Today’s picky porn surfer has thousands of sites to choose from, and with that choice comes a great deal of freedom — and free porn. Actually getting folks to sign up and pay for the good stuff is becoming more challenging for adult e-commerce sites.
So how does a struggling site convert flighty e-“window shoppers” into actual customers? Well, one good way is to hire intellichat adult, a company that advertises itself as “the ultimate sales-saving tool.” The U.K.-based company specializes in “retaining customers [who] decide to leave a website without a purchase,” according to director of intellichat adult Jeremy Thomas. “When this happens, intellichat adult appears and we attempt to save the sale by interacting with the visitor.”
The concept behind intellichat adult is simple enough: save the sale by asking the site surfer some basic questions to engage them and potentially offering an incentive to sign up, or “reiterating an offer that they already have on their site.”
The process, according to Thomas, is also very simple — and customizable. “All the scripts are custom to the requirements of the customer and their website. The customer has very little to do, they just give us access to the site or sites they would like us on, and place a line of code on two pages — we do all the rest. So it is very simple for them to set up on their end.”
But why would an adult Internet company already fighting financially to survive bring intellichat on board? Well, for one, there is no fee until intellichat adult actually begins converting surfers into sales.
“In this day and age people are not spending as much as they used to, there is a lot of free stuff out there, so intellichat is more of a necessity than a luxury. And as we don’t charge a fee until we save [a customer’s] sale, then as far as we are concerned it’s a no-brainer to have intellichat adult on [their] sites as it really costs nothing for our services because we operate on a no-sale, no-fee basis.”
Thomas took the reins of intellichat adult in October 2008 and runs it today with his son, Billy. Since taking over as the company director, Thomas cites several distinct challenges he’s overcome. The first was acceptance by the adult industry.
“There are a lot of people that come and go with false promises. Since myself and my son took over the reins of IA, we have transformed the look of what the product looked like in November ’08. After listening to what people wanted from an automated sales agent, we went to work.”
Another challenge: customization that spoke to their clients’ needs.
“We have gone through one or two changes and we are now providing a few different looks to IA, from a plain MSN-style window to a full white label skin that is customizable to our customer’s requirements. We also offer free webcam video, stripping/talking models, and images from their sites to be on the custom skins, which are made free of charge. We don’t tie our customers into contracts … given that we only receive payment if we save a sale, this keeps us on our toes and makes sure we perform.”
Thomas has dealt with his share of controversy since taking over at IA, including some competitors’ “untrue accusations” in the press, which Thomas brushes off. “Competition always brings complaints, jealousy, and the bad-mouthing …. We overcame these remarks, through people meeting with us and seeing our product, and, of course, word of mouth and hard work. So in the end, truth has prevailed.”
He expands on how he’s gained in-roads in the adult industry since last fall: “I think that if you are a true and honest person and you let people see your true colors from the outset and deliver what you say you can then that goes a long way in this business. This is one of the reasons, apart from our superior product, that we are working with some of the most respected companies in the industry — to name a few: AFF, Brazzers, Smashbucks.”
“What you see is what you get — 100 percetn commitment of service for our customers. We are at the forefront of technology, we are integrated with NATs so the website owner can still credit the original affiliate that sent the traffic to the site that we saved the sale on. We should also be able to do the same through MPA3 by the time this goes to print.”
What’s in store for the future of intellichat adult will largely depend on technological advances, according to Thomas. “The future goals [for the company] are to keep progressing in this technology and always keep in touch with our clients and try to deliver to their specific needs. In ten year’s time, to be working with different types of software that will help the website owner in traffic retention/conversions.”
To contact Jeremy Thomas, director of intellichat adult, e-mail him at [email protected]. For more information about intellichat adult, visit their website at www.intellichatadult.com.
This article originally appeared in the July 2009 issue of AVN Online. To subscribe, visit AVNMediaNetwork.com/subscribe.
