Someone Wants To Flirt With You Mark Curtis Flirtomatic

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Someone Wants To Flirt With YouMark Curtis -
Flirtomatic

• London - MoMo October 2007
• Communities Case Study

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It does what it says on the tin

• Flirtomatic a flirting service
• Cross platform - mobile (wap) and web
• Core functions
• Register
• Search
• Chat
• Rate
• Build profile

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So dating then?

• No - its entertainment
• Faster and more fun
• Combines messaging features
• Persistence of e-mail and sms
• Presence of IM
• Revenue from
• Advertising
• Value Added Services
• Optimised for platform e.g.
• Messaging refresh

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So far.

• Full launch late May 2006
• 472,000 registrations
• August.
• 92,000 unique users
• Generating 28m web page views
• And 101m wap page views
• Revenue now climbing steeply c 60 per month

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What is a mobile community.?
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Definition.

• People using the mobile to communicate with each
  other in a branded space on either voice or data
  or both
• Content is NOT king (cf Andrew Odlyzko, Jan
  2001)
• Brand can be weak (chat) to strong
  (Flirtomatic, Facebook)
• Self-branded small group market (families) poorly
  served, though new ideas (Zygo) coming to market

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Who Are They.?

• Web based (true) social networks
• e.g. Facebook
• strong brand
• largely people who know each other
• viral take off on web
• courted by operators
• Mobile chat communities
• eg Jumbuck
• low branding - if not white label
• no web presence
• dependent on portal deals

• Mobile content plus plays
• e.g Mobango, SeeMeTV
• branded
• weak connection between participants
• sometimes portal placement
• Cross platform
• E.g. Flirtomatic
• strong brand essential
• sometimes portal placement

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Motivation to join.

• Everyones doing it because its useful/addictive
• Intrigue - someone wants to flirt with you
• Theme specific - Chelsea supporters

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Motivation to continue.

• My friends are there
• Its fun
• - everyone likes incoming
• - personal measurement
• - other people are interesting
• Sex
• Lifetime romance
• Feeds a content habit

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Delivering on the promise of wherever, whenever.
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Design for the platform.
e.g. Look At Me feature
web
wap
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Design for the platform.

• Be prepared to ditch sacred cows
• Registration must be super easy on mobile
• Understand context of usage e.g.
• Rapid message checking on mobile
• Success of rating
• Manage user expectations i.e. presence
• Refresh options very different
• Rich content contribution and viewing
• Avoid technologies that militate against rapid
  deployment

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Acquisition.

• Users still tend to stay loyal to platform they
  first arrived on
• e.g. Flirtomatic cross over is 15 but rising
• Because.cross platform model more embedded in
  industry heads than users
• Viral on web is clearly the optimal acquisition
  model
• But totally unproven on mobile
• Operator portals very powerful because of volume
• But off portal routes growing fast
• For Flirtomatic wap ads work very well because
  pre-qualified users

Get Flirty - Chat Live now
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How to make (some) money.
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Revenue streams

• Subscription
• Low price
• Automatically renewed?
• Data
• In theory, but operators keep it all
• Advertising
• Largely banners on wap
• Sold on CPM and CPC basis
• Take off now underway
• Higher rates than on web and better clickthroughs
• Operator walled garden/whitelisting approach
  still a major inhibitor for user clickthrough
• Model not yet fully evolved!

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Revenue streams

• Value Added Services
• extra fun the user buys e.g.
• Gifts
• Single red rose
• Chocolates
• (Ego) Services
• Whos Rated Me?
• Look At Me
• Alerts
• Online and new Flirtograms
• Buzzes
• Paid for by new currency Flirtpoints
• Revenues immediate and growing fast
• PSMS most popular payment method

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Learnings.
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Where we are.

• Gradual user acceptance of data services, not
  ubiquitous
• Payment by mobile understood
• Digital advertising industry embracing mobile
• Mobile customer acquisition is still very hard
• Moderation is a big issue for operators
• Customer identification and care - MSISDN
  passing..
• CRM - sms vs e-mail
• Operators and handset complexity
• The internet is now the context BUT this is not
  the web in 1998

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In summary

• Stay close to the users
• Flirt Central very important
• CRM central to survival
• Develop fast
• Abandon sacred cows
• Industry complexity is a major barrier to
• Entry
• Growth
• Retention

• Mobile advertising is in its infancy
• Overheads of a social network need constant
  attention and grow
• A long way to go most users still do not expect
  a web site to have a mobile version.

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mark_at_flirtomatic.com 07973 185824