BlueLight improves ISP registration with phone bill option

San Francisco-based BlueLight.com, the online arm of Troy, MI-based Kmart Corp., is making it easier for consumers to sign up for its ISP service by allowing customers to charge the monthly fee to their phone bills. BlueLight is working with San Jose, CA-based Internet payment service provider eBillit Inc. to arrange payments via consumer phone bills. With the option, the conversion rate for consumers who sign up and get approved for payment for the ISP service has shot from 75% to 98%, BlueLight reports. While BlueLight does not provide numbers, the company believes that providing ISP services helps drive traffic to its web site. BlueLight thus was searching for a way to approve more customers who wanted to use the ISP.

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BlueLight uncovered the need for alternative payment methods when it surveyed its ISP customer base and learned that 45% of current ISP subscribers would have preferred to pay for services on their phone bills. BlueLight Unlimited Internet Service costs $8.95 per month. Initially the company offered ISP service free of charge. BlueLight says offering the phone bill payment option helps attract non-credit card households and consumers who don’t want to use their credit cards for payment.

So far, the phone bill payment option is competing head to head with credit cards. When signing up for the ISP, 43% choose the phone bill option and 43% choose credit card, BlueLight tells InternetRetailer.com.