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"Customers are not looking for a quote; they are looking for the right person to clean their air conditioner or fix a leak. What we aim for is to inspire the behavior: 'If you need someone, open the Sumgo app.'"
Brave Mobile, which operates the life service platform Sumgo, has grown by offering approximately 1,000 life services ranging from moving, cleaning, and interior design to tutoring, lessons, design, and IT development. Kim Yeon-jeong, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) who joined Sumgo in March this year, stated that this is the direction Sumgo aims for over the next decade.
He explained that joining the company was based on the fact that "although Humgo is already a large platform, the market it can create in the future is far larger." CMO Kim joined Humgo after working at Kakao, Market Designers, and Nolly Universe. He said, "Since we have accumulated sufficient expert networks, customers, data, and transaction experience, we are aiming to transform from a 'service for finding experts' into 'the service that comes to mind first when people need someone.'"
Kim, the CMO, is focused on converting company awareness into actual usage. As of last year, repeat customers accounted for 52 percent of all quote requests on Humgo. He stated, "While it has been confirmed through data that many people use Humgo repeatedly, we still consider it a challenge to determine whether they think of Humgo when they truly face a 'moment when someone is needed.' We believe the most important task is to ensure that when people encounter tasks that are too daunting to handle alone, they immediately think of Humgo to call for help."
Soomgo recently launched a campaign featuring actor Ju Ji-hoon as its model to kick off its rebranding efforts. The shift in direction for Soomgo, which had not engaged in active promotion or branding activities until now, is driven by the strategy of "securing usage scenarios first." The campaign slogan, "When you need people at home, think of Soomgo," was designed to naturally prompt users to recall the service when specific situations arise.
He said, "According to internal data, about 70% of all requests occur in situations where people go to customers' homes or spaces." He added, "Moving, cleaning, interior design, and repairs are not the only examples; face-to-face tutoring and some lessons also ultimately take the form of experts visiting the space where the customer is located." Regarding this slogan, he explained that it was not about narrowing Hide's scope but rather an expression that identified the largest common denominator in actual customer behavior.
The service area of Humgo is not limited to household services that can be resolved within the home. Recently, its usage has expanded to include catering for events such as birthdays and 60th birthday celebrations, as well as in the wedding and education sectors. According to data from January to August this year compared with the same period in 2023, the number of users utilizing wedding-related services increased by 50%. This reflects a significant rise in the use of services such as wedding helpers, snap photography, and hair and makeup. In the education sector, usage has broadened beyond traditional services like tutoring to include learning habit management, home visits for counseling, and sports activities.
Soomgo plans to secure service usage in situations with such temporal and spatial constraints. The company explains that as dual-income households increase, leading to greater time and space limitations, services are expanding into various fields including child care, on-site makeup, and elderly care.
The vision of Kim, the CMO, can be summarized with the metaphor of a "kimchi refrigerator." He stated, "When the kimchi refrigerator was first launched, many people reacted by asking, 'Who would buy something like that?' However, it has now become an essential household appliance for storing not only kimchi but also fruits and wine. We hope that Soggo will similarly incorporate various services that may initially seem unfamiliar, one by one, to become a platform that covers all aspects of daily life."
Soomgo plans to actively expand not only its user base but also its pool of experts (skilled professionals). He stated, "To enhance convenience for users, it is essential to expand both the quantity and quality of experts."
Kim CMO cited the film "The Intern" to explain the direction of expanding the expert pool. He stated, "Experience accumulated over a long period in one field holds value that cannot be replaced by short-term efforts," and added, "We will create a foundation where that expertise is respected and recognized so that such experience and wisdom do not disappear."
Product changes are also underway to diversify how customers use the service. A recent example is "Book Now." Book Now connects customers directly with professional companies selected by Sumgo on a one-on-one basis. Customers can immediately reserve services at standardized prices without comparing separate quotes. For experts, Book Now offers a new customer acquisition method where they do not need to search for request forms each time; instead, they can review reservations made in advance by customers and selectively accept them.
He said, "If you want to thoroughly compare prices and conditions, a quote comparison is suitable; if you need something urgently right now, an immediate reservation is appropriate," adding that the goal is not for HideGo to decide how to call people, but rather to allow customers to choose the method that best fits their situation.
Major platforms have responded positively to their successive entry into the lifestyle services market, judging that as interest in the market grows, demand for services that solve daily problems with expert assistance could expand. Somyung is enhancing its services so that customers can not only explore services through price comparisons and instant bookings but also complete the entire process of solving actual problems within the platform, including expert verification and transaction protection.
Kim CMO said, "If the past 10 years of Humgo were a time that allowed experts to be found and compared online, the next 10 years will be a time when customers can call people in ways suited to their situations and resolve actual problems."
[Money Today Startup Media Platform Unicorn Factory]
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