As we point out on our website, most of the world does not have a credit card. However, practically everyone has access to a phone or cell. With this is mind, it is important that you include phone billing as part of your processing portfolio.There are two primary methods to employ phone billing, which this article aims to address: ‘Pay-per-minute,’ whereby – as the name suggests – surfers pay you on a per minute basis, and ‘pay-per-access’ billing, whereby the password ordering process generates the revenue. How much access time you then grant for said revenue is up to you.
Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages which we will now explore in greater detail.
Per-per-minute (PPM) billing primarily only works in developed markets whereby the end-user has access to a broadband internet connection and thus has access to a phone line and the internet simultaneously.
Surfers are invited to call a premium rate number that then grants them instant access to the desired members area for the time that the call connection is maintained; the moment they hang up, they lose connection to the web-content.
The hold-time and thus revenue generated with such billing is totally content driven; the more compelling the content, the longer the surfer is likely to hang around.
Such payment methodology makes for a perfect fit with VOD sites, as well as the classic paysite.
As anyone who has been inside a member area that interests them knows, time can really fly by, and this can result in connection times of half an hour or possibly much more.
As for the ‘pay-per-access’ (PPA) method on which PbP ‘classic’ is based, this works with ALL types of internet connections, including with dial-up which remains the primary method of connecting to the internet in the developing world. However, they first need to disconnect from the internet in order to free-up their phone line in order to make said call.
The ordering process to generate the password needed in order to gain access to the premium content is what generates the revenue – once ‘inside,’ the billing clock is no longer ticking.
This method of phone billing also makes for a great fit with dating sites; surfers need not worry about running up high phone bills since the hold time is fixed, however once they have created their profile and enjoyed a day’s membership, they need to buy another password at a later stage in order to check their messages/winks etc. – in short, a fantastic recurring business model.
By not deploying phone billing as part of your processing options, you are depriving yourself of income from people from all over the world who would like to pay you, but can’t.
