By Allan Maurer
WASHINGTON, DC—Sometimes a simple idea does wonders to boost sales and marketing. DC-based ARPU, for instance, ties an online ad to existing contact/billing information, allowing a purchaser to buy with one-click, Amazon-like. Doing so, the company says, increases the conversation rate of the ad by 15 times, a 500 percent gain.
Two former AOL execs, Ned Brody, CEO of ARPU, and Bill Lynch, VP of marketing, co-founded Arpu in 2005. Brody built AOL’s Premium Services business from zero to a $75M run rate in 12 months, developed and launched new services and built a new API-driven billing system.
Lynch served as VP of AOL where he designed the original Premium Services strategy and was responsible for online marketing, and subsequently, development of the Advanced Computing product lines.
ARPU has raised $16 million in three rounds of venture backing, the most recent round in December 2007. The 30 employee company is not currently seeking additional capital, Brody tells TechJournal South.
When a consumer responses to an advertisement on a site with lead- or purchase-enabled inventory, ARPU’s platform gives him or her the choice to sign up using the contact information or payment instrument already on file with the publisher or used in an immediately preceding purchase.
Results show that this consumer convenience alone increases the conversion rate of the advertisement by a minimum of 500 percent. What’s more, the company says, the subscription-based nature of many of the products sold provides users with a reason to return to that publisher’s website: to manage their subscriptions.
Advertising frequently suffers early and long in economic downturns, but Brody says, “I think it’s actually helping us. There is a lot more pressure to make advertising more efficient and we help advertisers sell a lot more product.”
The company already has marquee clients that include Dell, AOL, McAfee, and Blockbuster for its platform. Brody says in some ways the company acts as a network, cross-selling related products to buyers as well.
So the company’s business model is really basic and simple. “We help publishers increase their yield using information consumers have already given them and help advertisers sell more of their products,” says Brody. “That’s the message in a nutshell.”
On the Web: www.arpu.com
© 2008, TechJournal South. All rights reserved.
