Today’s lesson is to help shed a little light on what micropayment really is and how this underutilized but powerful solution can help you make more money.As Internet commerce (and online adult especially) becomes more and more saturated, it’s important to realize that the consumer is getting smarter all the time. They are realizing more specifically what their needs are. This is crucial to keep in mind when planning how to optimize your billing systems. Micropayment is an effective way to convert those users who know ‘exactly’ what they want.
What Micropayment is not: Micropayment is NOT ONLY SMS!
We are all aware of the hype surrounding SMS. It is a remarkable way to charge people. After all, in 2005 the estimated number of mobile phone users was 2.14 Billion. Unfortunately the adult industry is often treated differently and with regards to SMS payment, this is unfortunately the case. In most countries it is illegal to convert adult content through SMS payment. Hence, many people have dismissed it as unfeasible.
But…
There is WAY more to Micropayment!
The user can also pay through credit card and phone, tremendously increasing the number of countries where you can convert adult.
The membership model has long been the standard in adult. However, how many average users do you think can afford or are willing to buy multiple memberships at 20-30 bucks a pop? Once a user has a membership at another site the chances of them buying your membership decline significantly. Micropayment allows you to strategically sidestep this problem by letting the user buy targeted content, or simply, whatever they want.
This is a real revenue booster people. Micropayment simply means a small payment, usually just a couple of dollars in return for a certain video, picture set, or limited amount of access to your site. Payment can be made in several ways (not just sms), and most importantly, Micropayment offers you a completely different way to sell your content.
Is it worth the effort for just a couple of bucks?
Yes. This game is all about volume. Think of micropayments as drops of water in a bucket, they are small, but they really add up quickly. If you integrate well and have good traffic you’ll see there’s tons of biz to be had.
So, from someone very knowledgeable about foreign billing in adult, to my fellow industry peeps, here is my advice: Take your billing seriously and continue to think outside of the box. There is so much work people put into their sites for content, tours, feeds, design, etc… that its easy to forget that without an optimized billing strategy you wont reach your potential, no matter how great your product is.
The Adult industry thrived in large part to their innovations in billing. So think creatively and continue to break the mold.
