MARKET WIRE -- Aug 17 -- FriendFinder.com launched a new payment system that permits its members to be billed directly by their cell phone operators. The system uses the Premium Short Message Service (PSMS) protocol. It was recently rolled out in the U.K. for all FriendFinder.com programs. It will be introduced over the next few weeks in Australia, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Korea, Taiwan and China. In the U.S. it will be available for FriendFinder.com and Passion.com members only, starting in September. Members can handle the entire membership transaction simply by entering their mobile phone number in a box on the billing page. The PSMS payment option is provided by Vidicom.co.uk. A billing confirmation message is sent to the member's mobile phone. When the member replies to the confirmation alert, the cost of the service they requested is charged to their telecommunications provider, providing a convenient alternative for people who do not wish to use a credit card.
Mark Brooks: This will increase FriendFinder conversions, especially on it's casual/adult dating properties. AdultFriendFinder is the top adult personals site, followed by the newer, sexier SexSearch.com.
I don't necessarily think it will be the case that mobile billing will increase conversions much. I would like FF to share results of the mobile billing initiative in a few months and we can see how many people want to pay for their porn on their mobile bill.
Posted by: David Evans | Aug 23, 2006 at 03:24 PM
~70% of mobile phones are internet capable in the U.S.A. now. 130 million handsets.
Adding a mobile payment option will increase FriendFinders conversions AND retention.
It will increment conversions upwards because it opens up a new member base of users who don't want to use...or don't even have a...credit card.
It will increase retention because it will probably not be quite as straightforward to cancel as online modes of payment. Users will have to put in some time to figure out how to cancel it. Have you ever tried to cancel a mobile billed service? It's not complicated, but it requires some time to research and close out an account.
FriendFinder will not share such information. No dating site would share such information.
Adult personals sites are porn for some people, but are internet dating sites nonetheless. It's not THEIR (the site's) porn, it's the online dating users who choose to express themselves with risque photos and a deeper expression of their fetishes and sexual preferences.
I worked for AdultFriendFinder in the past. It was an education, indeed. I'm relatively conservative by nature, and prefer to be monogamous, but I applaud the adult personals communities for allowing their users the freedom they demanded, and could not find online before AFF was started. Sexsearch, SexyAds, Iwantu. All racey, risque and too much too handle for some...but they're all internet dating sites, nonetheless.
I noticed Hitwise Australia is now ranking AdultFriendFinder in their top dating sites rankings, btw.
Posted by: Mark Brooks | Aug 23, 2006 at 10:47 PM