Telecom

2024

T-Mobile super app design concept

Many mobile operators are launching extra services to multiply revenues. But offering separate apps is not enough to drive benefit. The key is creating synergy between them and the telecom core.

On the example of T-Mobile, we’ll show how to do it.

super app

telco

Goal

Growing retention and revenue from existing customers

T-Mobile, like other MNOs, offers extra services: phones and devices, deals on travel, gas and movies, streaming service subscriptions, banking cards, insurance, and IoT. They are available as separate apps, which doesn’t really work well to drive users to spend more.

The key is to create a seamless experience where subscribers travel between services and visit the app to solve more than one task.

Our solution

Uniting all services in one app

Let’s imagine a subscriber, Violet. She has bought a data plan with streaming subscriptions as a bonus. T-Mobile could use these subscriptions to invite her to the super app.

Telecom as the core

At the first visit, the app offers to set up free options and activate bonuses. It helps to catch the subscriber’s attention and works as an entry point to the ecosystem.

Plan upgrades and T-Mobile offers in stories

The app introduces the subscriber to extra T-Mobile services such as banking, mobile phone deals, or additional gigabytes.

Violet sees a relevant service, clicks on it, makes a purchase, becomes a user of another T-Mobile product, and has more reasons to open the app.

Favorite partner services on the home screen

T-Mobile loyalty programs include deals from T-Mobile's partners: Shell, Hilton, Hertz, Little Ceasars, and more. They help gain more insight into customer preferences and offer subscribers more value to visit the app.

To draw more users into these services, we put them right on the home screen. Later, the subscriber can customize them by pinning their favorites.

Personal assistant to become a part of everyday life

The T-Mobile parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has an AI assistant, Selena, that gives personalized recommendations. We decided to take her further, seeing how some telecoms use AI in customer service.

This Selena is always at hand, can tell the weather, book a table at a restaurant, block spam calls, and do other mundane tasks to help the subscriber in her daily life.

Widgets with extra services

Widgets feature more services for T-Mobile subscribers. A user signs in with their T-Mobile ID and gets bonuses for activation. Later, the user can spend these bonuses on in-app payments and purchases.

This way, Violet visits the app daily to transfer money, check up on her car, locate her pets via SyncUP trackers, or turn on the TV in the kitchen.

In-app service synergy maximizes revenue from one user

As the subscriber uses extra offers, the app learns more about their needs and preferences and offers more relevant picks from partner and bespoke services.

This creates a seamless experience where one subscriber becomes a user of multiple offers and services, opens the app daily to solve various tasks, and spends more.

Technical side

Modular architecture for endless scaling

How modular architecture works

Extra services are easier to build with modules: each module represents one service, for example, profile, verifications, or catalog. Modules are developed by separate teams, which allows to launch 30% faster and build new apps based on the existing modules.

Modules can also work as separate entry points to the ecosystem

Entering the ecosystem via modular services

Say, T-Mobile decided to turn their banking service into a standalone application — with modular architecture it is done easily. A subscriber of a different network operator starts to use it and through this service, gets introduced to other additional services.

Then, the T-Mobile ecosystem can analyze their spendings, purchasing history, and offer a different plan for connectivity or suggest switching to T-Mobile.

As a result

The operator gets more revenue from one subscriber, and grows beyond its telecom core through partnerships with other companies or standalone modular mini-apps.

Stronger retention

Extra services and personal offers prompt subscribers to open the app more

More user data

By using more services, subscribers leave more data to be used for personal offers

Higher reveues

One subscriber becomes a user of several services and yields more