Given the fact that 92% of the world’s population do not have a credit card, if you currently do not offer an alternative billing solution you are missing out on a significant revenue-stream.
As we are all aware, the open architecture nature of the web means that Deepack from Dehli can just as easily see your awesome website as can Mike in Miami. However, despite having the resources to pay you, Deepack is not given an opportunity to do so – resulting in him getting his kicks elsewhere.
In theory, the dialler was the answer to this problem. End users would pay you on a per minute basis whilst their modem reconnected to the web via a premium rate number. In practice, high incidence of fraud leading to horrendous phone bills shattered consumer confidence, resulting in mass rejection of invitations to have additional software downloaded onto their PC’s. Increasing broadband penetration has rendered the dialler obsolete anyway.
The Solution? IVR (Interactive Voice Response) Billing which can be best compared to 1-900 Phone Billing for the global village. Surfers are invited to call a premium rate number in order to gain access to the forbidden fruits of your member’s area for a limited amount of time. Chances are, their country does not even have a domestic premium rate billing infrastructure – so the surfer is invited to call an overseas number instead – all without the need of a second phone line or having to download anything onto his PC.
For this, he will be charged at the standard IDD (International Direct Dial) rates as dictated by his phone provider and pays them via his phone bill in the usual way. They then pay a proportion of this to the ‘terminating’ telco – that is to say the phone company in the country to where the call is sent.
These ‘terminating’ telcos understand that traffic and revenue they receive this way is new money, and are prepared to pay a proportion of this rate – otherwise known as the ‘settlement’ rate - to companies whose client’s marketing efforts resulted in said traffic.
IVR billing is popular with end users since it is simple and means that they do not have to part with any personal information. And since typically these customers have no other way of paying you, such billing is a fantastic recurring business.
Another small but crucial aspect to this billing mechanism is to use geo-targeted calls-to action. This way, our friend Deepack will be pleasantly surprised to see the message to pay you in his own native tongue, in his case Hindi. Money Talks, in every language – not just English!
If you operate a paysite, the implementation of such a solution will hand you a new revenue stream overnight without any additional marketing efforts on your part since these are people that were visiting your site(s) anyway.
On the other hand, if you are involved in other activities that generate international traffic, make sure that you work with an IVR provider that provides you with ‘good-to-go’ geo-targeted consumer-facing niche websites where you can direct such traffic. You should not have to pay a dime for this since it in your IVR processor’s best interest to provide you with all the tools needed to convert such traffic.
Some key players within the industry are already earning in excess of $1m/year by utilising IVR Billing. Such solutions can and should be disabled for the US where the credit card reigns supreme. But the world is a big place. And given the underlying nature of the product we offer – let’s face it, a blowjob is a blowjob in ANY language – the time to implement such a solution is now. Go on, make both Deepack and your Bank Manager happy. The money is just lying out there waiting to be picked up…
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