Got mobile? Your customers do. An increasing number of consumers tap into their mobile phones to do everything from surf the web to pay for transactions. In fact, experts predicted that shoppers would enjoy Thanksgiving Day dinner—and then proceed directly to the couch with their smartphone or tablet to shop early Black Friday deals. The juicy new term for this mode of shopping is couch commerce.

But whether consumers are buying on mobile while lounging in front of the game or they’re buying through their tablet over lunch break, the fact is that digital merchants need to start making it as easy as possible for customers to complete these transactions. Here are a few stats to jumpstart your journey into the world of m-commerce:

• 12% of American adults have paid for a transaction with a mobile device; however Forrester analysts expect that number to rise. (Forrester, via Mobile Commerce Daily)
• 60% of consumers who buy with mobile make purchases with their device while still at home. (PayPal, via Digby)
• 24% of U.S. iPhone users and 21% of Droid users have accessed a shopping app in the last 3 months. (Forrester, via Internet Retailer)
• Roughly 50% of mobile commerce originates on tablet devices. (Forrester, via Mashable)
• $119 billion in goods and services will be purchased through a mobile device by 2015. (ABI Research, via Econsultancy)
• 49% of those who use the mobile web at least 1x each week have made a purchase with their device in the last 6 months. (ROI Research, via Digby)

When it’s time for your digital business to boost mobile shopping conversion, contact ILD Teleservices. From ILD Mobile to ILD Bill to Phone, our billing solutions provide your market with a friction-free checkout experience. Find out what our alternative payment methods will do for your bottom line.

Who would pay for a non-existent item? Quite a few of us, actually; in fact, U.S. virtual goods revenue on Facebook alone is expected to grow 32% to $1.65 billion in 2012, says a report from Inside Network, and shared on GamesBeat.

What are virtual goods? If you’re not the gaming type, a virtual good is simply a non-physical object purchased and used within an online game or online community. Zynga’s FarmVille, which is one of the most well-known purveyors of virtual goods, allows players to buy virtual tractors or animals for use in their farming simulation game.  Consumers use these goods within a game or community to share, socialize, decorate, and give as gifts. However, in one of the most befuddling transactions, a man paid $330,000 in real money for a virtual space station on Entropia Universe.

Here are a few more examples of platforms that use virtual goods:

• KidsWB Scooby-Doo, which uses Zoinks Points that can be earned by purchasing Scooby Doo products or engaging on the website.
• Smurfs’ Village, in which users can buy Smurfberries or a wheelbarrow of Smurfs. (Check out this story about little kids playing this game and buying its virtual goods without their parents’ knowledge. It’s amusing, as long as you weren’t the parent who got the bill!)
• Bravo’s Real Housewives of Atlanta, where players can style their own virtual housewife and compete in Virtual Housewife Throwdown.  Users can also buy items or earn points by participating in activities, like reading a blog or watching a full episode from the series.

Businesses use virtual goods to monetize and increase a consumer’s lifetime value. But they don’t just benefit businesses. Earlier this year, Sony Online Entertainment created virtual items, like cherry blossoms, which players could purchase to support the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

How can you make virtual goods work within your gamification strategy? Amy Kim, CEO of game designer ShuffleBrain, recommends these 5 steps in Virtual Goods: Why & How They Work:

1. Create a meaningful context.
2. Prime the pump with free goods or currency.
3. Create demand for premium content.
4. Offer fresh content at a range of price points.
5. Make it easy to purchase currency.

Be sure to check out Amy’s full Slideshare presentation for all the details.

If gamification is going to be in your game plan, do your homework. Get started with these blog entries from ILD: 5 Things to Do Before You Try Business Gamification and What is Gamification for Business? A Beginner’s Guide.

To learn more about using LEC (phone) billing to allow consumers to safely and conveniently buy virtual goods within your online game or community, contact ILD Teleservices.

Every ecommerce customer counts. It doesn’t matter whether you sell gaming services or mobile ringtones, you know how much time, money, and people power your company invests in attracting and capturing the target market. But if you’re going to deploy the tactics that complete the sale, it helps to know about these four types of digital consumers:

The Credit Card Free – Nearly 30% of consumers do not have a credit card. Some are unable to obtain one, while others simply don’t want one. But what really matters to you is that these are customers who simply cannot shop online unless they purchase a pre-loaded debit card, use an alternative payment method that taps into their bank account, or ask a friend/family member to make the purchase.

The Cost Conscious – Other consumers in your target market have credit cards, but prefer not to use them. Perhaps they’re hesitant to pay interest fees to the banks. Maybe they don’t like to run the risk of high late fees.

The Security Conscious – Each year, consumers and ecommerce businesses lose billions to online fraud. But what’s more interesting is that ecommerce merchants lose 6x more revenue to the fear of fraud than actual fraud, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

The Unbanked – About 9 million U.S. households are unbanked, which means these consumers cannot (or, in some cases, will not) access traditional banking services, like checking accounts or credit cards. Instead they pay for transactions in cash or by using money orders.

Ecommerce merchants who want to capture these customers need to consider adding alternative payment methods (APMs) to their shopping cart options. APMs, like ILD Teleservices’ Bill to Phone, allow consumers to charge their purchase to their phone bill—and that allows digital merchants to attract consumers who aren’t willing or able to shop with credit cards online.

To learn more about the hassle-free, convenient APM that will lift your bottom line, contact the alternative payment experts at ILD.

I don’t know about you, but I am very suspicious when purchasing ANYTHING over the internet.  Yea, I know, I know… I’m on a secured website and the merchant takes every precaution to protect my identity… blah…blah…blah.  You know as well as I do, nothing is guaranteed and identity theft continues to be a major problem with cyber criminals constantly finding new ways to get your personal information. According to newly published data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. households experienced about $13.3 billion in losses tied to ID theft in 2010. Protect yourself and your family!

ILD provides a safer alternative for online purchases with our Home Telephone Billing option.  How can I be sure the creepy neighbor’s kid isn’t going to charge the latest online game’s secret maps and an arsenal of cyber guns to my phone bill you ask?

Well, ILD verifies the consumer identity before we bill to the phone.  First we make sure the name, address and phone number match exactly to what is on file with the telephone company.  If the information provided does not match we do not allow billing to your telephone number.

Yes, we understand that your name, number and address can be easily obtained using the local telephone directory or internet search.  That is why we gather additional information at the time of signup which includes the Merchant website address, the IP Address of your computer, and personal data such as your birth date, mother’s maiden name and/or social security number.  ILD verifies this additional information using the industry leader in credit and identity verification, LexisNexis.    LexisNexis compares the data provided during sign up to a variety of records (public and government) to verify your identity.   This again, must be a match or it’s a “no go” to billing.

And similar to the credit card companies, ILD is passionate about consumer protection.  If you are charged for a product that you did not order or authorize ILD will open an investigation.  ILD will credit fraudulent charges and work with the Merchant to ensure future fraud is prevented for all consumers.

Just like that – Bill to Phone is simple, convenient, and most of all safe alternative to a credit card.

For more ideas from ILD Teleservices to get the most of your billing, contact Laurice Neely at 210-592-0881 to set up a personal one-on-one evaluation and solution session.

Laurice Neely is Executive Director, Alternative Payments for ILD Teleservices.  She is a guest blogger and can be found on Twitter @lauricen. 

Some merchants are under the impression that the approval process for phone billing (also known as LEC approval process) is too cumbersome, with too many questions, and too many forms to fill out.

At first glance they may be right, but think about it.  The phone companies (or local exchange carriers – LECs for short) are basically extending membership in their “club”.  It’s their phone bill page; they want to know everything about the business applying for “membership”.

When you apply for membership in a club, apply for a credit card or a bank loan, forms of all lengths are always required.  The merchant approval process is no different and it is really all information very familiar to you.  Some of the question topics include:

• Corporate officers
• Tax ID
• Type of business
• Services being sold
• Sales process

We all know that information.  Marketing materials and scripts are normally already developed and available, so there should be no stressing there.

Plus, ILD’s Client Relations team provides assistance to all merchants with questions on the forms or with the materials needed, so put the aspirin bottle away.  Increase your revenue stream and bill your subscription services on the phone bill.  This alternative payment method has led to increases in revenue and subscribers of up to 25% for many online merchants.

Have a question about the process?  Ask me anytime on Twitter @kmcq45, or call (888) 453-2666 to learn more.

Kathy McQuade is Vice President of ILD’s Payment Services Division, ILD Teleservices, and has worked with ILD since 1997.

It is no secret that current times are tough!  Generating revenue these days is hard enough and it’s important that businesses spend their sales resources on selling their product and services to consumers who actually pay their bill.

At ILD Teleservices, we develop secure alternative payment tools to help our Merchants identify billable clients before making a SALE.  ILD merchants can now prequalify their leads and save up to 75% of their sales costs.

#1 – Don’t purchase a lead list until you validate billable accounts

Why pay for a lead that is not a billable account?  Using ILD Teleservices’ bill to phone payment option, merchants can pre-validate accounts to ensure they are billable.  Lead generators can pull data by specific geographic region.  At ILD, we take those lists and create a custom file for merchants based on billable accounts.  The file contains all of the telephone exchanges that are approved for billing in the designated area.  This list can be provided to the lead generator, so the merchant pays only for qualified leads in the areas where they are approved for billing.

#2 – Validate telephone numbers to ensure they are active

A lot of money can be wasted in the telemarketing sales process by calling phone numbers which have recently been disconnected by the phone company, transferred to a VoIP or cable provider.  Merchants that use iValidate get the most current data to ensure the telephone numbers are currently active and billable.  ILD’s iValidate system pulls the real time telephone number account status from the telephone companies and provides an indicator if the number is billable.

ILD’s iValidate platform is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so you can validate your lead in real-time prior to making the sales call.

For more ideas from ILD Teleservices to get the most of your billing, contact Laurice Neely at 210-592-0881 to set up a personal one-on-one evaluation and solution session.

Laurice Neely is Executive Director, Alternative Payments for ILD Teleservices.  She is a guest blogger and can be found on Twitter @lauricen. 

I’m Vice President of Billing Operations for ILD Teleservices, by day, and I am an Internet junkie by night (weekend, really).  My usual mission is to find the latest electronic gadget but I always seem to get distracted, and soon find that I’ve been scouring the tangled web for the last 3 hours, reading about and viewing products I had no intention of looking for earlier.

As the VP of Billing Operations for alternative payment provider, ILD Teleservices, I am a little biased when it comes to online payments and the whole check out experience.  I can’t help but look at these merchant websites and wonder why they don’t even make an attempt to offer a simpler payment option for buyers.  Of course, the consumer in me just wants to buy, buy, buy… whether it’s a book download, music, an online game or a subscription, but most e-Commerce sites limit themselves by only offering a single payment option – CREDIT CARD.

Last weekend I was at a point where I wanted to make a purchase, but of course I didn’t have my purse next to me.  So, I had to find my purse, pull out my credit card, grab my glasses to see the tiny 3 digit validation code, and I’ve just lost 10 minutes of my very precious weekend.  Even worse is when I’ve stepped away from the computer to get my credit card and because I’ve been gone too long, I’m then required to re-start the whole online shopping process.  Where’s the convenience in that checkout?  I know I’m not the only person who has gone through this.

Like many other buyers, I also think twice about sharing my credit card digits with an online web store where I have not done business before.  Usually, those are places where I simply landed on their site from…God only knows where.  But then I think about using my credit card on sites with which I haven’t done business before, and I get cold feet.  Both the VP of Billing Operations and the consumer in me wishes more merchants would offer simpler and more convenient payment options – like ILD Teleservices alternative – Bill to Phone.  It is so convenient and so much safer to charge a purchase to my phone bill than go through the credit card process mentioned above.

Have you ever been frustrated with making an online purchase?  Let’s commiserate.

Kathy McQuade is Vice President of ILD’s Payment Services Division, ILD Teleservices, and has worked with ILD since 1997. She always loves to continue the conversation on Twitter, @kmcq45.

Using a credit card for online purchases always make me a bit skittish.   Yes, I realize that millions of transactions occur daily with no issues.   However, every time I enter the card number, the CVV code, the expiration date and promise that I read the 62 page terms and conditions, I have visions of opening my monthly statement and finding a list of purchases including but not limited to first class tickets, a shopping spree at Versace and a 7-day stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City.  The thought of working with the Fraud department to reverse these fraudulent charges makes me think long and hard how much I really want to make the purchase.

There is a much safer option now available for online purchases and that is Mobile Phone Billing.  This option has three easy steps: 1) I enter my Mobile number and billing zip code on one screen, 2) wait a few seconds for a text message on my phone containing a unique PIN number, 3) enter the PIN number on a second screen and I am done.  Because the PIN number is generated at the time of purchase and is only good for a few minutes for that specific transaction, the opportunity for fraudulent charges to my account are virtually gone.   The charges show up on my monthly mobile bill and I have an easy safe alternative payment option!

The fraud risk is mitigated by the unique PIN text.  My account and credit is protected, the merchant is protected, the phone carrier (billing entity) is protected and the scammers, fraudsters and thieves are shut out.

ILD’s Mobile Phone Billing option is available today for items that are consumed on the internet; this includes online games, streaming movies and TV, periodical subscriptions, technical support, ID theft protection, web conferencing, satellite radio, and the list continues.  Oh – and for parents (and merchants) that are nervous kids may go a bit crazy on the gaming sites – a text is sent to the main billing telephone number so they have an opportunity to reject the purchase!  Just by including this alternative billing option to your checkout page, will increase sales.  It provides  a billing option for consumers who refuse to use credit cards and consumers that do not have credit cards (29% according to a survey on Creditcard.com*).   The added benefit is protecting your revenue from credit card chargebacks on fraudulent credit card charges!

Image Courtesy of Report-Online-Scams.com.

Anniversary Showcases Business Evolution Reinforced By Groundbreaking Digital and Social Media Solutions.

ILD Corp., a global leader in digital back office solutions is proud to announce that today is the company’s 15 year anniversary.  Originally a call center for telephony services, ILD has grown into one of the largest digital back-office support providers in the United States. Best known by the company’s brands, RollCall Business Conferencing Solutions (conferencing and webcasting services), ILD Teleservices (bill to phone payments), ILD Call Center and Social Strategy1 (social web services),  ILD Corp. continues to serve over a thousand national and global enterprises. 

“Reaching this milestone is a true testament to our employees and our partners. Over the years, hundreds of individuals have worked together to make ILD what we are today, and we’ve very proud of the achievements that have taken place since we founded the Company,” said Mike Lewis, Chairman and CEO. “It’s an important time to pause and acknowledge the accomplishments of the past, but even more importantly it is a time to focus on continually improving our operations and developing new and innovative services to ensure a long and bright future for each of our business units.  In this technology savvy world, we continue to evolve our businesses and service offerings with the needs of the digital age.”

President and Chief Operating Officer Dennis Stoutenburgh added, “We’ve introduced new innovative services to our product portfolio, which are all on a strong growth path. We’ve made a commitment to provide the latest technology, the most experienced people, and with this, our customer service levels are higher than ever! Investing in technology has streamlined our processes and made us quicker, more efficient and more competent in offering the technical expertise and insights that our customers have come to expect from us.”

ILD is part of the INC 5000 list and has also been named one of the Best Companies to Work for by Florida Trend Magazine.

Bill to Phone & ILD Teleservices – A Consumer Affairs Guide

“ILD Teleservices.” You see it on your phone bill and wonder: Who are they? Why are they billing me? Is this right? Well, look no further. This guide will give you the 411 on why you might be seeing our name on your phone bill and how we work with vendors to provide a safe and reliable alternative to using a credit card for purchases.

Why “ILD Teleservices” appears on your phone bill

ILD is a third-party payment processor, acting as a link between merchants and consumers. When a consumer purchases a product or service and chooses the Bill to Phone payment method the merchant submits the information to ILD who, in turn, submits the charge to the consumer’s phone company. The consumer simply submits payment for the purchase with their monthly phone bill payment.

If a charge appears on your bill, it’s because someone in your household may have authorized a merchant to charge your phone bill for products or services, such as ring tones, video games, or Internet services. If you have questions or need help with a charge, please contact our help center.

Why Bill to Phone is a payment option consumers trust

• It’s hassle free. With Bill to Phone there are no long credit card numbers to type in or super-small security codes to read. At checkout, customers simply enter information that’s unique to them, such as their phone number and the last four digits only of their Social Security number.
• It’s peace of mind. Because you’re not entering sensitive information like a credit card number, you lower the risk of online fraud and identity theft. Bill to Phone is simply a safer way to pay for the online goods and services you want.

Why ILD Teleservices is a payment processor consumers trust

Consumer protection is a priority at ILD. Before we agree to partner with a merchant, we do a stringent background check on the company as well as its key personnel, such as officers and owners. Our team also works with third-party investigators to examine potential partners.

We also offer a help center to resolve customer issues, whether it’s canceling a subscription or disputing a charge for a service you never received. What’s more, the resolution center keeps customers in the loop by allowing them to check on the status of credits.

ILD Teleservices is a respected alternative payment processor. For more than 13 years, we have been a leader in finding payment solutions that work for both merchants and consumers. In addition, we offer businesses a range of services, including audio and web conferencing and social media strategy.

More questions?

For more information about ILD or ILD charges listed on your phone bill, check out these links:

ILD Consumer FAQ

ILD Help Center

ILD Contact Information