Major telecom player Aircel announced a strategic partnership with AskMe.com, a part of GetIt. AskMe.com specializes in local search and gives a user the ability to search for local businesses on the go.
What makes this different is the fact that this works on a pay per lead model. Usually, with such services, the businesses would have to pay a flat fee per month to be listed higher on their internal search engines. This gives no guarantee of return whatsoever and usually gives a negative return for the merchants or businesses involved.
In this model, the merchants will only be charged a cost per lead when a particular lead calls their number. The merchants have to be registered with AskMe and Aircel, the merchant though has to be an Aircel customer and can only register if he is an Aircel customer. Although their directory listing will have a host of other merchant info the merchants who are Aircel customers will lead the search results page.
Overall this reduces the upfront costs for businesses where they usually spend more than 10,000rs/ month with no guarantee for return but in this case all they do is pay for a qualified lead once the lead has actually called them. This effectively drops the cost down to less than a tenth of what it would be normally, helps increase business and will thereby drive growth in the huge field of SME.
From the Press Release
Speaking on this alliance, Shankara Narayanan K, Head- SBU 1 (Chennai & RoTN), Aircel, said, “Aircel is delighted to be the first telecom operator to provide operator billing solution to the ever growing SME segment. Through this partnership with ASKME, we plan to enhance our enterprise business and offer the segment to grow their business through easy lead payment solutions. This partnership is an excellent amalgamation of ASKME’s robust reach in the SME segment and Aircel’s innovative offerings in the marketplace.â€
Commenting on this partnership, Jaspreet Bindra, CEO, Getit Infomedia said, “This is a first-of-its-kind partnership in India wherein a telco and an online business have come together to tap the SME market. We bring in over a decade of experience of working with SMEs and working with Aircel would definitely help us further enhance it. Under this partnership, we aim to cover the untapped SMEs through this unique model which has been customized keeping in mind the requirements of Indian SMEs. We hope that Pay-per-Lead model will ensure a fair revenue model for SMEs and create a trusted business ecosystemâ€.
Customers can dial toll free number 54422 or log on to askme.com to get local search information of various sectors like hospitality, real estate, automotive services, Furniture and Furnishings, Apparel etc.