Masturbators Anonymous - why anonymity is so important to the surfer

[emjay]

For most of us, our sex lives are an inherently private affair, our very own walled garden. The same applies to our customer, the surfer. His or her sex life is private too.

It is precisely because of this, that concrete data regarding the demographics of surfers is hard to come by, scuse the pun.;-)

The common perception is that consumers of porn are typically solo men who are not in a sexual relationship. Whilst this group undoubtedly represents a healthy proportion, we will probably never know the true profile of our customers.

It stands to reason therefore that anonymity is highly important to all prospective clients.

Think about it, let’s just say your tour has done its job and the prospect is hot-to-trot and clicks on your join button.

He is now invited to join your site by entering his credit card details, the very act of which will leave a paper trail (in more ways than one!) and threaten to undermine said anonymity.

Other doubts that creep in before clicking the confirm button might include –

- Are these porn merchants trustworthy?
- Will it be easy to cancel my subscription?
- Will the website URL appear on my credit card statement?
- How do I know that my credit card details will not be resold to crooks and my money or, even worse, identity stolen?
- Will this purchase come back and haunt me?
- Will my wife/GF/boyfriend ever find out?

This is why phone billing is so popular with surfers. No awkward forms to fill in. No parting with personal information. No “evidence”. A simple phone call is all it takes to start enjoying the forbidden fruits of your member’s area, for a period of time determined by you.

When the phone bill drops on the mat at the end of the month, his online purchase via a premium number will be buried amongst dozens regular calls to friends, family and colleagues. With not a hint of the underlying purchase in sight. And since phone bills tend to get paid in full, chargebacks are practically unheard of.

If the cherished password was purchasedusing a pre-paid cell phone (which are very popular across large parts of Europe and Asia), the purchase price is simply deducted from his account. Simple.

I am not suggesting for one moment that you should drop credit card billing in favour of phone. Don’t. The credit card is and remains the best billing mechanism to process monthly recurring memberships.

But by not including phone billing for say trials, you are depriving yourself of a secondary income-stream from surfers worldwide you like what they see, but would prefer not to commit for fear of being found out.

Phone Billing is not recurring by default, but if you have compelling content, the chances are good he will come back for more at a later – not least since you respected his privacy and gave him a chance to pay you this way in the first place.

[ScreaM]

Yes, you make a valid point emjay but people still enter their CC details without thinking much. You see, when their dick is hard, it's that head that does the thinking.

[emjay]

Originally Posted by ScreaM

Yes, you make a valid point emjay but people still enter their CC details without thinking much. You see, when their dick is hard, it's that head that does the thinking.

Very true ScreaM, and very well put!

[Kamilla]

Originally Posted by emjay

When the phone bill drops on the mat at the end of the month, his online purchase via a premium number will be buried amongst dozens regular calls to friends, family and colleagues. With not a hint of the underlying purchase in sight. And since phone bills tend to get paid in full, chargebacks are practically unheard of.

Premium number as in 900? Most people know what so-called premium numbers are for so I doubt they get buried.

CB's are not unheard of. Several years ago I was thinking of setting up a phonesex line. When discussing what price to set, I was told that I could expect 50% would NOT pay their premium calls. And that phone companies didn't pursue them at all. I remember those tv commercials larger phone companies had, where they actually encourage people to not pay them and say that the dog did it (in the commercial it was a dog who ordered and paid via phone and the horrified owners were 'victims').

So I'm curious what's so different with your premium number?

[emjay]

Originally Posted by Kamilla

Premium number as in 900? Most people know what so-called premium numbers are for so I doubt they get buried.

CB's are not unheard of. Several years ago I was thinking of setting up a phonesex line. When discussing what price to set, I was told that I could expect 50% would NOT pay their premium calls. And that phone companies didn't pursue them at all. I remember those tv commercials larger phone companies had, where they actually encourage people to not pay them and say that the dog did it (in the commercial it was a dog who ordered and paid via phone and the horrified owners were 'victims').

So I'm curious what's so different with your premium number?

Actually Kamilla you are right. As with mobile, 1-900 (US premium billing) is different to the rest of the world and is practically the only market to have chargebacks associated with it.

[Blinky]

My phone bill has per-minute charges on a separate page, and would be hard to miss.

I've actually blocked all per minute numbers on my line anyway

[emjay]

Originally Posted by Blinky

My phone bill has per-minute charges on a separate page, and would be hard to miss.

I've actually blocked all per minute numbers on my line anyway

G'day Blinky, again, Australia is a little different and is the only country where we must disclose the URL of the website visited.

Since this is usually http://www.alexa.com/data/details/tr...ccesscode.com/
and therefore content neutral, we sometimes get contacted by curious wives who want to know their husbands have been spending money online.

It's amazing how popular www.downloadtoprint.com is with Australian fellas!

[PornFactory]

Originally Posted by ScreaM

Yes, you make a valid point emjay but people still enter their CC details without thinking much. You see, when their dick is hard, it's that head that does the thinking.

Yup, you can't think normally with a hard on!