At the beginning of summer this year, a mid-eastern U.S. regional, full-service operator introduced usage-based Internet tiers. To keep subscribers informed of their account’s current data usage, in-browser alerts are displayed when 80%, 90%, and 100% of their data thresholds are reached.
Each personalized usage alert is designed to give subscribers a heads-up on usage thresholds with the opportunity to see upgrade options before their data allowance is used up. Response-button options are:
- OK, thanks: indicates acknowledgement
- Show meter: links to a logon to view current usage
- Tier options: links to information about data plans (this button not included at 100%)
For the first 3 months (June through August) of active usage alerting, response rates were:
USAGE LEVEL 80% 90% 100%
Ok thanks 26.5% 28.4% 49.3%
Show meter 27.8% 23.9% 46.1%
Tier options 16.0% 17.1% not included
TOTAL 70.3% 69.4% 97.8%
Note that, of the operator’s total subscriber population across 3 states:
- 5.7% reached 80% of their data allowance
- 4.5% reached 90%
- 3.5% reached 100%, after which they were charged $5 for each additional 50GB increment
In sum, fewer than 6% of the regional operator’s subscribers reached data usage levels of 80% or higher. Of those who did receive in-browser usage alerts, response rates were very high—roughly 70% at usage levels of 80% and 90%, and nearly 98% response at 100% usage—a phenomenal response rate by any measure.