Recently, I wrote about the rise of super bundling, the market dynamics driving the trend and how Bango Digital Vending Machine technology is enabling this high growth market. This week, I want to explain a little more about what the Digital Vending Machine (DVM) is, how it works and why our customers are choosing the DVM from Bango.
First, what is the Digital Vending Machine?
The DVM is a Bango product that creates a technology standard for how subscriptions are offered to consumers by telcos and other mass-market resellers.
By providing this technology standard, merchants offering subscription-based products and services know that any resale channel (e.g. a telco) using the DVM will automatically work for their subscriptions. And any telco or other reseller knows that by deploying the DVM, there is a wide and diverse ecosystem of subscription products and services they can easily offer to their customers.
How does it work?
If you asked someone in the Bango development team, you would likely get an engineer’s view of all the moving parts that go together to make the DVM. I will spare the details of how the technology actually works and aim to keep it simple!
The DVM provides the technology and operational requirements to launch a super bundling service. The technology covers all of the requirements to integrate subscription products and services, to create bundles, promotions and offers, provide discounts etc. As you would expect, the DVM integrates with reseller payment systems, so that the reseller can provide billing on behalf of the merchant. This is significant, because if a payment relationship is already set up with the customer, it is much easier for the consumer to “click-to-pay”. By providing this core set of super bundling services through a standardized, software-as-a-service platform, Bango makes it easy for the world of online merchants with subscriptions, and the world of telcos, financial institutions, retailers etc acting as resellers, to collaborate and work together.
Resellers can target specific offers at selected customer segments, using Bango data insights. The Bango DVM automates the creation of bundles and offers and provides mechanisms for reseller marketing teams to ensure they are deploying the right assets and collateral in their consumer marketing campaigns.
Who are DVM customers?
Consumer service providers, like telcos, all over the world are using the Bango Digital Vending Machine to offer their customers enticing subscription services. Customers include BT, Verizon, T-Mobile US, Optus & more.
From the screenshot below of the Optus ‘subhub’ proposition, you can see a brief glimpse into how consumers can use these DVM powered subscription hubs to choose subscription services & offers, keep track of their active subscriptions and their overall spend.
You can also see the type of live offers telcos can put to their customers like the one below on Verizon +play offering Netflix for free when customers take out Starz.
The DVM is incredibly valuable for merchants that want to reach and engage more customers with their subscription products and services. Analysts expect a growing percentage of subscriptions to be activated by consumers through a resale channel partner, with potentially 1 in 3 subscriptions taken out through a super bundle service.
Why are customers choosing Bango to power their Super Bundles?
Connections – Bango already has the majority of the world’s largest merchants connected to the Platform. When thinking about super bundling, access to the best and most engaging merchant subscription products is key.
Reach – For merchants, the DVM opens-up massive reach through multiple telcos and other channel partners, enabling them to acquire more paying customers. Merchants also benefit from the impact of the channel partner’s marketing efforts. Merchants only have to connect once to the Bango Platform to reach hundreds of millions of consumers.
Platform model – Customers can connect once to Bango and immediately have access to the hundreds of merchants already connected to the Platform. This is also a real time saver vs having to make all the connections individually.
Speed – the growth of super bundling is accelerating quickly making it all the more important for those looking to launch super bundles to move quickly.
Cost – using the DVM is more cost effective for telcos than the alternative which would likely be to do it themselves. The DIY option would require significant investment in time, people and technology vs connecting with Bango and abstracting all that complexity.
Feature rich – The DVM has many additional features which enable telcos to grow their revenue faster. An example feature is Boost+ which tracks unactivated offers and prompts consumers to complete.
Performance – Bango has unique data insights which it uses to tailor offers within the DVM to maximize conversion and offer take up. For example, if I already have a Netflix subscription, the DVM might offer me Disney+ instead, or if I am a big spender in sports games, perhaps it would offer me an NFL+ subscription. Maximizing offer take up is key as it increases both revenue and customer retention for the telco. Bango has “whole of market” data insights that no individual merchant or reseller has access to.
