) and the number of numbers to remember makes the recall process difficult for customers when they are ready to switch telcos.
In relation to recall process, 20GB for $20 is also an easier set of numbers to remember due to their similarity. In the process of memory chunking, users would be better able to recall the 2 chunks of 20 and 20, rather than the chunks 20 and 18, or 40 and 24.90, as not only are the latter two not similar, there are also no patterns to derive the two chunks from. Therefore, when users are ready to switch telcos, GOMO’s 20 and 20 would be a stronger top-of-mind recall than Circles.Life and Grid Mobile.
This process of memory chunking can also be seen from Circles.Life’s past successful campaign where they offered an add-on of 20GB for $20 (this promo has since been changed to Unlimited Data for $20). Not only is the $1 per GB implicit message, coupled with whacky marketing, memorable for users, the two chunks of 20 and 20 also increases recall for users.
The power of standardisation
A telco plan goes beyond the data volume and the price, and GOMO understands that. It’s pretty rare for any user to remember the entire product construct of the plan that they are using. If you were to ask anyone what their telco plan is, they would probably be only able to recall the price and data volume, and not the talktime and SMS.
However, GOMO makes its plan an exception by standardising its talktime and SMS to its price and data volume, offering 200 minutes of outgoing calls and 200 SMS. The process of chunking, in the aforementioned section, comes into play as 20-20-200-200 becomes an easily remembered combination for users ($20 for 20GB, 200 minutes talktime and 200 SMS).
While the same standardisation cannot be done for its roaming bundle (2GB for $10 in 10 destinations), GOMO still applies the number “2” for the data volume rather offering 1GB for $5. While this can be interpreted as a revenue strategy, collecting $10 rather than just $5, the 2GB Roaming Data Pump still drives recall due to the similarity with the rest of the chunks.
Giga, a wholly owned MVNO by StarHub, has its standardisation limited to only the price and data volume, offering 25GB for $25 as its Base Plan construct. However, while they offer a generous 1000 minutes outgoing calls and 1000 SMS compared to GOMO’s 200 minutes and 200 SMS, it would be all in vain if customers cannot remember this construct.
Therefore, by making its plan the most easily remembered plan in the market, the ease of recall and understanding of GOMO’s plan would also drive more faith from customers into signing up for it rather than more attractive options from GOMO’s competitors in the market.
Clear and transparent mechanics
The last weapon of GOMO is its clear and transparent mechanics. $20 for 20GB, 200 minutes and 200 SMS. It’s that simple, no frills and hidden T&Cs, the latter of which customers are always wary of.
Compared to other MVNOs which came before GOMO, $20 is a permanent price that doesn’t change. For Circles.Life, $18 for 20GB is only applicable to port-in users, and price reverts to $28 after 12 months. This has been packaged by Circles.Life as a $120 cashback, a strategy that Zero Mobile, StarHub and M1 have also adopted. The confusion in pricing mechanics from Circles.Life would instill more caution in customers, and GOMO’s transparent and unchanged pricing would appeal more to them to ease these fears.
All these factors, coupled with strong marketing, have contributed to GOMO’s success in the market in less than a year, driving appeal to customers.
Singapore Telcos 