Friday, July 26, 2013

A change in commercial SMS cost - will it stimulate or stifle messaging innovation?

While reading various articles about SMS cost regulation (currently trending in the South African market), I got to thinking about how messaging cost structures could either stimulate or stifle innovation. 

(To get the background to the regulatory debate – read this article by Peter Streicher in which he explains how networks are currently managing inter-charge fees for SMS and how this may change.) 

As an emerging market with a high penetration of mobile devices (both feature- and smart- phones), South African businesses have been particularly innovative in their use of machine-to-person text messaging across many different applications: 

  1. Triggered communications – a notification based on interaction between a business and a consumer:  such as one-time-passwords for eCommerce and online banking transactions;  notifications aimed at combating fraud (confirming login or activity).
  2. Lifecycle notifications – a simple way to keep a customer updated on the status of their engagement with a business – such as status of your car service or couriered parcel.
  3. Marketing – new customer acquisition (used extensively by the insurance industry) or cross/up-sell of products and services to existing customers with a simple call to action.
  4. Data gathering – if the mobile number is known, SMS is a great tool to gather other customer and communication details. (We’ve used SMS very successfully to gather email addresses). 
  5. Shortcodes – using inbound text messaging to conduct competitions and provide customer self-service options. 
SMS also complements other channels - for example: promoting your email bills using SMS to maximise the success of your eBilling open rate. Sarah Appleby recently blogged about the positive “uplift in open rate when emails are preceded by a text announcing their arrival in the inbox.” 
But how much of the innovation and rampant usage has been due to the way commercial messaging costs have been structured in this market?

Free to end user - a Big motivator? 

Possibly the largest motivator for using SMS as a messaging channel has been the ‘free to end user’ model currently in play. While ‘who pays for the SMS? (the originating network or the terminating network) is currently under scrutiny; the consumer doesn’t pay to receive a standard SMS in South Africa.

In the US market however, the recipient is charged to receive a standard text message, so the innovative application and the penetration of SMS as a channel is decidedly less. While a business can send a ‘free to end user’ text if they sponsor the recipient’s fee - the cost of this message type is so much more than sending an email, that it hasn’t taken off as an alternative channel. 

What will happen to messaging innovation?
The current pricing debate is around how the networks charge each other and whether that charge should be regulated. But will this regulation stimulate or stifle innovation in the text messaging space? Just thinking aloud...

Innovation will be stifled if:

  • The price charged to the commercial sender increases once the interconnect fee is regulated.
  • The pricing structure becomes too complex to calculate in a budget.
  • The networks pass some of the price restructure onto the recipient (making ‘free to end user’ a premium message cost).

Innovation will be stimulated if:

  • The price per commercial SMS goes down after regulation. There’s nothing like a cost saving to encourage increased activity and creative thinking.
  • The regulation levels the playing field and all players become equally able to innovate.

Personally, I’ll be watching this space with eager anticipation as there are so many great applications (as mentioned above) in our business of the simple text message.

Hopefully we get clarity in the next couple months, but whatever the outcome -  have you considered the impact of a pricing change on your communication strategy?

Want to discuss further? Get in touch!

Michelle van den Berg

Thursday, July 25, 2013

PHISHING is Killing Your Portal

Not so long ago, I sat in a security meeting at a leading global bank and they told me that to combat phishing concerns and to protect customers, they quite simply do not email them. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Of course they email their customers, just nothing worth looking at. Phishing is killing your portal because it’s stopping you from sending functional and valuable email that engages your customers. And ultimately, it’s email that feeds your portal. There is no better, nor cost efficient and safer way of directing customers there.

Internet Banking and Portals were designed for two reasons:

  1. to convert customers to online, paperless customer self service and
  2. to do so within a secure environment.

I have engaged with the UK’s top banks and financial institutions and the real shocker is that most haven’t managed to do either of the above as effectively as they had hoped.

The fabulous exodus from paper to paperless never happened (only 24% of bank customers have completely abandoned paper) and money is still heading out the window with fraud attacks. Just because your organization ‘does not send email’, doesn’t mean that phishers aren’t still sending attacks with your name on them. 

Whilst my bank thinks they are protecting me, they also continue to lose my engagement, interest and eyeballs to othermore digitally savvy organizations using 'Push' technology - I am click happy for anything to do with travel and deals on home furnishings. Can’t remember the last time I properly logged on to online banking and thus, recently received this message:

come-back-we-miss-you

I found it utterly fascinating that forgotten log in details and not needing a security device are the two main things my bank mentioned in order to woo me. Well, at least they hit the nail on the head as to why I haven’t logged on recently. But, knowing that in order to log on I had a 10 minute call (minimum) to India ... stopped me from doing so. 

Email gets customers attention & increases portal traffic, while maintaining a high level of security

How can banks compete with inboxes that are filling up with beautiful fun emails promising exotic locations on a shoestring and 50% off plasma TVs? What can both grab attention and push folks to your portal while maintaining the high level of security needed

The answer is PUSH



  • PUSH your customers’ correspondence directly to their inboxes
  • PUSH technology attaches sensitive information to an email in the form of 256 BIT encrypted PDF that can be opened with a default password
  • The document is uncrackable in a fraudster’s lifetime and is virtually impossible to copycat
  • More importantly, consumers really do want to see their statements and bills - so, your willing audience awaits. This is the great advantage that banks have over many other digital organizations.

Once the customer is within the secure PDF environment, you can direct them anywhere… including your portal.Companies using PUSH technology to deliver eStatements and eBills tend to see up to *30% more portal traffic than ones using simple, traditional cover emails with no call to action.

Don’t let fears of phishing stop you from using email, educate your customers instead. 

Augment your paperless processes with email and stop asking your customers to come to you without giving them a carrot. 

Keen to find out more about the advantages of 'Push' eStatements and eBilling? Get in touch 

*Based on Striata client results


Sarah Appleby
striata.com

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Why Australia Post CEO is Dead Wrong

I came across a recent press release from AusPost CEO, Ahmed Fahour, regarding the upcoming launch of the Australia Post Digital MailBox. It detailed all the normal reasons for a Post Office to be launching a digital mailbox: falling revenues, one billion less letters sent last year compared to 2008 - that kind of thing. But what made me smile was Ahmed’s announcement that Australia Post believes email is “on the way down”. Really??
death-of-email
The reason for Ahmed’s perceived death of email – and this is a recurring theme that crops up on the web regularly – is that he’s a keen observer of his own kids and “They don’t email at all; the way they’re communicating is in very short messages a la Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook”. Interesting, but I wonder how many bills his kids are paying, or how much business communication they undertake?

Childs play or business?

Don’t get me wrong, I like kids – I used to be one myself – but I wouldn’t base the business strategy (or rescue plan!) of my billion dollar business on their proclivities. They’re not famous for big picture thinking! Kids use Twitter, SMS and WhatsApp to communicate half-thought ideas with each other because it’s cheap, instant and in some ways easier than actually talking. But is this quick-fire conversational style relevant to business communications like eBilling? I can’t see how. Do you want little bits of billing information tweeted to you every day like shrapnel? Or would you rather get the big picture sent out in more than 140 characters? 

Australia Post Digital MailBox - not quite a 'Facebook'

But what about Facebook...? I can see a much closer link between what Facebook has achieved and what Australia Post Digital MailBox is trying to do. It’s one place online where people go to view things they want to see that are posted by people they have some sort of relationship with. Just like the Digital MailBox, except with a few differences:

  • I just tested this, and it took less than a minute to register (a new user) on Facebook.
  • All of my friends are already on there and there are tools available to put me in touch with them easily.
  • It’s reached critical mass.
  • At no point did I have to go away, dig out a bit of paper, find a reference number and type it in before I could link with a friend.

They may sound like little differences, but they’re hugely important. Facebook wouldn’t have 1 billion users if the registration process was lengthy and most of your friends weren’t already on it. And that’s the problem for a Digital MailBox! If you look at existing bill consolidators in the USA – they’ve been on the go there for many years now – none of them have reached critical mass yet, and none of them are making money. Customers find that it’s too much trouble to register on the consolidator website and then register all their bills (if they’re available), so they don’t bother. 

And competition doesn’t help; Digital Post’s launch in Australia only serves to offer a confusing choice, for both consumers and billers. Oh, and if you’re feeling confused already, let me explain; Digital Post is a completely separate, competitor’s bill consolidator to Australia Post’s Digital MailBox! So do I choose one or the other, or register/integrate with both? Hands up anyone who has and uses a Facebook and MySpace account??

Yes, email has its purpose, one of which is delivery of secure eBills straight into the inbox!

Another insight from Ahmed was “Email will have its purposes but I believe email is passé.” Passé or just omnipresent is a matter of opinion, but he’s right; email does have its purpose. And unfortunately for Digital MailBox, one of its ideal purposes is the delivery of secure PDF eBills straight into consumers’ inboxes! No registration; no having to visit a website every month; no need for billers to integrate with multiple consolidators, no need for billers to lose control of this vital communications channel with their customers. And as billing is a time-critical process, you also have to ask how Digital MailBox will let their customers know a new bill has arrived; my money’s on email! 

I do hope that Australia Post manages to survive the drop in letters being sent – I truly believe that Post Offices around the world provide an incredibly valuable service to the community – and I believe that the Digital MailBox has a small role in this. But let’s keep things in perspective regarding the future of email. 

Here’s a great quote from Dave Girouard from his “In Defence of Email” article: “I’m bemused by the CEOs who declare their companies are giving up email…We tried that. It was called the ’80s.” 

Are we really going Back to the Future? To avoid this, contact Striata and find out more about our innovative email billing solutions.


Keith Russell
striata.com

Monday, July 1, 2013

Creating a Mobile eBill Strategy: why email is still the best mobile presentment & payment option

There are many things to consider before you start creating a mobile eBill strategy: your competitor just built an app; mobile website optimization is assumed; your co-workers check their mobile email constantly; and all the “kids” these days use text and instant messaging (SMS). With so many options, it’s difficult to find the start line. 

Let’s consider the most basic of questions: What mobile channels do smartphone customers prefer and use? 

activities-performed-by-smartphone-users-at-least-once-a-month

Key Takeaways

  • SMS is most popular around the globe.
  • Email remains extremely relevant, especially in the US and UK.
  • Web browsing is preferred over apps in most countries.

Step 1: Mobile presentment of Bill

Every company should consider eBill presentment as part of its mobile website and app strategy. Just remember that adoption of either will be challenging, because the customer must proactively enroll by registering (website) and/or downloading an app. 

The difficulties continue after adoption since the company must notify the customer (normally via email) that “a bill is ready to view and pay” at the website or on the app. 

And since the website or app requires a username/password, many customers will login when they have a bit more time to view the bill. Some will just abandon the mobile experience altogether and login to the website via a desktop/laptop since they have to type in the username/password anyway. 

SMS is not suited for presentment because of character limits and image restrictions. Also note that customers strongly prefer SMS for personal communication, not business to consumer communication. [1] 

And then there’s email, which we believe is the best mobile presentment option. 


The advantages of email mobile presentment are clear:

  1. Customers already use smartphones for email (75% in US & 68% in UK).
  2. Smartphones come pre-loaded with an email app and a PDF reader. No additional app download needed.
  3. Presentment is not reliant on website registration (aka username/password). Customers can enroll in email Billing with one click directly from an introductory email. Thus removing the largest barrier to new eBill enrollment. [2]

According to an InfoTrends Study, North American customers prefer email for presentment of bills 3 times more than [mobile] websites, 15 times more than SMS and 40 times more than social media. It is evident that customers want theirs delivered directly to them in their email inboxes. They do not want to “fetch” them from a website or app


Step 2: Mobile Payment of Bill

SMS is perfect for urgent mobile messaging. This includes payment reminders and pay-by-SMS, which are fantastic ways to get quick payments in urgent situations (e.g. payment overdue). But there’s no good way to view, then pay, a bill on SMS. 

As in presentment, the customer registration process (aka username/password) for websites and apps limits customer adoption of mobile payments. Most customers will link to the mobile website or app from an email notification, so one must make sure that experience is smooth and only 2-3 steps. Otherwise, you’ll lose that customer. Once in the mobile website or app, many customers will follow through with an ePayment ...getting them there is the tricky part. 

ePayment via email does not require a website registration or app download. 

This makes it the optimal choice for mobile payments. A customer can view the bill as a PDF and then make a payment directly from their smartphone.


The advantages of email mobile payments include:

  1. Payment can be made without website registration or app download.
  2. Quicker payment directly from mobile PDF of eBill
  3. 1-Click payment from the email itself for customers who saved payment info.
Not all mobile channels created equal for EBPP
Email has the most advantages for mobile eBilling: used by the majority of mobile users, email and PDF reader apps come preloaded on smartphones, one-click enrollment without website registration, and no username/password are necessary to view/pay the eBill. Start with email, and then expand your mobile eBill strategy into multiple channels. 

Contact Striata today to include email in your mobile eBill strategy. 


References

[1] 
[2] 

Chad Somodi
striata.com