NeuStar has unveiled the NeuStar Subscriber Growth Service and its corresponding Best Practice Guidelines, which are designed to enable participating mobile operators to increase their mobile Instant Messaging (IM) subscriber uptake by up to 40% each year.
The Subscriber Growth Service has been created to help participating operators improve existing mobile IM services considerably and capitalise on the huge market for mobile IM, which, according to comScores March 2009 Mobile Market Report, grew by 83.3% in 2008 in Western Europe. Operators who adopt the Subscriber Growth Service will work with NeuStars Strategic Services team throughout the process of launching, marketing, and running an IM service, and will receive consultancy on how to build successful new IP business models, based on NeuStars track record of increasing the level of subscriber uptake.
With access to the only database of real-time subscriber IM behaviour on the market, NeuStar says it is able to tap into each operators subscriber base to break down which users are engaging with mobile IM, which handsets they use, how regularly they communicate via IM, and how much they spend, and help the operator use this information to optimise the service. By analysing each of the mobile IM services that it has launched since 1999, NeuStar has created the markets first Best Practice Guidelines and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with the aim of supporting operators to effectively launch, market, and drive additional IM services to their subscriber base.
With the Subscriber Growth Service, we can work hand-in-hand with our customers, providing a consultative, analytical service tailored to their market that will deliver long-term business benefits and allow operators the privileged, granular view of subscriber experience they need to increase uptake and profitability, says Guenter Krauss, Senior Vice President and General Manager of NeuStar Next Generation Messaging (NGM). We believe that we can increase an operators IM subscriber base and help them to generate incremental revenues from compelling next generation messaging services.
Building on NeuStars established relationships with operators worldwide, the Subscriber Growth Service will help participating operators to substantially grow their existing subscriber bases, by advising them of the best handsets and price plans, customer lifecycle management and user experience, throughout the lifecycle of the service. With only 19.2% of mobile IM users aged between 18 and 24 years old, and 20.3% aged between 35 and 44 years old, NeuStar says it has the internal data and real-time analysis capabilities to advise operators how to effectively launch and market a range of IM services to affluent age groups beyond the youth segment. By harnessing this data and analysing IM activity on a daily basis, NeuStar says its customers will be able to develop a loyal base of mobile IM users and also pave the way for new presence-enabled services.
As an example, NeuStar says its data on IM usage suggests that in many instances, users prefer accessing IM via a downloadable client, as opposed to a mobile web-based service, because it delivers a better user experience.
It is this type of data that we will feed back to our customers to help them develop the very best IM services, drive subscriber uptake and ultimately increase retention, says Krauss.