Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

A PROJECT REPORT ON

Embarking m-VAS Journey for India times Greeting Portal mGreet (Product Management & Direct to Consumer marketing)
FOR

TIMES INTERNET LTD.

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF Shalini Kapur & Aditi Verma (Chief Managers Product & Marketing: Interactive Media On Mobile) TOWARDS PARTIAL FILFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION IN TELECOM MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY

DEEPAK ARORA & ANKUR BHALLA Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management

Pune 411042 MBA (TM) Batch 2011-13 Systems & Finance

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

INSTITUTE CERTIFICATE

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

CERTIFICATE FROM THE COMPANY

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

1. Acknowledgment
This project is an assimilation of co-operation, support and guidance of several dignitaries. I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to the following people who have made the completion of this project possible. Firstly, I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to Shalini Kapur (Chief ManagerProduct) & Aditi Verma (Chief Manager: Marketing) at Times Internet Ltd for their vital encouragement, support & for constant reminders and much needed motivation. I am indebted to my project team members Saurabh Kapoor (Manager- Media & Alliances), Priyanka Mahajan (Manager- Product), Manan Tankha (Manager- Alliances) & Neha K Choudhary (Manager-Product) for their support and co-operation during the journey of completion of this project. Words are inadequate in offering my thanks to other members of Times Internet Ltd. for their encouragement and support in carrying out the project work. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank our institute Symbiosis Institute of Telecom and Management, Pune for providing me the opportunity to be a part of Times Internet Ltd. I would especially thank my director Mr Sunil Patil, Director, Mr. Prasanna Kulkarni, Deputy Director and Mrs. Sujata Joshi, Placement in charge for getting me to work in this prestigious company.

Deepak Arora (SITM)

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

2. Abstract
There is a card for every occasion and an occasion for every card. But Greeting cards are losing charm. Although Consumers are becoming more acceptable towards the new greeting card occasions. Being low-cost options- SMS, MMS and digital greetings are catching up. The current competitive business environment has lead to a growing demand for mobility, and for 24/7 access to information and services. Organizations which capitalize on this demand will be leaders in the Internet market of the future. Greetings Industry in India has seen a transformation from paper only tradition greetings to digital greetings & gifting portals. Emerging services within mobile VAS also include social networking, instant messaging and micro-blogging. Times Internet on the basis of this upcoming trend is trying to harness the potential in Indian Greeting Industry by promoting greetings as a VAS in the form of their mobile greeting portal m-Greet. At present, the Indian e-card market is estimated to have around 100-million users and is growing by 12-15% every year. In terms of growth, Asia-Pacific is portended to register fastest growth exhibiting a CAGR of more than 4.0%.Global Greeting Cards Market to Exceed US$30.4 Billion by 2015, according to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

As a part of our project, we analyzed the customer behavior on the basis of their feedback and trend analysis, did competition study for m-Greet, developed a product roadmap, took care of product alliances and did direct to consumer marketing for mGreet, perform all necessary tasks for doing a campaign in Lucknow colleges. The following tasks were performed during the course of the project: Survey on mobile greetings from potential customers. Customer profiling and analytics. Suggesting improvements in product on the basis of customer analytics, Competitive products study, customer feedback etc. Designing a product feature matrix. Product & Marketing Alliances management. Evaluating content providers & android mobile app developers for product. Creating themes for marketing campaigns. Identifying colleges & preparing presentations for pitching colleges. Tie-ups with news channel for coverage of campaigns. Selection of event management agency to do on ground activity

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Acknowledgment................................................................................................................................ 4 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Data Tables ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Nomenclature & Abbreviations....................................................................................................... 11 Title of the Project ............................................................................................................................ 12 Project Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 13 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 14

8.1 8.2 8.3

9.

Objectives ...........................................................................................................14 Methodology .......................................................................................................15 Findings ..............................................................................................................15

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 17

8.4 Conclusions ............................................................................................................16 9.1

10.

Company Profile .................................................................................................18

Mobile Greetings Potential In India ............................................................................................ 29

9.2. Product Profile .......................................................................................................22 10.1 Data Sources: .......................................................................................................29 10.2 Research Approach: .............................................................................................29 10.3 Research Instrument:............................................................................................30 10.4 Sampling Plan:......................................................................................................34 10.5 Contact Method: ...................................................................................................35 10.6 Data Analysis, Interpretation and Findings: ...........................................................35 10.7 Secondary Research ............................................................................................42 10.8 Competition Study ................................................................................................46
11. Product Management .................................................................................................................. 50

11.1 Features: ..............................................................................................................51 11.1.1 Speed Dial .........................................................................................................51

7

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

11.1.2 Video Greetings .................................................................................................51 11.1.3 Speech Recognition ...........................................................................................52 11.1.4 Play with music ..................................................................................................52 11.1.5 Calendar maintenance & events reminder .........................................................53 11.1.6 Invite Friends to Update Contact Details ............................................................53 11.1.7 Refer to Win .......................................................................................................54 11.1.8 Search Engine Optimization ...............................................................................55 11.2 Product Alliances ..................................................................................................56 11.2.1 Corporate ...........................................................................................................56 11.2.2 Floral .................................................................................................................56 11.2.3 Misc ...................................................................................................................56
12. Direct to Consumer Marketing ......................................................................................................... 58

12.1 Direct Marketing ....................................................................................................59 12.2. Why D2C for M-VAS company .............................................................................68 12.3. mGreet Lucknow campaign .................................................................................72
13. Limitation of project ........................................................................................................................... 75 14. Conclusion & Recommendations .................................................................................................... 76 15. SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 78 16. References ......................................................................................................................................... 79

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

3. List of Figures
Figure Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Figure Description Company Structure Times Internet Portfolio mGreet Features Facebook Connect Research Approach GSM Revenue Composition VAS Categories & Classficiation VAS Value Chain Campaign Poster SWOT Analysis Page Number 18 20 23 25 29 42 43 67 71 77

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

4. Data Tables
Table Number 1 Table Description Feature Matrix Page number 48

10

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

5. Nomenclature & Abbreviations

S.NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Abbreviation m-VAS D2C TIL USSD CAGR QA IVR WAP SMS MOU IPL OBD P2A A2P P2P Description Mobile Value Added Services Direct to Consumer Times Internet Ltd. Unstructured Supplementary Service Data Compounded Annual Growth Rate Quality Assurance Interactive Voice Response Wireless Application Protocol Short Messaging Service Minutes of Usage Indian Premier League Outbound Dialing Peer to Application Application to Peer Peer to Peer

11

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

6. Title of the Project

Embarking m-VAS Journey for India times Greeting Portal: m-Greet (Product Management & Direct to Consumer marketing)

12

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

7. Project Objectives
Exploring market potential for mobile Greetings in India Mobile VAS Next source of revenue for operators Existing mGreet Customer Survey. Potential Customers Mobility Profiling & greeting preferences. Customer Analytics Market Competition Study. mGreet: Product Management Study existing features across different mGreet Platforms. Support the Design & QA team. Suggest new features. Develop Product Roadmap. Identify product alliances for mGreet. mGreet: Direct to Consumer Marketing Increase usage of mGreet. Increase awareness about the mGreet. Viral marketing of mGreet.

13

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

8. Executive Summary
8.1 Objectives Exploring market potential for mobile Greetings in India: This phase included primary as well as secondary research. Primary research was carried out by taking feedback from existing customers and circulating a questionnaire to the potential customers for mGreet. Secondary research included competition study in terms of features and business models.

mGreet: Product Management: This phase included suggesting new features across different platforms including Website, IVR, WAP, USSD and mobile App. There was a strong need for coordination with the engineering and QA team to understand the core product. It also included vendor evaluation & product alliance management.

mGreet: Direct to Consumer Marketing This phase included study of relevance of D2C marketing for success of a m-VAS product. Various colleges were identified & pitched for conducting marketing campaigns to promote the mGreet brand to the target market segment. Marketing alliances with news channels were made for the coverage of these campaigns.

14

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

8.2 Methodology

To identify the potential for mobile greetings in India, feedback was taken from customers by telephonic interviews and online questionnaires. It was necessary to understand the business models of competitor products for base lining their success stories. Customers taste was evaluated for various VAS services such as Entertainment, Information, E-Commerce etc. As mobile greetings come under Social VAS, we had to think of product enhancements so as to leverage the power of social media.

8.3 Findings

Few parameters were identified for customer satisfaction while taking feedback. It was visible from the feedback that customers wanted something extra apart from just a greeting portal. They wanted a greeting plus gifting portal. Apart from this since 90% of the customer base was IVR based with 95% revenue coming from monthly subscription, we realized that for the organic growth of product we need to bring a strong alliance network so as to offer this to the target market segment i.e. Students, Service sector people.

15

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

8.4 Conclusions

To increase the customer base and meet the target segment demands, there is a strong need of technological up-gradation in terms of 3G supported features & also selective marketing like use of media management platforms, search Engine Optimization & radio promotions needs to be done in addition to bulk SMS and news paper based promotions to increase the probability of customer conversions. For assured greeting revenue sources, we need to tie-up with big retail chains and corporate who would like to send timely greetings on special occasions to their employees and customers.

16

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

9. Introduction

17

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

9.1 Company Profile The Times Group is Indias largest media conglomerate with its flagship Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL) being the largest publishing company in India and South-Asia. Starting off with The Times of India which is now the largest English publication in the world, BCCL and its subsidiaries (called The Times of India Group), are present in every existing media platform Newspapers, Magazines, Books, TV, Radio, Internet, Event Management, Outdoor Display, Music, Movies and more. With a turnover exceeding a billion dollars, the group has the support of over 25,000 advertisers, 11,000 employees and an audience spanning across all continents

Key Businesses:

Publishing Largest publishing co in India: 13 newspapers, 18 magazines, 11 publishing centers, 26 printing centers. Largest English newspaper in India by circulation (and the world). Largest Business newspaper in India by circulation (2nd largest English Business daily in the world, behind WSJ). Largest NonEnglish newspapers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore by circulation (Indias three largest cities).

Television Largest English News TV Channel, No. 2 English Business News TV Channel. Largest Bollywood News and Lifestyle TV Channel, No. 2 English Movies TV Channel.

18

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Digital Largest Indian network based on traffic and revenue (behind Google, Facebook, Yahoo). Operates 30+ digital businesses, most of which are Top 3 in their competitive segment. Most popular B2C mobile shortcode in India, across SMS, voice, WAP, and USSD Radio. Largest radio network in India by revenue and listenership, with 32 stations. Operates the largest rock radio station in the UK.

Figure 1: Company Structure

19

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Times Internet Ltd. Times Internet Limited, (TIL), is the internet & mobile venture of India's largest media house - the Times Group. TIL websites are among the fastest growing web-based networks worldwide. TIL has led the internet revolution in India and has emerged as India's foremost web entity, running diverse portals and niche websites.

Indiatimes.com, India's state-of the art internet portal encompasses telecom, e-commerce, online advertisement solutions, communities, events. It is India's preferred online & mobile value-added services destination for millions of surfers & subscribers looking for a rich and diverse digital content. Indiatimes.com commands more than 1 billion page views per month.

The other key properties in the TIL portfolio are timesofindia.com Worlds no.1 news site in terms of page views, and, economictimes.com - India's No.1 business news website.

Times Internet Mobile VAS Overview:

In the mobile space, Indiatimes pioneered the extremely popular and successful mobile short code - 58888. 58888 is the largest direct-to-consumer SMS and IVR short code, accessed by over 3mn consumers every month across all telecom operators in India, with offerings across the entire gamut of platforms, i.e., IVR/SMS/WAP.

20

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Times mobile limited, from the Times Group, is the most popular mobile value-added services destination for the global Indian. Times Mobile Limited continues to be the market driver in value-added services (VAS) for mobile phones and landlines. Setting up the first VAS messaging service, Times Mobile Limited 8888 quickly scoped out to include multimedia messaging, dating, chatting and email on mobile. 58888 is available with all service operators across India on both CDMA and GPRS phones, making it Indias largest operator-agnostic mobile short-code.

Figure 2- Times Internet Portfolio

21

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

9.2. Product Profile m-Greet: A Unique mobile Greeting Platform

About mGreet: mGreet is a unique greetings service from Times Mobile Limited which gives users a different way of expressing themselves. Users can browse through our wide range of greetings, select greetings they like and send to their friends and family. Be it greetings for specific occasions like Birthdays or anniversaries or for special events like Valentines Day or Diwali or every day, mGreet has it all. mGreet is an integrated product with primary objective of voice greetings.However, it offers SMS greetings as well along with other features like uploading contacts through Web etc. Web and WAP is primarily an add on and free feature.mGreet sign up and activations can be done through any mode including IVR, Web and WAP. mGreet is currently available on 58888155 short-code for Airtel, Tata Docomo, Reliance, Uninor and Loop. A one of a kind service for satiating not only the conventional need of greetings, via WEB,WAP &IVR but also to stay connected to network of friends by sending greetings. mGreet fulfils the need of users to wish/ greet their loved ones on special occasions Real time sharing of personalized greetings in the form of audio and text. Now user can access mGreet website and wapsite also by visiting www.mgreet.in. mGreet had a customer base of 351072 & revenue of Rs. 1383100 on 31st March 2012. Mgreet is available in regional Languages also. Language Available- Hindi, English, Kannada,assamese,bengali,tamil, Marathi & Telugu.

22

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

mGreet:Works on Multiple Platform On IVR: 58888155 to subscribe and access this service. On Web: User logs on to www.mgreet.in to view and browse content. Users will have to subscribe to the service by filling in and submitting the user registration form, in order to send greetings. On WAP: User logs on to mgreet.in from their GPRS enabled handsets to access the service. Subscription can by done by filling in and submitting the user registration form.

mGreet Key Features: Personalization- Users can personalize the existing pre-recorded voice greetings by recording a message in their own voice. Recipients will receive the personalized greetings as an OBD where the personal message will be played first, followed by the pre-recorded greeting.

Call and select a Greeting

Record your message to personalize Figure 3: mGreet Features

Your friend receives the greeting as an OBD

23

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Sending to multiple numbers at one go - Users can send selected greetings to multiple friends at one go. This feature is especially useful for sending generic event based greetings like New Years, Christmas etc. My zone- In this section, users can access their profile, their recent activities, favorites and also do activities like adding friends to a list, sorting friends according to different groups etc. Groups- When user adds a friend to his friend list, he also assigns a group to each friend from the list of pre-defined groups. Users can send a selected greeting to a particular group from the list. Only groups which have at least one member will be available for sending the greeting to. Scheduling- Greetings can be sent immediately or scheduled for a later date and time. Users can schedule a greeting upto 1 year in advance by entering the date and time of delivery of the greeting. However, the greeting will only be delivered if the sender is subscribed to the service at the time when the greeting is to be delivered. Save greeting- Recipients can access the received greetings by calling a number which will be sent to them as SMS before the greeting is delivered to them. Recipients can access these greetings for upto 2 days from the time of delivery. Celebrity Greeting- This section of the portal has pre recorded greetings in the voice of famous celebrities like Chitrangada Singh, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kangna Ranaut, Rituparna Sengupta etc. The user can select the celebrity greetings and send it to their friends. Users can also wish their favorite celebrities by sending greetings from the list of available greetings and Receive a thank you OBD call from the Celebrities whom they have sent the greetings to.
24

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Facebook ConnectApart from an easy login process every time, User can also do lots of fun activities by using Facebook Connect on mGreet. Some of the things you can do are mentioned below: Import all your Facebook contacts on to the mGreet website. Add Contact numbers of the friends you want to add to your mGreet groups- you can then send voice & text greetings to these friends or to entire groups. Send greetings to the facebook friends whom you have added in your Groups. Publish the greetings you send on your wall. Publish the greetings on your friends wall- if it is a voice greeting, your friend will not only receive the voice greeting on their phone but they can also listen to the greeting on their wall.

Import Contacts & Add contact No

Send Greetings to FB Friends

Publish it on ur wall & Friends FB Wall

Figure 4: Facebook Connect

25

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Default Language: A default language has been set depending on the Circle of the User. For example, the default language for Karnataka is Kannada. Users can, at any time, change their language by going to the Help section of the portal. Users can go to the Help section by pressing 9.

Category Listing The categories will be listed on the basis of Popularity and favorite sections. The category listing will be dynamic. It will be based on the language selected by the customer. For example if a customer selects English as a language the Love category will come on the top. The portal will have the following categories: Birthday Greetings Anniversary Greetings Love Greetings Friendship Greetings Seasonal Greetings Every day greeting like Miss you, Good morning etc Festive Greetings Celebrity Greetings Music Greetings Get well soon Greetings Event Based: Makar Sankrati, Ayyappa, Pongal , Republic Day, Valentines day etc
26

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Upcoming Events: This section of the portal will focus on the upcoming events of the year. The user will have the information about the upcoming events based on all the categories. The user will receive customized/dynamic events information on the basis of the language selected by him. For example a user who has opted for Telugu as his default language will get the information of the events of the south region first. The user will be given the option of scheduling the greetings as well. The personalized greeting can be delivered both in the form of SMS and voice with the help of OBD. Every category will have a default greeting. This default greeting will be used in case the user is not able to select any greeting. Delivery of Greetings: If the user sends the greeting as a voice greeting, it will be delivered in the form of an OBD to the recipient. If the user chooses to send the greeting as text, the greeting will be delivered to the recipient as a SMS message. The recipient will be informed by SMS about the voice greeting that he will be receiving from a particular number. The sender will also be informed once the greeting gets delivered to the recipient. User Engagement:

27

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

The user engagement is very important for a service as it ensures the stickiness of the user towards the service. The user engagement will be achieved by the following methods: Alerts via SMS if a new category is added. Sending reminders for specific occasions. Friends Birthday reminder via SMS.

Charges: The charges for mGreet are as follows: Subscription Charge- Rs.10/30 Days. Browsing Charge- Re1/min. Greeting Charge- Re.1/greeting, Rs.5 for celebrity greetings.

28

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

10.
10.1 Data Sources: Primary data

Mobile Greetings Potential In India

Feedback was taken from existing mGreet Customers as well as online survey was circulated to target segment for mGreet. i.e. Youth and Corporate. Secondary dataData was extracted from the company MIS mPulse and study for VAS & greeting industry trends and statistics was done through various portals such as Voice and data, Medianama and TRAI website. 10.2 Research Approach:

Define the research problem

Determining the data requirement

Prepare the questionaire

Finding out the concern people to fill the questionanire

Acquiring Information

Compilation & Processing of Data Collected

Interpretation of Result

Preparation of Result

29

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Figure 5: Research Approach

10.3 Research Instrument: Below questionnaire was used for telephonic & online customer feedback: Questionnaire

1. Name

2. Mobile Number

3. Gender * Male Female

4. Age Group *

Select

5. City,State

6. Occupation *

Others

7. Mobile Handset Manufacturer *

30

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

8. Do you use Internet on Mobile Phone? * Yes No

9. Mobile Operator *

10. Mobile Connection Type (Select any one) Default Operator Plan Prepaid Student Plan Corporate Plan Special Tariff Plan

Postpaid

11. Approx. Monthly Mobile Usage/Bill in Indian Rupees * 12. Do you use Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS)? If Yes, please select most used service(s) Entertainment (Ring tones, Wallpapers,Screen Savers,,Music, Games, Contests, Greetings etc) Information (News, Stock, Weather updates etc)
31

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

m-Commerce (Mobile Banking, Bill Pay etc)

13. Under Entertainment VAS, please indicate your usage preference for each of these services Least Preferred Greetings Somewhat Preferred Neutral Moderately Preferred Most Preferred

Ringtones

Wallpapers

Music

Games

14. How much does mobile VAS usage account towards your monthly mobile bill/spending (Approx Usage)?

15. Do you wish your friends, family and colleagues on their birthdays or other occasions? Please indicate your preference level for each of the greetings types Least Preferred Somewhat Preferred Neutral Moderately Preferred Most Preferred

32

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Least Preferred Paper Greetings Mobile (mGreetings) VAS Internet (eGreetings) Personal SMS/Call

Somewhat Preferred

Neutral

Moderately Preferred

Most Preferred

16. Are you aware of any greeting services which lets you send customized voice/text/animated greetings to your colleague's mobile? If Yes, Please name it

17. If asked to use a Mobile Greeting Service (VAS), to what extent these factors will influence your decision? Least Influences Pricing Somewhat Influences Neutral Moderately Influences Most Influences

Features

33

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Least Influences Ease of Use (Usability)

Somewhat Influences

Neutral

Moderately Influences

Most Influences

18. What billing model will you prefer for using such Mobile Greeting Service which offers you to send customized greetings to your friends? Least Preferred Pay per sent greeting Subscription (Rs 10/month) Subscription (Rs1/day) Somewhat Preferred Neutral Moderately Preferred Most Preferred

10.4 Sampling Plan:

Since most of the existing m-Greet customer base is IVR based, random selection was done on MSISDNs for different circles including Delhi NCR, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kolkata, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Mumbai, Maharashtra , U.P (East) & Rajasthan. Apart from it online questionnaire was also circulated to the

34

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

target market segment to know customer mobile VAS preferences. Sample size of 50 included 35 from telephonic interviews and 15 from online survey. 10.5 Contact Method:

Since exploring the potential of mobile greetings included capturing of existing customers mobility profile and potential customers greeting preferences, so two methods were adopted for contacting: Telephonic customer feedback for existing customers Online survey for potential customers- chosen market segment.

10.6 Data Analysis, Interpretation and Findings:

Sample Size: 50 Research Instrument :1) Telephonic Feedback from existing customer 2) Online survey for target segment customers A) Sample Description: Age Group wise distribution

15-25 26-35 36-45 45-55

35

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Mobile Connection wise distribution

Prepaid
Postpaid

Occupation wise distribution

Business Service Sector- Private Service Sector- Public Student Self Employed

Tariff Plan wise distribution

Default Operator Plan Corporate Plan Special Tariff Plan

36

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Handset Manufacturer wise distribution

Handsets
30 20 10 0

Handsets

Age Group wise Internet usage on Mobile

15-25 26-35 36-45

Sample distribution by average monthly bill

0-300
301-500

501-700
701-1000 Above 1000

37

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Marketing Mode Effectiveness for mGreet

Marketing Mode Effectiveness

30 20 10 0

Marketing Mode Effectiveness

Customer Satisfaction Rating on different parameters

Customer Satisfaction
Content Features Pricing Simplicity 0 1 2 3 4

Customer Satisfaction

Customer Billing Model Preference

Rs 10/month
Rs 1/day Pay Per Greeting

38

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Customer Greeting Preferences

Greetings Sent
40 20 0 Voice Text Greetings Sent

Most Liked Features

Send to multile friends Scheduled Greetings Customized Greetings Upcoming Events Alerts Multi-Platform Access

Improvements Suggested by customers

Improvement Suggested
Customized Text Greetings Automated Greetings Image/Animated/Video Edit/Delete Schedule 0 1 2 3 Improvement Suggested

39

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Other Greeting Portals Awareness

123greetings 365greetings LimeGreetings Airtel Landline

Misc Customer Feedback

15 10 5 0 Number Portability Greeting delivery Issues issues

Price Optimization

VAS Usage Pattern

Information
Entertainment

40

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Entertainment VAS usage pattern

VAS Type Preference

Games Music Greeting Ringtones Wallpapers 0 1 2 3 4 5

VAS Type Preference

VAS contribution to monthly mobile expenses

Below 10% 11-20% 21-30%

Customer Greeting Preferences

Greeting Preferences
5 4 3 2 1 0 Greeting Preferences

Paper Greetings

E-Greetings

Mobile Greetings

Personal Call/SMS

41

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

10.7 Secondary Research

Indian Telecom Market continues to grow with the launch of 3G, MNP and pipelined 4G & LTE. The growth of mobile subscribers in India remains steady in last few months According to the report released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India saw addition of 8 million new mobile subscribers in March 2012 taking the total tally of mobile subscribers in India to 919.17 million. India currently has 596 million Urban compared to 323 million rural mobile subscribers. Rural subscriber base grew by close to 2% and now accounts for 35.2% of all mobile subscribers. Out of all mobile subscribers, 683 million were active in March 2012. According to a study done by global consultancy firm Deloitte Value Added Services (VAS) will provide a huge fillip to the mobile industry in India which is expected to be Rs 48200 crores. The study says that 87 per cent respondents having smartphone access internet through their Smartphone, while 62 per cent respondents are ready to pay a premium for connecting devices. With 3G services, the Indian telecom industry is set for a second telecom revolution in wireless space. It will also benefit those sectors in which these services will be offered, by providing better infrastructure and services. Non-voice revenues currently constitute about 10% of revenues of Indian telecom operators. A comparison with other countries indicates an average of 23%, providing large scope for growth of MVAS in India.

42

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Figure 6: GSM Revenue Composition - Source TRAI Indias VAS market estimates show aggressive growth and decreasing relative importance of text based offerings. The vast offerings across VAS services are still delivered predominantly using 3 platforms of SMS, IVR and WAP portals. Mobile Greetings fall under Social VAS. Social media domain is flourishing currently worldwide due to veterans like Facebook, LinkedIn, Hi5 on the internet and VAS like

chat platforms, Voice SMS on the mobile

43

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Figure 7: VAS Categories & Classification

In India, greeting market has seen a much shift of customer preferences with the penetration of Internet and mobile across untapped areas. The trend of paper greetings is not anymore the talk of the town. Now, even the veterans of greeting cards in India like ITC, Hallmark, Archies etc have gone under a major change in their business models.

44

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Now their core business is not just limited to Greeting Cards, however they have adopted to Greeting & Gifting offerings in their portfolio. Old players have also adopted to digital revolution i.e. by introducing musical and video greeting cards in India. Also, there has been a significant increase in niches like handmade cards, dry flower cards, customized wishes card. All the major greeting players are no more shop driven, they have adopted technology i.e. they have used the power of Internet and mobiles to expand their business. Orders are being taken on web and over mobile phones. In last few years Telecom Operators have introduced different greeting VAS on their VAS portfolio. For example Airtel first tried it in Tamil Nadu in 2007 with its portal 747. Bubble Motion and Virtusa have their own Voice SMS platforms. Airtel Landline still offers to send customized voice greetings. BSNL has leveraged the power of 3G by introducing video greetings. VAS companies like Onmobile, Times Internet, One97 etc caters to upcoming demand for VAS services from the Indian user. These services are designed after exhaustive research on customer profile & needs. In India, VAS companies generally follow models: On Deck: are VAS companies that provide white labeled vendor services to the carrier/telecom operator using his infrastructure, branding and promotions. These include the likes of OnMobile Global, Bharti Telesoft, Cellebrum, One97, ValueFirst and others. Off Deck (or Direct to Consumer): are VAS companies that use carrier infrastructure and billing for their products and services, but the marketing and branding is independent of the mobile operators. For example Indiatimes 58888, Netcores MyToday, Webaroos SMS GupShup.

45

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

When we talk of the potential of mobile greetings, one aspect deals with the organic demand from customers and other is the inorganic one driven by customer pushed greetings by means of Campaigns, Contests etc which also part of the marketing strategy of the product. 10.8 Competition Study

Greetings on mobile VAS has not picked up very much in Indian market as compared to e-greetings, however there are many online portals which provide to send greetings to friends email id and mobile phones. Some Mobile based portals supporting greetings in India: BSNL 3G Video Greeting Portal Airtel Birthday Greetings Web Based Greeting & Gifting portals: 123Greetings: www.123greetings.com 365Greetings:www.365greetings.com Archies: www.archiesonline.com - Retail as well Mocolife: http://www.mocolife.com/ Atm Greetings: www.atmgreetings.com iFeelClub: www.ifeelclub.com LimeGreetings: http://www.limeall.com/ Other Competitors: Voice SMS Bubble Motion KirUsa

46

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Greeting portals have become greeting plus gifting portals and they offer sending predefined, customized greetings (voice, text, video, animated) to friends mob ile phones & email addresses along with the option to schedule messages, send event based & regional greetings. These also provide customer to send gifts at discounted prices.

Business Model of 123greetings: Operational Details 123Greetings Store, the companys online gifting e-commerce business shipped a total of 32,345 orders during the quarter, a decline compared to 57,042 orders during the last quarter, from an active base of 205 vendors. 123Greetings Connect saw the total number of registered users at 1,732,253 as on March 31, 2011. 123Greetings Invites saw 745 new events being created and 7972 invites being sent out in the quarter. 123Greetings Studio grew to 15,461 registered artists through the quarter, recording a 11% growth from its previous quarter. 123Greetings Facebook application saw 225,192 users sending 771,068 ecards to their friends and family. The app has a registered user base of 1,037,650 users as of March 31st, 2011.

47

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Competitive Feature Matrix

Symbols Used Product S.N o Features

mGreet IVR

Exist s

Doesnt Exist 123greetings

365greetings Web/Wap

In RoadMap LimeGreetings Web/Wap

Web

WAP

Web/Wap

Not Appli cable iFeel Club Web/ Wap

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Category Greetings Languages Voice Greeting Text Greeting Video Greeting Animated Greeting Invitations Send Greetings to many Scheduled Greetings USSD Support MyZone PhoneBook Social Network/Oth er Integration Help Section My Profile Refer a Friend Voice Recognition User Activity Feed Sharing with mGreet Friends RSS Blogging

8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17

18 19

48

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

20

21

22 23 24

25

26 27

28 29 30 31 32 33

(Voice/Other s) Upcoming Festivals Alerts Upcoming Event Alerts (Birthdays etc) Musical Album Name Greetings Quick Send/Popula r Categories Play with Music/Music al Ecards Floral Options Reginonal Cards/ecards Tagging Customer Feedback Widgets Calendar Managemet Automated Greetings

34

35 36

Corporate Alliances Printable ECards (Celebs/Cust om) Speech Reognition

Table 1: Feature Matrix

49

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

11. Product Management

50

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

After doing intensive study of products existing features , competitive products feature analysis, market segment needs and customer feedback analysis, following features have been proposed for mGreet: 11.1 Features: 11.1.1 Speed Dial Portals Impacted: IVR Brief: The purpose of this feature is to facilitate customer for easily sending greetings to best friends & colleagues on a key stroke. Existing Flow: Customer has to manually enter mobile number of the recipient which is tiresome. Pros: Flexibility to customer for sending greeting to closest friends & relatives just by pressing the speed dial key save it once and use anytime 11.1.2 Video Greetings Portals Impacted: Website, WAP Brief: mGreet customers will be able to send pre-defined Video greetings with customized wishes to their colleagues. These can be in the form of MMS or compressed videos downloadable from WAP links. Pros: User Experience Enhancement

51

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

11.1.3 Speech Recognition Portals Impacted: IVR Brief: With this feature customers will be able to do hassle free browsing of mGreet IVR Menu by speaking out the options & even voice tag their contacts to maintain phonebook. Existing Flow: Customer has to manually enter the options for IVR menu browsing which takes lot of time & no provision of Maintaining phonebook on IVR. Pros: Enhanced User Engagement

11.1.4 Play with music Portals Impacted: IVR, Website, WAP Brief: Now customers can just do anything with their favorite music by searching it on mGreet and: Devoting music as greetings to friends. Recording song in Karaoke style & sending customized songs. Waking up to a devotional song or any song of their choice. Order a customized musical card with self recorded greeting.

Pros: Keep user engaged on IVR Increase MoU.

52

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

11.1.5 Calendar maintenance & events reminder Portals Impacted: IVR, Website Brief: Customer can forget friends birthdays but our calendar & events reminder wont forget to send automated greetings, if customer has maintained calendar & activated automated greetings. In case they are not activated, mGreet will send event alerts to customer via sms. To maintain calendar customer will be provided with IVR submenu to add important dates for his phonebook contacts either manually or by sending OBD invites to his friends for updating his mGreet Calendar. Existing Flow: Customer receives birthday alerts via SMS/Web but has to visit portal again to send/schedule a greeting. Pros: User Experience Enhancement & guaranteed greetings revenue. 11.1.6 Invite Friends to Update Contact Details Portals Impacted: IVR, Website Brief: It will be great if the customer is relieved of updating friends birthdays and anniversaries in his phone book why not ask his friends by sending them a mGreeting (IVR) and a web link. On IVR input can be taken from recipient as a response to OBD or as a text message.

53

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Existing Flow: On IVR, there is no provision to add phonebook and on website customer has to manually enter all details or import from facebook. Pros: User Experience Enhancement & scope for revenue in the form of sent mGreetings. 11.1.7 Refer to Win Arvind Kajaria Managing Director (123greetings.com) says 123greetings is the largest e-greeting website in India, and the second most visited e-greetings website world-wide in terms of unique visitors. This growth has been largely based on viral marketing and the companys SEO prowess. Refer a Friend on mGreet: (Viral Marketing) User can refer 10 friends numbers in a month for free. Additional referral @ Re 1 per referral. Referral goes in form of customized/Predefined m-Greeting. For every successful conversion within a month, customer gets 20 mGreet points added to his mVallet. For every 100 points 1 month subscription off OR 10 greetings free of cost

Customer with highest monthly referral conversion rate gets gift hamper from Indiatimes. (Mobile Phones etc)

54

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

11.1.8 Search Engine Optimization Portals Impacted: Website Business Case: With introduction of Video Greetings & More Alliances, our website traffic is expected to increase. Internet Users search for greeting & gifting options on Popular Search Engines- Yahoo, Google, Bing, Reddif etc. mGreet not in top 30 search records for mobile greeting & gifting portals in India. Solution: We need to improve our website visibility by Search Engine Optimization: Possible Ways: o Organic: By adding search strings like Voice Greetings, Video greetings, Mobile Greetings, Campaign related-"IPL","9XM" on our website pages & some other tweaks. o Inorganic: By adding our website domain to various web-directories & also by paying to search engine vendors - Google, Bing,Yahoo etc Supporting Facts: 90% of all searchers coming onto Google look and click through on listings from organic area listings Expected Business Benefits: More visibility to mGreet when anonymous internet users search for greeting, gifting etc options on Web search engines.

55

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Reduced marketing cost on our off-deck VAS model. Leveraging the power of Customer Analytics.

11.2 Product Alliances 11.2.1 Corporate We can sell mGreet as a service to corporate with employee friendly policies wherein the employees would be greeted using automated birthday, anniversary, festival greetings & even gifts/cards/bouquets/cakes can be ordered via mGreet Companies can even send customized greetings & gifts using mGreet to their client base to maintain healthy relationship. We can target companies with employee base >5000 in Metros

11.2.2 Floral Customers can record customized voice greetings for their friends on mGreet and send customized musical cards to them for giving a personal touch- Tangibilize the Intangible mGreet Customers can also send customized wishes on greeting

cards/cakes. All they have to do is send a customized text message to us & order for a greeting card /cakes on IVR. Customer care executive will ask for the payment details & delivery details or customers can do it from payment gateway on mGreeet website. 11.2.3 Misc Cash is often given as a token of love in India on special occasions like Birthdays, anniversaries & festivals. Customers can order prepaid gift cash cards on mGreet. Providers- HDFC , Kotak offers such cards, Greetingcards India
56

Few Card

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

mGreet customer care executive will take such orders on IVR or customers can do it from payment gateway on mGreet website.

57

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

12. Direct to Consumer Marketing

58

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

12.1 Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising. Direct marketing messages emphasize a focus on the customer, data, and accountability. Characteristics that distinguish direct marketing are: 1. Marketing messages are addressed directly to customers. Direct marketing relies on being able to address the members of a target market. Addressability comes in a variety of forms including email addresses, mobile phone numbers, Web browser cookies, fax numbers and United States and international postal addresses. 2. Direct marketing seeks to drive a specific "call to action." For example, an advertisement may ask the prospect to call a free phone number or click on a link to a website. 3. Direct marketing emphasizes trackable, measurable responses from customers regardless of medium. Direct marketing is practiced by businesses of all sizes from the smallest start-up to the leaders on the Fortune 500. A well-executed direct advertising campaign can prove a positive return on investment by showing how many potential customers responded to a clear call-to-action. General advertising eschews calls-for-action in favor of messages that try to build prospects emotional awareness or engagement
59

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

with a brand. Even well-designed general advertisements rarely can prove their impact on the organizations bottom line. Popularity of Direct Advertising A recent study by the Direct Marketing Association reports that in 2010, marketers commercial and nonprofit spent $153.3 billion on direct marketing, which accounted for 54.2% of all ad expenditures in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $1.798 trillion in incremental sales. In 2010, direct marketing accounted for 8.3% of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2010, there were 1.4 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly supported 8.4 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 9.8 million US jobs. Benefits Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers because its positive results can be measured directly. For example, if a marketer sends out 1,000 solicitations by mail and 100 respond to the promotion, the marketer can say with confidence that campaign led directly to 10% direct responses. This metric is known as the 'response rate,' and it is one of many clearly quantifiable success metrics employed by direct marketers. In contrast, general advertising uses indirect measurements, such as awareness or engagement, since there is no direct response from a consumer. Measurement of results is a fundamental element in successful direct marketing. The Internet has made it easier for marketing managers to measure the results of a campaign. This is often achieved by using a specific website landing page directly relating to the promotional material. A call to action will ask the customer to visit the
60

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

landing page, and the effectiveness of the campaign can be measured by taking the number of promotional messages distributed (e.g., 1,000) and dividing it by the number of responses (people visiting the unique website page). Another way to measure the results is to compare the projected sales or generated leads for a given term with the actual sales or leads after a direct advertising campaign. Challenges and Solutions While many marketers recognize the financial benefits of increasing targeted awareness, some direct marketing efforts using particular media have been criticized for generating poor quality leads, either due to poor message strategy or because of poorly compiled demographic databases. This poses a problem for marketers and consumers alike, as advertisers do not wish to waste money on communicating with consumers not interested in their products. Some of these concerns have been addressed by direct marketers by the use of individual "opt-out" lists, variable printing, and better-targeted list practices. Additionally, in order to avoid unwanted mailings, members of the marketing industry have established preference services that give customers more control over the marketing communications they receive in the mail. The term "junk mail," referring to unsolicited commercial ads delivered via post office or directly deposited in consumers' mail boxes, can be traced back to 1954. The term "spam," meaning "unsolicited commercial e-mail," can be traced back to March 31, 1993, although in its first few months it merely referred to inadvertently posting a message so many times on UseNet that the repetitions effectively drowned out the normal flow of conversation.

61

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

To address the concerns of unwanted emails or spam, in 2003, Congress enacted the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CANSPAM) Act to curb unwanted email messages. Can-Spam gives recipients the ability to stop unwanted emails, and set out tough penalties for violations. Additionally, ISPs and email service providers have developed increasingly effective Email Filtering programs. These filters can interfere with the delivery of email marketing campaigns, even if the person has subscribed to receive them, as legitimate email marketing can possess the same hallmarks as spam. There are a range of email service providers that provide services for legitimate opt-in emailers to avoid being classified as spam. Consumers have expressed concerns about the privacy and environmental implications of direct marketing. In response to consumer demand and increasing business pressure to increase the effectiveness of reaching the right customer with direct marketing, companies specialize in targeted direct advertising to great effect, reducing advertising budget waste and increasing the effectiveness of delivering a marketing message with better geo-demography information, delivering the advertising message to only the customers interested in the product, service, or event on offer. Additionally, members of the advertising industry have been working to adopt stricter codes regarding online targeted advertising. Direct Marketing Channels Any medium that can be used to deliver a communication to a customer can be employed in direct marketing, including: a). Email Marketing

62

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Sending marketing messages through email or Email marketing is one of the most widely used direct-marketing methods. One reason for email marketing's popularity is that it is relatively inexpensive to design, test, and send an email message. It also allows marketers to deliver messages around the clock, and to accurately measure responses. b). Online Tools With the expansion of digital technology and tools, direct marketing is increasingly taking place through online channels. Most online advertising is delivered to a focused group of customers and has a trackable response.

Display Ads are interactive ads that appear on the Web next to content on Web pages or Web services. Formats include static banners, pop ups, videos, and floating units. Customers can click on the ad to respond directly to the message or to find more detailed information. According to research by eMarketer, expenditures on online display ads rose 24.5% between 2010 and 2011.

Search: 49% of US spending on Internet ads goes to search, in which advertisers pay for prominent placement among listings in search engines whenever a potential customer enters a relevant search term, allowing ads to be delivered to customers based upon their already-indicated search criteria. This paid placement industry generates more than $10 billion dollars for search companies. Marketers also use search engine optimization to drive traffic to their sites.

Social Media Sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, also provide opportunities for direct marketers to communicate directly with customers by creating content to which customers can respond.

c). Mobile
63

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Through mobile marketing, marketers engage with prospective customers and donors in an interactive manner through a mobile device or network, such as a cellphone, smartphone, or tablet. Types of mobile marketing messages include: SMS: (short message service) marketing communications are sent in the form of text messages, also known as texting. MMS: (multi-media message service) these messages use elements such as images, video, and audio; Mobile Applications: Smartphone-based mobile apps contain several types of

messages. Push Notifications are direct messages sent to a user either automatically or as part of a campaign. They include transactional, marketing, geo-based, and more. Rich Push Notifications are full HTML Push Notifications. Mobile apps also contain Interactive ads that appear inside the mobile application or app; LocationBased Marketing: marketing messages delivered directly to a mobile device based on the user's location; QR Codes (quick-response barcodes): This is a type of 2D barcode with an encoded link that can be accessed from a smartphone. This technology is increasingly being used for everything from special offers to product information. Mobile Banner Ads: Like standard banner ads for desktop Web pages but smaller to fit on mobile screens and run on the mobile content network d). Direct Mail The term "direct mail" is used to refer to communications sent to potential customers or donors via the postal service and other delivery services. Direct mail is sent to customers based on criteria such as age, income, location, profession, buying pattern, etc. Direct mail includes advertising circulars, catalogs, free-trial CDs, pre-approved credit card applications, and other unsolicited merchandising invitations delivered by

64

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

mail to homes and businesses. Bulk mailings are a particularly popular method of promotion for businesses operating in the financial services, home computer, and travel and tourism industries. In many developed countries, direct mail represents such a significant amount of the total volume of mail that special rate classes have been established. In the United States and United Kingdom, for example, there are bulk mail rates that enable marketers to send mail at rates that are substantially lower than regular first-class rates. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers must format and sort the mail in particular ways which reduces the handling (and therefore costs) required by the postal service. In the US, marketers send over 90 billion pieces of direct mail per year. Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which mail is sent out following database analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. For example, a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golf-related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing. The United States Postal Service calls this form of mail "advertising mail" (ad mail for short). e). Telemarketing Another common form of direct marketing is telemarketing, in which marketers contact customers by phone. The primary benefit to businesses is increased lead generation, which helps businesses increase sales volume and customer base. The most successful telemarketing service providers focus on generating more "qualified" leads that have a higher probability of getting converted into actual sales.

65

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

The National Do Not Call Registry was created in 2003 to offer consumers a choice whether to receive telemarketing calls at home. The FTC created the National Do Not Call Registry after a comprehensive review of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The do-not-call provisions of the TSR cover any plan, program, or campaign to sell goods or services through interstate phone calls. The provisions do not cover calls from political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors, or companies with which a customer has an existing business relationship. Canada has its own National Do Not Call List (DNCL). In other countries it is voluntary, such as the New Zealand Name Removal Service. f). Voicemail Marketing Voicemail marketing emerged out of the market prevalence of personal voice mailboxes, and business voicemail systems. Voicemail marketing presented a cost effective means by which to reach people directly, by voice. Abuse of consumer marketing applications of voicemail marketing resulted in an abundance of "voicespam," and prompted many jurisdictions to pass laws regulating consumer voicemail marketing. More recently, businesses have utilized guided voicemail (an application where pre-recorded voicemails are guided by live callers) to accomplish personalized business-to-business marketing formerly reserved for telemarketing. Because guided voicemail is used to contact only businesses, it is exempt from Do Not Call regulations in place for other forms of voicemail marketing. Voicemail courier is a similar form of voicemail marketing with both business-to-business and business-toconsumer applications. g). Couponing

66

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Couponing is used in print and digital media to elicit a response from the reader. An example is a coupon which the reader receives through the mail and takes to a store's check-out counter to receive a discount. Digital Coupons: Manufacturers and retailers make coupons available online for electronic orders that can be downloaded and printed. Digital coupons are available on company websites, social media outlets, texts, and email alerts. There are an increasing number of mobile phone applications offering digital coupons for direct use. Daily Deal Sites offer local and online deals each day, and are becoming increasingly popular. Customers sign up to receive notice of discounts and offers, which are sent daily by email. Purchases are often made using a special coupon code or promotional code. The largest of these sites, Groupon, has over 83 million subscribers. h). Direct Response TV Direct marketing via television (commonly referred to as DRTV) has two basic forms: long form (usually half-hour or hour-long segments that explain a product in detail and are commonly referred to as infomercials) and short form, which refers to typical 30-second or 60-second commercials that ask viewers for an immediate response (typically to call a phone number on screen or go to a website). TV-response marketing i.e. infomercials can be considered a form of direct marketing, since responses are in the form of calls to telephone numbers given on-air. This allows marketers to reasonably conclude that the calls are due to a particular campaign, and enables them to obtain customers' phone numbers as targets for telemarketing. One of the most famous DRTV commercials was for Ginsu Knives by Ginsu Products, Inc. of RI. Several aspects of ad, such as its use of adding items to the

67

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

offer and the guarantee of satisfaction were much copied, and came to be considered part of the formula for success with short-form direct-response TV ads (DRTV)

12.2. Why D2C for M-VAS company

Figure 8: VAS Value Chain The main stakeholders involved in the VAS value chain are Content copyright owners: At the first level of the MVAS value chain are the content copyright owners, which develop original copyright content. Examples include music production houses (SaReGaMa, Sony), Bollywood production houses (Yash Raj Films), and media houses (Sony, Star, Zee, etc.) Content portals/aggregators: These are individuals/ organizations that gather web content and in some cases distribute content to suit customer needs. Examples include Indiatimes and Hungama Mobile.

68

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Mobile operators: They provide transport and support mechanisms for delivery of mobile content. Examples include Airtel, Reliance, BSNL, MTNL, Hutch, Idea Cellular, etc. Technology enablers: On the other end of the value chain are technology enablers. These provide technology platforms that enable access to MVAS. Players include OnMobile, Bharti Telesoft, Webaroo, etc. Handset manufacturers: Mobile handset manufacturers have also started playing an important role, through their interaction with all other stakeholders across the value chain. Their activities include embedding software links in their handsets, allowing direct access to content portals, creating services customized to the need of certain regions, etc. Key players in the Indian market include Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung. According to above value chain Times Internet Ltd. Is content aggregator, which provide M-VAS to operators or to handset manufacturers, but not directly to end consumer, but still there is a need for direct to consumer marketing because of following reasons: Off Deck services: These services are carry the brand name of the service developer. Usually, these do not have a presence on the Mobile screen and are marketed directly by the third-party service provider. Examples of these services are portals offered by providers such as Indiatimes, Television channels, newspapers, and magazines. The service provider uses only operator infrastructure and billing mechanism. Times Internet portal 58888 follows Off-deck model. Mobile Operators and their representative bodies the COAI, AUSPI and others mentioned repeatedly that the issue of VAS is an internal agreement with a vendor, and TRAI should not get involved in commercial agreements or

negotiations. Reliance Communications dismissed it as well, saying that

69

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Negotiation is our right. However, the IAMAI and Atanu Mandal (President, ACL Wireless), said that On-Deck and Off-deck services should be looked at differently. On Deck services form a vendor agreement, but Off Deck has the has the branding of the service provider. Need for an Interconnect agreement and transparent costing: Ajay Vaishnavi, Director Telecom for Times Internet (58888) said that there needs to be transparency for an interconnect agreement between offdeck VAS companies and the service providers. Operators should define a fixed cost Every operator prices the same service differently to the consumer, so this confuses the consumer. The costing should be transparent. (I think he was also hinting at cumbersome negotiations for interconnect agreements). Change in business model: Operators and MVAS companies hand-in-hand discovered the quickest way to grow their revenues was not by trying to market services that consumers actually wanted, but rather to play the dirty game of steal, conceal and deny with mobile subscribers. It was way so much easier and faster way to grow MVAS revenues for Operators and their partner MVAS companies. Simply put, dip your hand (charging engine) and just take from the consumers wallet (pre-paid balance). The favorite services for activation without consent were subscription based services. Operators and MVAS companies just loved them. Activate once, and then sit back and watch the cash roll in month after month as it gets swiped from the hapless subscriber. By the time the subscriber figured out theyd been robbed, the n they had an almost mission impossible to stop the theft never mind actually catch the thief. By the time subscriber managed to get one service stopped another would

70

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

appear

like

virus

you

just

couldnt

kill

off.

But then in 2011 as was inevitable subscriber growth slowed and that too quite abruptly. There were hardly any new subscribers to target. At the same time existing subscribers had wised up and were no longer such easy pickings.

Eventually, in 2011 things changed as TRAI started to crack the whip to find ways to ensure consumers only got charged for services they asked for, and could easily turn off the ones they didnt want. At the same time Operators finally realized there were huge costs being incurred at their call centers just to deal with customer complaints for incorrect charging of MVAS services. At the same time they realized that it was no longer possible to grow MVAS revenue simply by riding on the growth of new nave subscribers. So we moved to MVAS 2.0 in somewhere in latter part of 2011. The biggest impact of this shift has been its become much tougher to achieve the same MVAS revenues as in the days of MVAS 1.0. In the world of MVAS 2.0, MVAS companies are finding that an ever increasing amount of marketing resource is needed to get even a modest level of consumer sign up to MVAS services. High competition: There are more than hundred of companies which are offering same type of services to the consumer so to differentiate themselves from the crowd, intensive marketing is required.

71

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

12.3. mGreet Lucknow campaign

Figure 9:Campaign Poster

Project assigned: To arrange a campaign at Lucknow Theme of campaign: Mr & Ms Fresh The campaign will be held in the top three colleges of Lucknow, in this student will send a fresh thought/idea/prank to his/her friend through a mobile based greeting platform m-Greet(a product by TIL).This campaign will be a week long which give student chance to show their creativity skills, talent and sense of humor, help to interact and make new friends in college and also give chance to win exciting and cool gifts like mobile phone. The freshest greeting will get a title of Mr. & Ms Fresh for one year.

72

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Steps considered in developing effective campaign Identification of target audience: Determine who your target audience consists of. Who is it that you want to reach with this campaign? What do you want your key message to be? These are important question need to address before planning a campaign. Here as per our product as well as the feedback from customers, we identified youth from age 15 to 25 as a user of our product, so we target colleges of lucknow for a campaign.

Determining the objective: The goal of campaign must be determine for increasing its effectiveness, objective for our campaign are: 1) Increase awareness of m-Greet 2) Increase the usage of m-Greet 3) Create a buzz to create a viral marketing

Designing campaign: Develop your plan of attack. What communication vehicles will you use to get your message to the public? Examples may include: o Press releases o Articles o Customer Success Stories o Letters to the Editor o Press Conferences, Interview, or Media Tours o Radio, Television, or Press Interviews o Seminars or Speaking Engagements
Develop a schedule for your campaigns. Create

Time for campaign:

efforts.

synergy by coinciding your campaign plan with other marketing and sales

73

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

Measuring result: After completion of campaign the result from campaign must be compared with the objective of the campaigns. List of major tasks performed for campaign: Created theme for campaign Prepared presentations to pitch colleges Selecting colleges for campaign Done tie-up with news channel for coverage of campaign Selected event management agency to do on ground activity

74

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

13. Limitation of project

The most accurate potential of a particular VAS product can be measured in terms of ratios of circle wise P2A and A2P messaging data. However, since this data is not freely available, therefore we adopted a secondary approach to capture customers digital greeting preferences & their mobility profile by taking online and telephonic feedback

75

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

14. Conclusion & Recommendations

On the basis of greeting market, product & target market study combined with customer analytics some recommendations can be derived which are listed below: Features: 1- We need to integrate the product to social media so as to harness its full potential. Right now only mGreet website enables us to do so, however we must do this for IVR as well. Note: Feature Prioritization can be done on the basis of Feature Matrix in Table 1 Alliances: 1- mGreet is one of its kind mobile VAS product in India, however considering the greeting preferences of Indian customers we need to develop a robust alliance network for gifting alliances like Ferns & Petals, Archies, HallMark as well as we need to cross-sell other VAS services related to greetings which might be of interest to consumer. 2- Gifting alliances with third-parties for greeting cards, gifts, pre-paid cash cards will help us to target the corporate sector through which we can earn guaranteed revenue. Technology: 1- Considering the era of 3G and pipelined 4G, we should consider enhancing our technological framework so as to enable customers to send customized video greetings. 2- Use of Location based services can be instrumental in alliances with Big Retail chains like Pantaloons etc in India who have a huge customer base, with which
76

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

they constantly maintain the relationship by wishing them on special occasions and informing them about discounts at nearest store.

Marketing: 1- We can also bundle mGreet with Operator Special Tariff plans like Data plans (Mobile App usage), Corporate Plans (In Case of Corporate Alliances), Student Plans (In case of D2C college campaigns etc). 2- Bulk SMS promotion might need to be replaced with focused market segment targeting as this might shift the revenue dependency from campaign pushed greetings to user demanded product. For this we might need help of customer analytics and third party media management platforms. 3- By using Search Engine Optimization we can reduce marketing cost for our website and increase the probability of more website traffic 4- mGreet can also be bundled with the STK to promote it to mobile VAS users.

These recommendations are base lined considering business models of competitors and on the basis of survey findings done as a part of the market research.

77

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

15. SWOT Analysis

Strengths
1. Multi-Platform Access 2- Capability to harness the potential of social media 3- Revenue depedency on massive mobile cutomer base in India 4- One of its kind in the Indian Market.

Weaknesses
Less customers using Website Technological limitations on IVR - can't support video Mobile App market still untapped.

Opportunities
1- With India moving towards 3G, 4G much potential for Video greetings. 2- Corporate & Retail Chain Alliances (Guranteed revenue) 3- Floral Allianes 4- Mobile App will tap the smartphone market segment.

Threats
1- Chaning regulatory environment. 2- Competitors already ready with latest technology like 3G, support IVVR 3- Online greeting & gifting portals 4- VAS bundled with operator tariff plans
.

Figure 10: SWOT Analysis

78

Times Internet Ltd.

Summer Project

Batch 2011-13

16. References
http://trak.in/tags/business/2012/05/04/india-mobile-subscriber-additionmarch-2012/ http://thinkingaloud.in/ArticleComments.aspx?ArtId=1063 http://www.slideshare.net/AnalysysMason/iamai-aml-mobile-vas-reportlaunch-presentation-201107 http://www.pwc.com/en_IN/in/assets/pdfs/publications-2011/vas_landscp.pdf https://www.deloitte.com/assets/DcomIndia/Local%20Assets/Documents/Deloitte_ASSOCHAM_MVAS_Study.pdf http://www.wirelessduniya.com/2011/06/09/deloitte-report-mobile-vas-in-indiato-to-grow-to-rs-48200-crores-by-2015/ https://www.docstoc.com/pass?doc_id=111145357 http://money.rediff.com/companies/intrasoft-technologies-ltd/1704037 1/management-speaks http://www.indiatimes.com/aboutus http://www.mgreet.in http://www.medianama.com/2012/05/223-123greetings-ships-32345-orders-inq4-fy12-rs-2-90-cr-profit-rs-18-50-cr-income/ http://news.oneindia.in/2006/06/03/airtel-launches-indias-first-tamil-voiceportal-1149321767.html http://www.ccaoi.in/UI/links/fwresearch/Mobile%20Conceltation%20paper.pdf http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/PIRReport/Documents/Indicator%20Rep ort%20-Sep-11.pdf http://www.wirelessduniya.com/2011/06/01/list-of-mobile-vas-companies-inindia/

79