by anton | Jul 11, 2014 |
Think cell phone billing is only about providing your customers with a convenient payment method? You would be surprised to know what you can learn from a customer’s billing information. Companies spend thousands on market research. Getting to know who your customers are and what they really want, is no easy task. Wouldn’t it be nice to gain some of that niche info without using extra resources? You can indeed – through something as simple as your customers’ transaction history! By analysing purchasing behaviour, you can gain valuable insight that will help you to create marketing strategies with pinpoint accuracy and products/ services that fit your customers like a glove. You could learn the following. What your customers actually prefer: you might think that your purple cell phone covers are all the rage, but your customers might be more interested in ones that are green or blue. So instead of only selling purple covers, you can rather stock a variety of blue and green coloured ones. Now you don’t waste money on stock your customers don’t want AND you could even sell more of your products. How to incentivise: cell phone billing can show you which type of products a customer buys on a regular basis (for example shaving cream). Rewarding a customer with something you know they want (shaving products), carries more weight than incentivising them with a random product (for example a pot plant) they most likely have no use for. If a customer is here to stay: no company wants to waste resources wooing once-off customers when they could be spending it to retain loyal ones....
by anton | Jun 23, 2014 |
As a business owner, the last thing you want to do is waste money. Companies rarely realise that inaccurate or duplicate customer data can do just this. Luckily, there is a thing called Mobile Number Washing. The aim of software that scrubs cell phone numbers from your database, is to help you eliminate the problem of misguided funds. Companies can lose thousands of bucks each year because of inaccurate customer contact details. Sending marketing material or calling phone numbers that are duplicated or don’t exist, also creates unnecessary work for employees. And not to mention, you are paying for every message you send or call you make. From the customer’s perspective it can get extremely frustrating to receive duplicate messages from a business. Usually this leads to the customer blocking or ignoring your communication attempts and even unsubscribing from your marketing list. Mobile Number Washing can help to prevent this so you don’t drive your customers away instead of enthralling them with your offerings. Your marketing and communication efforts need to be based on data that is 100% accurate for it to be successful. Having info that is not of good quality, can seriously hinder your efforts and leave you scratching your head as to where the problem lies. Mobile Number Washing can quickly and easily get rid of this problem. It can also benefit you on a daily basis because these tools usually have the ability to supervise your entries as it happens. Thus, instead living with an inaccurate entry for weeks (or even a year!), you can receive an alert to the problem almost instantly. Struggling with...
by anton | Jun 13, 2014 |
Cellphone Billing is way to pay for the goods you want without swiping a card or withdrawing cash from the ATM. Here are seven reasons why paying and receiving payment via mobile is awesome for consumers as well as business owners. No waiting in line Customers don’t have to stand in line to pay for their goods. This means less traffic in your shop. Wait, isn’t this a bad thing? Nope. Have a look at the behaviour of people in your shop during rush hours. Often, if it is very busy and the queues are long, customers will put their goods back on the shelves or even turn around right outside your door because they don’t have the time or patience to wait around. Less costs for the business Cellphone Billing can help a business to save on operating costs. You won’t need as many personnel to help your walk-in clients. And you won’t need as many transactions points like card swiping machines. Tapping into the unbanked market Not everyone has a credit card or debit card. Especially in poorer, rural areas, people mostly work with cash. This excludes them from purchasing certain products or services that they really need. Most of them own a mobile phone, which makes this an ideal way for businesses to receive payments. It’s safer for consumers Traditionally, people always use to carry cash with them. Now we all have a wallet full of cards because we feel that it is safer, but actually it doesn’t solve our security problems. Now you can leave your wallet at home. And even if your phone gets...
by anton | May 28, 2014 |
Although Mobile Billing applications are getting noticed more and more, people still aren’t jumping on the band wagon in mass numbers to use it. Why is that? One of the answers seem to be: because these apps are boring. When people install apps on their phone it is because it holds entertainment value. Have a look on your phone as well as those of your friends and family – you will usually find things like games, instant messaging and social media. An application that is only aimed at paying your bills via mobile runs the risk of being bland and uninteresting. What do consumers want then from Mobile Billing applications? Convenience The whole reason people are conducting transactions on their phones is because it is more convenient than driving to the ATM and easier than logging in via a desktop computer. Or that is how it is supposed to be. If an app doesn’t give you a reason to substitute it for the original “thing”, there isn’t much use for it. Simplicity Users want to click and type as few times as possible. When it comes to financial transactions on a handheld device, complexity is a bad thing. Unfortunately the less interaction you need, the higher the security risk. Two practical ways to overcome this problem: You can swipe your device to pay for stuff without a pin or password, but as a security measure, only have a limited amount available in case your device gets stolen. Have a special bracelet that is linked to your phone via Bluetooth. This way, If your phone goes out of range from...
by anton | May 26, 2014 |
Two of the mobile billing methods offered by Integrat, are Premium SMS and Direct Carrier Billing. What is the difference between the two and how do you know which one is better suited to your business? Premium SMS It works the same as sending a normal SMS where the mobile user (sender) pays a tariff each time he sends a text to someone. The purchase is added to their mobile account bill, or debited from their prepaid account. Subscribers can be billed in two ways: MO billing (mobile originated) messages are billed when a consumer sends an SMS to a premium short code. MT billing (mobile terminated) messages are billed when a consumer receives an SMS on their handset. The most well-known type of purchase this method is used for, is mobile entertainment like ringtones and games. MO billing is probably the more popular of the two. Once the merchant confirms that they have received the payment, they will send the goods or open their service to the receiver. As you can imagine, Premium SMS holds numerous advantages for both the business and the consumer as it is virtually instant. However, if something goes wrong with the sending or receipt of the SMS, there are no guarantees that the consumer will receive her goods. Direct Carrier Billing It works much the same way as it also charges purchases directly to the consumer’s mobile account. However, it is a more secure way of doing mobile transactions and are often used to purchase goods outside of mobile products. Another added advantage is that it allows the consumer to build a relationship...
by anton | May 13, 2014 |
EBB is an acronym for Event Based Billing. In a nutshell, it implies that the subscriber only gets billed per event instead of per minute or for line usage. A simple example would be paying R20 to download the song of your choice. Thus, instead of paying R200 per month to be a member an application, regardless if you download anything or not, you only pay every time you download a song. This offers flexibility to users who only want to use a service or product once, but doesn’t want to commit to the seller in the long term. You might think that businesses in general would say no to short term clients. After all, loyal customers are give them quality service or unique products. By providing a customer with the option of EBB billing, you get a foot in the door for a potential future relationship. Consumers crave flexibility, especially when it comes to finance. One of the most successful ways of getting a competitive advantage in any market is to offer an array of choices that will suit individuals’ needs. And no, traditional billing systems don’t necessarily offer consumers enough options. Give your customers more than they bargained for. Event Based Billing solutions from Integrat can help you to lure sceptic or potential clients and turn them into loyal believers. Get in touch with us right now – we are here to fulfil all your mobile...