Hundreds are subscribing to Go's new four-service Home Pack product every day, chief operations officer Norbert Prihoda has told The Times Business.
"It seems as if the market was waiting for this product," he says. "It has been very successful, beyond our expectations. It's a first of its kind as it innovatively brings together all four communication services into one affordable package."
The take-up on the product, which incorporates digital TV, broadband, unlimited fixed line calls and free mobile talk time and single billing from €33 monthly, comes in the wake of positive findings in research commissioned by the quad-play company last summer. The report shows that Go customers "seem to be more satisfied" than those of the other two operators in the local market, Vodafone and Melita. The results are in line with Mr Prihoda's belief that attractive pricing needs to be backed by customer satisfaction to make up the numbers.
The research was conducted by leading market research firm GfK through its Maltese partner, in August and September. The survey carried out as part of the project used GfK's patented Loyalty Plus methodology among a 1,000-strong population sample. It included qualitative research through extensive mystery calling and shopping, interviews and focus groups. Gfk has carried out similar exercises internationally for telecoms giants T-Mobile and Telefonica.
The Times Business has seen a summary of results from the extensive research - Go did not divulge the identity of Operator A and Operator B. Throughout the findings, Operator A consistently comes in second place, Operator B in third. The research seems to suggest that standards in the local market are well above satisfactory.
GfK found that where overall satisfaction with performance of operators was concerned, 52 per cent of respondents said Go was "better or much better than expected". Operator A and Operator B both surpassed the GfK benchmark of 47 per cent at 49 and 45 per cent, respectively.
In GfK's loyalty index, all three operators come in over the 65 per cent benchmark - Go at 77 per cent, Operator A at 72, and Operator B at 69.
"The strongest component (in the index) is current behaviour, based on usage of the company and word of mouth," the report says. "The intentional component is also strong but rational and emotional ties are comparatively weaker. This finding suggests that loyalty of the customer has a rather habitual character... the majority of customers are typical with moderate loyalty (Go - 80 per cent, Operator A - 76 per cent, Operator B - 67 per cent). Operator B, however, has one quarter of customers with only weak loyalty." In the case of strong loyalty, Go scored 12 per cent, compared to eight and seven per cent of the other operators.
The research also revealed that "only a marginal number of customers would consider not continue using the services of current operators" - 90 per cent were "definitely or probably" likely to continue to use Go's services and two per cent "definitely not". The other two operators fare well: 78 per cent would continue to use Operator A and 75 per cent Operator B. Four and six per cent would not continue to use their services.
In terms of brand perception, 77 per cent rated Go's products as having good value (Operator A - 66 per cent; Operator B - 57 per cent); 88 per cent found Go to be trustworthy (Operator A - 82 per cent, Operator B - 75 per cent); 90 per cent found Go to be reliable (Operator A - 84 per cent, Operator B - 75 per cent); 71 per cent considered both Go and Operator A innovative (Operator B - 65).
Almost two out of three (63 per cent) Go customers frequently praised Go and one out of five (21 per cent) criticised the company. In Operator A's case, praise stood at 59 per cent and criticism at 20 per cent; 47 per cent had a good word for Operator B, 29 per cent did not.
The likelihood of customers recommending their own service provider to relatives or friends was highest among Go customers (86 per cent over the GfK benchmark of 77); 76 per cent would "definitely or probably recommend" Operator A, 69 per cent Operator B. Two per cent would "definitely not or probably not" recommend Go, four per cent Operator A and nine per cent Operator B.
Mr Prihoda says 2008 was Go's year "to focus on customer experience across different products, channels and interactions with existing and potential customers in retail, residential and wholesale areas."
He explained that, earlier in the year, Go focused on unifying channels to customers in the retail stores, and consolidating a single 40-member business team to see to the requirements of corporate customers and SMEs.
"This report put together research on how well we are doing where customer experience is concerned," Mr Prihoda points out. "Based on this project, we are taking customers' opinions and working on positioning ourselves on these four points of differentiation: value, customer experience, reliability, and innovation.
"Any operator can change prices. If we changed our rates today, tomorrow somebody else will change theirs and so on. It is about total propositions. And our approach is that: a total value proposition across all - mobile, fixed, broadband, TV. There is always room for improvement so we strive to understand what the market wants and bring that to the market."
Mr Prihoda says positive customer experience also dictates that services are installed on time, problems are seen to promptly, and billing is clear and transparent. He says Go's second submarine cable will give the company total redundancy; it will be commercially ready by the end of January.
"Without innovation, we cannot progress," he points out. "We are constantly studying what we can bring to the market. We believe the Home Pack is the right composition of the four services. The advantage to our Blackberry solution is that it falls back onto 2.75G EDGE technology in cases where optimal 3G coverage is not always available, which means it maintains speed. Our solution guarantees better coverage and better throughput of data. We are also seeing customers coming back to our fixed line service, which automatically falls back onto the exchange if there is a power shortage. In the end, it is about people: us, the call centre staff, sales assistants, technicians, installers."
Melita's chief operations officer sparked a war of words over pricing a few weeks back after saying some customers "felt cheated" by the current mobile operators. Melita launches its mobile business in February.
"Go Mobile was the company which challenged the prices in the market and broke the monopoly nine years ago," Mr Prihoda says, when pressed on pricing.
"We went from zero to almost 50 per cent market share and brought some rates down to as low as one euro cent per SMS. Competition is always presenting existing operators with challenges but it brings along the opportunity for us to do things better. It does not mean that without competition, we would not work harder, but it pushes us even further going forward.
"We are already doing a lot on pricing side. We have launched a retention campaign, we are giving good offers on handsets to new and existing customers, doubling talk time, we are giving away phones on the 'Pay Monthly' programmes.
"Every new operator needs to assess the best market entry strategy and to make their business viable. At this level of penetration, it will not be easy. It is about the investment you make and how close you can get to customers and how you can offer them the best value. Price you can change immediately - we could match a new price the next day - but you have to make sure that customers are satisfied with your service in all aspects. That is the hardest part."
"It seems as if the market was waiting for this product," he says. "It has been very successful, beyond our expectations. It's a first of its kind as it innovatively brings together all four communication services into one affordable package."
The take-up on the product, which incorporates digital TV, broadband, unlimited fixed line calls and free mobile talk time and single billing from €33 monthly, comes in the wake of positive findings in research commissioned by the quad-play company last summer. The report shows that Go customers "seem to be more satisfied" than those of the other two operators in the local market, Vodafone and Melita. The results are in line with Mr Prihoda's belief that attractive pricing needs to be backed by customer satisfaction to make up the numbers.
The research was conducted by leading market research firm GfK through its Maltese partner, in August and September. The survey carried out as part of the project used GfK's patented Loyalty Plus methodology among a 1,000-strong population sample. It included qualitative research through extensive mystery calling and shopping, interviews and focus groups. Gfk has carried out similar exercises internationally for telecoms giants T-Mobile and Telefonica.
The Times Business has seen a summary of results from the extensive research - Go did not divulge the identity of Operator A and Operator B. Throughout the findings, Operator A consistently comes in second place, Operator B in third. The research seems to suggest that standards in the local market are well above satisfactory.
GfK found that where overall satisfaction with performance of operators was concerned, 52 per cent of respondents said Go was "better or much better than expected". Operator A and Operator B both surpassed the GfK benchmark of 47 per cent at 49 and 45 per cent, respectively.
In GfK's loyalty index, all three operators come in over the 65 per cent benchmark - Go at 77 per cent, Operator A at 72, and Operator B at 69.
"The strongest component (in the index) is current behaviour, based on usage of the company and word of mouth," the report says. "The intentional component is also strong but rational and emotional ties are comparatively weaker. This finding suggests that loyalty of the customer has a rather habitual character... the majority of customers are typical with moderate loyalty (Go - 80 per cent, Operator A - 76 per cent, Operator B - 67 per cent). Operator B, however, has one quarter of customers with only weak loyalty." In the case of strong loyalty, Go scored 12 per cent, compared to eight and seven per cent of the other operators.
The research also revealed that "only a marginal number of customers would consider not continue using the services of current operators" - 90 per cent were "definitely or probably" likely to continue to use Go's services and two per cent "definitely not". The other two operators fare well: 78 per cent would continue to use Operator A and 75 per cent Operator B. Four and six per cent would not continue to use their services.
In terms of brand perception, 77 per cent rated Go's products as having good value (Operator A - 66 per cent; Operator B - 57 per cent); 88 per cent found Go to be trustworthy (Operator A - 82 per cent, Operator B - 75 per cent); 90 per cent found Go to be reliable (Operator A - 84 per cent, Operator B - 75 per cent); 71 per cent considered both Go and Operator A innovative (Operator B - 65).
Almost two out of three (63 per cent) Go customers frequently praised Go and one out of five (21 per cent) criticised the company. In Operator A's case, praise stood at 59 per cent and criticism at 20 per cent; 47 per cent had a good word for Operator B, 29 per cent did not.
The likelihood of customers recommending their own service provider to relatives or friends was highest among Go customers (86 per cent over the GfK benchmark of 77); 76 per cent would "definitely or probably recommend" Operator A, 69 per cent Operator B. Two per cent would "definitely not or probably not" recommend Go, four per cent Operator A and nine per cent Operator B.
Mr Prihoda says 2008 was Go's year "to focus on customer experience across different products, channels and interactions with existing and potential customers in retail, residential and wholesale areas."
He explained that, earlier in the year, Go focused on unifying channels to customers in the retail stores, and consolidating a single 40-member business team to see to the requirements of corporate customers and SMEs.
"This report put together research on how well we are doing where customer experience is concerned," Mr Prihoda points out. "Based on this project, we are taking customers' opinions and working on positioning ourselves on these four points of differentiation: value, customer experience, reliability, and innovation.
"Any operator can change prices. If we changed our rates today, tomorrow somebody else will change theirs and so on. It is about total propositions. And our approach is that: a total value proposition across all - mobile, fixed, broadband, TV. There is always room for improvement so we strive to understand what the market wants and bring that to the market."
Mr Prihoda says positive customer experience also dictates that services are installed on time, problems are seen to promptly, and billing is clear and transparent. He says Go's second submarine cable will give the company total redundancy; it will be commercially ready by the end of January.
"Without innovation, we cannot progress," he points out. "We are constantly studying what we can bring to the market. We believe the Home Pack is the right composition of the four services. The advantage to our Blackberry solution is that it falls back onto 2.75G EDGE technology in cases where optimal 3G coverage is not always available, which means it maintains speed. Our solution guarantees better coverage and better throughput of data. We are also seeing customers coming back to our fixed line service, which automatically falls back onto the exchange if there is a power shortage. In the end, it is about people: us, the call centre staff, sales assistants, technicians, installers."
Melita's chief operations officer sparked a war of words over pricing a few weeks back after saying some customers "felt cheated" by the current mobile operators. Melita launches its mobile business in February.
"Go Mobile was the company which challenged the prices in the market and broke the monopoly nine years ago," Mr Prihoda says, when pressed on pricing.
"We went from zero to almost 50 per cent market share and brought some rates down to as low as one euro cent per SMS. Competition is always presenting existing operators with challenges but it brings along the opportunity for us to do things better. It does not mean that without competition, we would not work harder, but it pushes us even further going forward.
"We are already doing a lot on pricing side. We have launched a retention campaign, we are giving good offers on handsets to new and existing customers, doubling talk time, we are giving away phones on the 'Pay Monthly' programmes.
"Every new operator needs to assess the best market entry strategy and to make their business viable. At this level of penetration, it will not be easy. It is about the investment you make and how close you can get to customers and how you can offer them the best value. Price you can change immediately - we could match a new price the next day - but you have to make sure that customers are satisfied with your service in all aspects. That is the hardest part."