Rumors have been circulating and they appear to be true. The major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint etc) will be adding a step three confirmation to all Ringtone leads.
Back in the good old days, users simply entered their mobile number and hit submit. Provided that number was for a cell on any of the major networks -PING - you got paid. Usually around $10-12 back then (circa 2004-5). Conversion rates around 20% were not unheard of.
Then they added the dreaded PIN confirmation.
Currently that is a step two. User receives an SMS saying respond with the code ‘XX123XX’ then - PING - you get paid. This dropped Conversion rates to about 12-14% and they have been steadily declining since. The good news was the payouts also increased and many places payed out $15+ per lead, sometimes $20 if you were pretty and talked sweet.
Starting in a couple of weeks there will be a step three:
An SMS will be sent saying ‘You will be billed $X.xx per month for this service. Reply with YES to accept these charges’.
Ouch… even if the message only said ‘Polly Prissy Pants loves you - respond YES if you love her too’, conversions rates will drop. But that message, while it is great for consumer transparency, will really tank conversion rates.
But there is good news too. This third step will greatly increase the quality of the leads that do get through, which will be great for the advertisers, which will cause payout to rise as well. I’m sure we’ll be seeing street prices on ringtone offers around $20-25 by Christmas, unfortunately conversion rates will be 3-4%.
If you are thinking of purchasing someones Ringtone empire or have a hot new idea, you may want to rethink it, or at least step up the pace and cash in as quick as you can. The fact remains that the Mobile browsing and SMS messaging spaces are exploding (in the good way) and this is a space to invest some time in. It is just evolving and one needs to keep up.
Good luck and have fun out there. We’re pullin’ for ya!
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