Why anonymity is so important to the surfer

[emjay]

For most of us, our sex lives are an inherently private affair, our very own walled garden. The same applies to our customer, the surfer. His sex life is private too.

It is precisely because of this, that concrete data regarding the demographics of surfers is hard to come by.(pun#1)

The common perception is that consumers of porn are typically solo men who are not in a sexual relationship. Whilst this group undoubtedly represents a healthy proportion, we will probably never know the true profile of our customers.

It stands to reason therefore that anonymity is highly important to all prospective clients.

Think about it, let?s just say your tour has done its job and the prospect is hot-to-trot and clicks on your join button.

He is now invited to join your site by entering his credit card details, the very act of which will leave a paper trail (in more ways than one!) and threaten to undermine the desired anonymity.

Other doubts he may encounter before clicking the confirm button might include ?

- Are these porn merchants trustworthy?
- Will it be easy to cancel my subscription?
- Will the website URL appear on my credit card statement?
- How do I know that my credit card details will not be resold to crooks?

This is why phone billing is so popular with surfers. No awkward forms to fill in. No parting with personal information. No ?evidence?. A simple phone call is all it takes to start enjoying the forbidden fruits of your member?s area, for a period of time determined by you.

When his phone bill drops on the mat at the end of the month, his online purchase via a premium number will be buried amongst dozens regular calls to friends, family and colleagues. With not a hint of the underlying purchase in sight. And since phone bills tend to get paid in full, chargebacks are practically unheard of.

If he purchased the cherished password using a pre-paid cell phone, which are very popular across large parts of Europe and Asia, the purchase price is simply deducted from his account. Simple.

I am not suggesting for one moment that you should drop credit card billing in favour of phone. Don?t. The credit card is and remains the best billing mechanism to process monthly recurring memberships.

But by not including phone billing, you are depriving yourself of a secondary income-stream from surfers worldwide you like what they see, but would prefer not to commit for fear of being found out.

Whilst Phone Billing is not recurring by default, but if you have compelling content, the chances are good he will come back for more later ? not least since you respected his privacy and gave him a chance to pay you this way in the first place.

[shoeaholicanon]

bump for you

[wil_I_Am]

Bump.. for a great guy who will work very hard to help you make money!

[cranki]

there was a thread a while ago which stated the importance of creating good join-pages, which also mentioned the anonymity factor to make surfers comfortable. The by phone version is pretty good also.

[shoeaholicanon]

bump for you

[BlackCrayon]

might be a good post if it was so blatently self serving.

[Fat Panda]

nice post

[jayeff]

A very reasonable self-plug, with probably a lot of truth in it. My problem with phone billing (or rather what I see as the major issue which prevents it becoming much more popular) is the cost. High prices not only deter people, but if we - not the providers of premium lines - are seen as the reason for those prices, our already shaky reputation is damaged further. That isn't helped when phone billing appeals especially to the type of webmaster who will take advantage of the ease with which he can provide minimal value.

Which is a pity, because although you are surely right about credit cards being the best payment medium now, I was reading this morning that in some cities more police are now working on cases of identity theft than on all other crimes put together. If that trend continues, surfers will be increasingly reluctant to use their cards online, even though legitimate sites are rarely if ever a cause of their problems.

[emjay]

Originally Posted by BlackCrayon

might be a good post if it was so blatently self serving.

Guilty as charged, I wrote it for an infomercial so it is supposed to be.

[BlackCrayon]

Originally Posted by emjay

Guilty as charged, I wrote it for an infomercial so it is supposed to be.

yeah, no worries but how do you respond to the fact that dial up is going to way of the dodo and a unless a customer is from a country where their cc will be denied, it makes no sense to promote it otherwise. paying per minute will cost more to the customer every time. and if a customer doesn't have a cc, chances are he won't want to pay the high cost of per minute billing.

[will76]

Originally Posted by emjay

When his phone bill drops on the mat at the end of the month, his online purchase via a premium number will be buried amongst dozens regular calls to friends, family and colleagues. With not a hint of the underlying purchase in sight. And since phone bills tend to get paid in full, chargebacks are practically unheard of.

.

I agree 100% with everything you said but that part. If the phone is a home phone it doesn't list every phone call you make, at least not in the US. That call would stick out and I am sure be seen by a spouse or the same person you would be worried about seeing your credit card statement. If it is done using a cell phone then depending upon how they display it, it could be mixed in with a bunch of other calls but this one would be sticking out because it had a large charge next to it.

I agree with everything else and i would much rather give out my telephone number then credit card # and have to worry about people stealing it and running it up. But still there is some negatives (not as bad though) will these people call my house, will they sell my phone number to telemarketers...

It is definetly better from an anonymity standpoint but it is not without its drawbacks as well.

[emjay]

Originally Posted by BlackCrayon

yeah, no worries but how do you respond to the fact that dial up is going to way of the dodo and a unless a customer is from a country where their cc will be denied, it makes no sense to promote it otherwise. paying per minute will cost more to the customer every time. and if a customer doesn't have a cc, chances are he won't want to pay the high cost of per minute billing.

Dial-up already has died. Pity, because in theory the dialer was a great billing mechanism.

Bear in mind that when a surfer calls to purchase a password, he "buys time" in advance. The ordering process is billed for on a per-minute basis, but when he is issued the password and enjoys the content, the billing clock is no longer ticking.

[Nookster]

Damn that's a good read, and pretty compelling to use your service. Oh, and I hope you don't mind but I added your service to my directory.

[emjay]

Originally Posted by Nookster

Damn that's a good read, and pretty compelling to use your service. Oh, and I hope you don't mind but I added your service to my directory.

Thanks and on the contrary, delighted to be listed