Retailers are waking up to the imperative to harness mobile – as they did the Internet – to interact efficiently and effectively with their customers. The end-game is no longer about enabling one-off interactions that result in the sale of goods and services. The winning approach is the one that turns a transaction into a customer conversation.

Against this backdrop, an effective mobile payment system must do much more than manage and enable transactions. It must also enable the retailer to communicate with its customers and build mutually profitable relationships.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) takes a central role in strategies aimed at optimizing customer relationships to boost both business profitability and customer satisfaction.

After all, it costs much more to acquire new customers than it does to sell (again) to existing ones. Delight the customer? Mobile brings a new dimension – and a new immediacy – to this best practice.

What can a mobile payment solution do to enable online retailers to implement an efficient CRM strategy using mobile?

Let´s analyze the case of MPME: pay with your mobile in France.

MPME (Mobile Payment & Mobile Enablers) is a new scheme focused on enabling and enhancing remote mobile payment in France. The solution, which launched last year, allows customers to pays for low-cost items using their mobile phone.

Using Netsize´s platform for mobile payments, mPayment with MPME – which runs on the mobile Web and across Wi-Fi networks – retailers can easily add mobile payments on their online and mobile web and WAP store fronts.

In practice, MPME ensures that consumers can make a payment using their mobile phone without revealing their mobile subscriber number.

This is unlike, for example, Payforit, the framework for carrier-billed mobile payment in the United Kingdom, that does pass on the mobile subscriber number to the merchant.

Instead, MPME provides each consumer a unique ID number, a classification that allows the retailer to recognize the customer again without having to know the customer’s precise mobile subscriber number.

Knowing how to serve

The benefits are two-fold. For retailers, the solution allows them to collect key customer insights (such as past purchases) that will enable them to better know and serve their customers.

Building up knowledge of what customers prefer and purchase over time is key when the goal is encouraging repeat buys and long-term customer loyalty.

For consumers, the pay-off is all about convenience. Retailers – because they can make the connection between the transaction made and the customer who made it – have a much clearer idea of what goods and services would likely appeal to a particular customer. Additionally, retailers can also identify and reward return customers.

Since data is collected and enriched using a unique ID number, customers don’t have to be worried about privacy concerns. The retailer doesn’t know exactly who the consumer is; they just know how to serve her best.

Transaction follows conversation follows transaction follows …

But the interaction doesn’t stop there. Beyond enabling payment, Netsize mPayment with MPME also allows merchants and retailers to connect and communicate with their customers.

Specifically, this solution enables merchants to carry on a conversation, sending SMS text messages that are delivered to each customer’s unique MPME identification.

More importantly, this CRM approach also encourages customers to answer back. In practice, users can simply send a text to the merchant´s mobile service to reply to offers, ask for more product information or just react to a merchant’s call to action.

The result: a form of valuable and effective two-way text communication that allows retailers to better serve their customers – and encourages consumers to respond to the messages they receive.

Service discovery and promotion with MPME

The loop feeds back

Thus, the discussion (and the relationship) can continue long after the consumer has made a purchase in the online store, mobile storefront, or via a mobile application.

It’s easy to imagine scenarios where the merchant can use this solution to text consumers and inform them about similar deals, new products and services, or simply ask permission to follow-up with alters announcements or newsletter updates.

Indeed, merchants and retailers can use the solution to send text messages to customers who are likely to respond based on their past purchasing behavior.

This feedback loop opens the door to a multitude of cross-sell and up-sell opportunities because it helps the merchant to develop (and deliver) services that are relevant, valuable, and sure to retain and grow the customer base.

And isn’t this the goal of CRM in the first place?

More on Mobile Payments & Mobile Enablers: Association Française du Multimédia Mobile AFMM (www.afmm.fr)
More on Payforit: www.payforituk.com

It is with great pleasure that we present to you a brand new edition of the Netsize Guide 2010, Mobile Renaissance. For the first time in its 9-year history the book is now updated in its publication year with five new interviews and hot new 2010 telecommunications market data. We´ve kept the original 2009 data, providing you with a unique quarterly view on the mobile telecommunications market trend in 40 countries globally.

Download the Netsize Guide 2010 Updated Edition

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We are confident you will benefit from the content and case studies we are covering in our upcoming projects, and we look forward to learning what content and companies you would appreciate most.

Drawing from a survey of 1,000+ mobile professionals and practitioners across 67 countries, the report concludes that credit card billing is by no means the way to reach a large and global audience.

The survey found that 85 percent of respondents indicated that operator billing is a key enabler, 39 percent also included credit cards in the mix. A me-too application storefront modeled on the Apple blueprint is not enough.

Payment methods with greatest growth of importance in next five years

The increasing importance of mobile billing schemes relative to credit cards concurs with the findings of Edgar Dunn & Company 2009 Global Payment Trends Survey.

Payment professionals indicated that contactless cards, remote mobile payments and, to a lesser extent, prepaid card products will gain the most importance in the coming 5 years. See chart 1.

In another study, Edgar Dunn & Company identified younger consumers (18 to 30 years old) as the most interested in such alternative payment products, followed by eBay sellers, convenience seekers, and users without access to credit. See chart 2.

Which customer segment is more receptive to alternative payment products

In its 2009 annual report eBay noted that in 2009, more
than $600 million worth of sales were transacted through its mobile applications.

The success of mobile payments relies on speed, convenience and trustworthiness. These are the key enablers “sine qua non”.

Merchants will not implement a new payment mechanism if implementation costs are high, consumer awareness is low and it carries risks of chargebacks, according to the same report.

The good news is that around the world the industry – meaning, mobile network operators, financial institutions, industry regulators and government bodies – are collaborating to ensure that mobile payments will be just that: upright, unfailing and ubiquitous, and a solid alternative to established online payment methods.

Payforit in the United Kingdom is a striking example of a payment method that has made the leap forward from a mobile web-only scheme to the Internet and mobile web at large – be it in the UK, for now.

Online stores and retailers, whether selling “just apps” or more, should look beyond the card.

Referenced reports:

Paris, July 19, 2010 — Netsize, the leading mobile commerce and communications enabler, today announced the key to unlocking micropayments online: Netsize mPayment with Payforit version 3.

Click image to view mPayment with Payforit v3 product details

For the first time UK consumers will have a simple, straightforward and trustworthy route to buy digital as well as physical goods and services. Consumers can make transactions online and via WAP using any mobile phone. Merchants benefit via a simplified route to market that accelerates ARPU.

Payforit v3 offers trust, convenience and ease of use. It is supported by all mobile network operators in the UK. Payforit enables consumers to make online purchases from their PC or mobile phone and securely charge the payment amounts to their phone bill. Payforit v3 supports payments from all mobile devices, including WiFi-connected phones.

Netsize mPayment enables Payforit on Web, WAP and Web Lite transactions and also supports single click purchases and subscription services billing with Payforit.

“Netsize mPayment with Payforit v3 provides merchants with a ‘country on a plate’”, says Stanislas Chesnais, Chief Executive Offer, Netsize. “Now merchants can easily start with mobile payments in the UK and focus on promoting their offer, while mPayment with Payforit handles the technical complexities and helps ensure regulatory compliance.”

mPayment with Payforit offers merchants increased pricing flexibility. The easy check-out process significantly improves the rate of successful transactions. The number of clicks and keystrokes needed to make a payment is reduced by more than 50 percent compared to credit cards.

As SMS payment for web based transactions is now not allowed in the UK cross-network, Payforit v3 is the single mobile payment alternative available to merchants, offering a superior user experience.

“For the first time, merchants can take advantage of a mobile payment product in the UK that is secure, easy to use and offers payout rates similar to cards. mPayment with Payforit v3 enables them to do business online with consumers who have no credit card, debit card or PayPal account,” Stanislas Chesnais adds. “Payforit v3 has the potential to expand the UK market. It marks an important step towards an m-commerce economy.”

Visit www.netsize.com for more information about Netsize mPayment with Payforit v3, and sign up for a trial account.

Mobile communications and commerce enabler Netsize today announced that Gameloft, a leading developer and publisher of video games on mobile phones and consoles, will be implementing its mPayment mobile payment solution. This pan-European agreement enables Gameloft customers to purchase games directly via premium SMS or from the Gameloft WAP shop.

In choosing Netsize, Gameloft is taking advantage of the company’s pan-European coverage in WAP billing wherever the offer is available at operators. In the UK, Netsize is an accredited payment intermediary and has implemented the latest proposed Payforit features in its mPayment solution

Netsize mPayment for Payforit lets mobile phone users buy goods and services using their mobile phones and charge the amount directly to their phone bill or deduct it from their pre-pay credit. Gameloft customers will benefit from greater pricing flexibility and more transparent billing. Netsize makes it easier for publishers to integrate mobile payment into their games because of a single integration API. This provides access to all available operator WAP and Premium SMS billing methods, as well as alternative payment methods.

“Mobile payment is critical to our business and our decision to work with Netsize is based on how their platform enables us to give our customers the best buying experience,” says Eve Arakelian, B2C Director, Gameloft. “Netsize provides a solid platform solution that does just that while at the same time being able to handle very large transaction volumes in the most efficient way.”

The new agreement builds on a long and close working relationship between the two companies. Gameloft has grown its European business using Netsize mobile solutions including Premium SMS, Standard Bulk SMS and WAP Billing since 2003.

Ludovic Maupain, VP Marketing and Operator Partnerships, Netsize added: “We’re delighted to be deepening our relationship with Gameloft. Gaming is a key growth segment in mobile value added services globally and Netsize has supported Gameloft in its successful deployment across Europe based on the breadth of our offering in bidirectional messaging, SMS billing and WAP Billing”.

The Gameloft agreement highlights the even wider global opportunities for Netsize in supporting mobile game operators and services. Informa Telecoms and Media estimates that the number of mobile game users worldwide will exceed 100 million in 2009 and is growing by 15% annually. Total mobile game revenues are estimated to reach US$ 4.8 billion globally in 2009 (Source: Informa)

Netsize recently announced that its online payment solution is now fully Payforit 2.0 compliant, making Netsize one of the few accredited payment intermediaries across all UK operators. Payforit is an online payment service that provides a common framework for charging consumers for content and services through the mobile internet and is supported by mobile operators including Vodafone, Orange, O2, 3 and T-Mobile.

About Gameloft
Gameloft (EPA:GFT) is a leading international publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones and consoles. Established in 1999, it has emerged as one of the top innovators in its field. The company creates games for mobile handsets equipped with Java, Brew or Symbian technology. The total number of games-enabled handsets is anticipated to exceed four billion units by 2012. Gameloft games are also available to players on WiiWare and DS, Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE Arcade, Apple’s iPod, iTouch and iPhones, and PCs.

Through agreements with major telephone wireless carriers, handset manufacturers, specialized distributors and its online shop, Gameloft has a distribution network in over 80 plus countries.