Facebook

So, do you have six bucks and three friends? You’ll need at least that much to start using the new ChatToText Facebook application. The Facebook application lets you receive chat messages from Facebook as SMS text messages. You can reply to chat message using text messaging and your replies are posted back to Facebook instantly.

The service costs six dollars a month and seeks to fill the gap that exists in Facebook’s chat messaging system.

Today you can adjust your mobile Facebook account setting so that you’ll receive text messages for friend requests, messages, wall posts, and status updates from your friends. You can also post status updates using text messages, but you can’t chat outside of Facebook without ChatToText.

Here are some of my thoughts on the service, the Facebook application model, and the marketing behind ChatToText.

But before we get to that, let me walk you through the process I experienced when I signed up for ChatToText.

Oh, there’s one thing I haven’t mentioned about ChatToText yet. Part of the model for encouraging viral promotion of the application is an attached multi-level marketing pitch. What do I mean by that?

Well, you can either signup to use the service for $6 USD a month and use it like any other subscription based service or you can sign up and promote it to make $2 per new sign up and .25 cents per new tiered sign up (up to 8 levels deep). That means there’s a commission structure associated with using and promoting the service that has the potential to provide a return for as long as the subscription is active, or for as long as new people are signing up. I would imagine that like with anything else, there will be a saturation point, but for now everything is new.

So there you have a cool new Facebook application with a multi-level marketing spin to encourage promotion. Got, it? Of course you do. So let’s look at the sign up process, both as a potential user of the service, and as a Facebook marketer. To help you out, I’ve documented the whole process.

Allowing Access

Initially I saw a Facebook message come across from one of my friends that said Facebook was going MLM. Being curious, I clicked through to the ChatToText application where I was presented with a very simple, but very well done,  4 minute video that told me all about the service and how to sign up.

If you’re even slightly interested in Facebook marketing, copy writing, or using videos for marketing, I recommend you watch the offer video. It’s very smooth and the copy in the ad is too the point, addresses objections, sets expectations, empathizes with you, and ultimately greases the way for a clean buying transaction.

After I clicked the sign up button at the bottom of the video, I was presented with a standard Facebook “Allow Access” message.

I clicked allow and I was taken to the ChatToText website outside of Facebook. Looking at the web address in my browser I could see that the ChatToText guys were using aMember as their member management solution and affiliate management tool.

In case you don’t know, amember is a commercial piece of software that connects a long list of open source software packages together so you can create membership sites or just plug disconnected systems together. I’ve used it in the past to plug WordPress, forums, and photo galleries together.

It’s not overly important that you know they use amember, I just think from an Internet marketing perspective that it’s interesting because the software costs less than two hundred dollars and offers a flexible solution for creating membership sites. Which shows, that you can take an idea and an inexpensive tool and turn them both into something that makes money online.

Create An Account

Next, I completed their member registration form and clicked continue. As you can see the registration form was short and too the point. They’re just trying to get the user to the next step.

After reading through their user agreement, I saved a copy to my hard drive for later reference and clicked the “I Agree” check box and clicked continue.

Complete The Payment

I was then taken to PayPal to complete the payment portion of the signup process. The first thing I noted was that ChatToText  put a big red notice at the top of the page to tell me something “really important”.

This is an interesting tip and something you might want to consider for your own marketing if you use PayPal. The message is part of the header graphic that PayPal lets you upload to tell people who they are buying from. I think it’s a creative use of the space. Even if you don’t have a required message,  it could also be used as a place to remind the buyer about special bonuses so to keep them encouraged to follow through with their purchase. Just a thought.

Next, I logged into my PayPal account, reviewed the details, and clicked the pay button.

Once the payment was accepted I was presented with a “Return to Merchant” button, just like the big red text mentioned on the first PayPal screen.

So, I clicked “Return To Merchant” and got this message.

This is a standard message and it doesn’t exactly create any feel good moments, but at this point in the purchase process the   payment has been completed so the buyer is committed to an action.

So, I clicked continue which took me to the order thank you page where I was prompted to complete the setup process.

Now, take note that this is not an Amazon OneClick process, but the ChatToText guys are smart because they put the payment process up front as quickly as possible.

Instead of trying to pull the buyer through the signup process and configuration process, they get them to complete the payment first. ChatToText shows the buyer the product offer, and immediately closes the deal with a payment.

Once the buyer is committed to the transaction, their motivation to complete the process has shifted. They won’t abandon the process because they have already paid.

Complete The Setup Process

Clicking the “click here” link took me back to Facebook where I was greeted with a step by step setup process.

In fact, the graphics indicated I was already on step 2 and there was even an option to watch videos to help with completing the process.

Pause for a moment: It may not be obvious, but the extra support videos are meant to reduce the likelihood of refund requests by people who can’t finish the process. Remember, this is a monthly subscription service and it’s only $6 so if you, the developer, can get the buyer to complete the process and the service works, then you will probably have a customer for a very long time. In fact, it would take a lot of screw ups on your part to make them even think to cancel. $6 isn’t much to pay, but it can add up with thousands of signups.

Here’s what the multi-step status page looks like.

Invite Some Friends

Since there is a multi-level marketing / viral promotion (ie, you want to get some payolla) component to the application, the  next step is to tell some friends. So, that’s what I did. It is interesting to note that you are limited to sending the application to 8 friends. So, I picked people who I thought would use the the application, would respond to a request from me, and had friends who would use the application.

This is an important point because you don’t want your requests going to waste. Sure you can always promote the thing later in other ways, but since your doing it, you might as well try to make it count.

To futher encourage action, I included a custom message with my invitation to let my friends know that I was researching the application and I wanted to know their thoughts. It’s important to be genuine during this step. I really was researching it and I do want to hear their feedback, but I also wanted to ask them a question so they would feel compelled to respond. If people think you are waiting on them, then they tend to respond.

Next up was to enter my cell phone settings. So, I entered my cell number and selected my phone carrier.

Setup Your Phone

In a few seconds I recieved a text message on my phone with instructions on how to confirm the message.

I entered the confirmation code and sent a text message back to ChatToText.

In about ten to fifteen seconds the ChatToText system was updated and I was able to click the “Click Here” link to refresh the page and complete the setup

Add To Your Profile

Then I was taken back to the setup steps page and asked to add the ChatToText application to my Facebook profile page so that people would know they can chat with me via text messaging.

Take notice that just below the big red box that seems to dominate all your screen real estate and your attention there is a button to add the application to your profile page. I clicked it and

The application instantly showed up on the left hand side of my profile page just under my friends and my networks. You can move your box around if you like, but it won’t go above your friends, so you might want to consider where to put it so you will get the best exposure.

Your sign up action will also show up in your Facebook activity stream so your friends can see that you’ve signed up. This is just one of those great Facebook automatic promotion things that doesn’t hurt your promotion efforts.

How To Cancel Your Subscription

So what happens if you don’t use the service and you’re not seeing any revenue from the application? How do you cancel your subscription?

Well there are two ways you can manage your account. One is to view your ChatToText Facebook application page where you can see all your stats and commissions and the other way is to access your membership through the ChatToText website.

To cancel your subscription, you can go to the ChatToText website and log in with your membership log in.

On the main membership page you should see a link, in the bottom right hand corner, to cancel your subscription. It’s pretty easy to do.

There you go. That’s the whole sign up process.

Now let’s talk about the model that is being presented here.

The Model That’s Being Presented Here

As marketers and developers look for ways to make money with Facebook, I’m convinced that they are going to have to move away from the poke, super poke, and someone just gave you a beer, model of grabbing people’s attention.

They are going to have to offer real services that do real things to add value to Facebook user lives.

Now you can argue the value of chat all day long, but the truth is it’s up the buyer to weigh that value and decide if they want to pay to get it. This is where I think ChatToText is doing an excellent job. They are hitting the market at a place where there is a gap which is unlike most MLM setups.

Most Multi-level marketing systems try to convince the buyer that they want what is being offered and the buyer can offset the cost by selling the product. But, ChatToText is offering what people want and then encouraging them to talk about the service by offering a tiered commision on sales. It’s a fine line I know, but isn’t that always the way it is. You can’t make someone talk positively about something they really don’t want, but you can’t shut a person up if they really like something.

Another interesting thing to note is that ChatToText is building a base of qualified buyer. Provided they do a good job of delivering their service, they should be able to leverage that base for future marketing efforts. And by offering a service tied to a communication channel, they will have the ability, if they ever choose, to inject marketing messages into the flow of communications via text messages or chat responses.

So let’s review briefly. When making a Facebook application:

• Offer a subscription service that provides on-going value
• Complete the payment process up front
• Include a viral component that will help the app spread
• Build a base of qualified buyers that you can leverage for long term growth.

Be sure to checkout the ChatToText application both as a user and as a Facebook marketer.

As you can see, there are lots of interesting pieces to this story.

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

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