

Ask HN: How would you monetize icantfindmyphone.com? - sjs382
http://www.icantfindmyphone.com/

======
foulmouthboy
Sponsorship. Localized.

You know the person's area code. Make the assumption that they live somewhere
near there and sell local ads.

I wouldn't put the advertising in the voice message itself. Most users are
just as likely to ignore the call once they get the phone. After the number
has been submitted though, the ad can display on the website's thank you page.

"Now that we've helped you, return a kind act and consider one of these fine
products from one of our sponsors."

~~~
paulnelligan
Or just have the ad on the page as soon as they input the area code using some
ajax magic ...

would work great for pizza ... stoners lose phones a lot, they also love pizza
...

------
sjs382
(I'm not the creator of icantfindmyphone.com)

I ask because I have one-off ideas like this pretty often that would be pretty
easy to build, but I've never realized a way to monetize them. Running a
service like this isn't going to break the bank, but it isn't exactly free
either[1].

[1] I'd consider a lot of projects I do pretty much 'free' to run as they run
on servers I already use for other services. For a telephony service, well...
Twillio isn't free.

------
albemuth
Putting humor before fear of getting downvoted, I'm surprised no one suggested
"Sell the phone numbers to telemarketers".

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noahc
I see two main ways to monetize it.

If it's calling you or texting you, you should be able to text an
advertisement or leave a voicemail as an advertisement. I'd also consider
telling jokes or something that gets people to spread the service and make it
viral. Randomly mixing jokes and ads might not be such a bad bet.

The other option is impressions on the website.

Either of these probably won't result in much money, but it should pay for
part of the service.

------
johnrob
Let advertisers leave a voice message. In most cases, the call will go to
voicemail (even if the person finds the phone they'll probably ignore the
call).

~~~
loanshark
and good luck signing up advertisers.

------
run4yourlives
Um, a reward?

Isn't that the first thing you offer when you lose something?

Monetize by taking a cut of offered rewards.

~~~
Yzupnick
I'm pretty sure that the service is designed to call the phone so that it
rings, and you will be able to find it. Like if can't remember where in your
house you put down the phone. Not that the service actually finds a phone you
left in a public area.

~~~
run4yourlives
I think the latter is a much more valuable service than the former.

The effort involved in finding a computer to dial my phone is more than the
effort in just looking for it.

------
middlegeek
Brainstorm ideas, not fully baked:

Ads. Yeah, they will be closing the browser as soon as their phone rings, but
you will still have them for a bit before then.

Make them watch an ad before they can input their number and make the call.

Charge them to call the phone. Maybe the first time is free, $0.25 thereafter.
Or possibily make it so you can call the phone once by manually typing in the
number, but if you want to do it again, it requires the number again and a
captcha. But for a fee the system will call the phone, wait 1 minute and
redial the number automatically--maybe 10 times or until the phone is
answered. (I suggest this because I know I have hit "send" on my computer to
send my missing phone a text message then sprinted into the living room to
hear if it beeps there, send another and sprint into the kitchen and listen,
etc...)

Become an affiliate for similar services which charge a monthly fee.

Ads for new phones, contact backup services, etc. (Make the ads easy to find
again once they have realized they cannot find their phone and come back to
your site.)

Make them agree that you can sell their number to telemarketers. Or to a cell
phone company who will cold call them about needing a new phone. Charge $0.50
to opt out.

------
iuguy
The easy/lazy way: Adverts.

Advertise on the thankyou page or when the user hits submit. I imagine that
your CTR's going to be very low, but you could advertise useful stuff, like
phone add-ons (maybe a higher CTR but lower CPC) or new phone contract deals
(lower CTR but perhaps higher CPC).

The less lazy way to monetize it would be to make the user accept that you
will keep their mobile number on file. You can then aggregate that info
geographically and theoretically sell it to carriers, if such information was
of value to them. The reason this may be of value is that someone who
persistently uses your site in a small space of time has probably lost their
phone and doesn't know where it is. The telco can then call them up on an
alternative number and sell them a replacement phone.

------
medius
This is a very niche application. You have to have lost your phone, no one
else with their phone is around and you have a computer around. If you are
outside, you probably will have an easier time borrowing someone's phone than
their computer. Of course, you can visit this website with their phone instead
of calling your phone. :)

So the possible situation where this can be useful is when they misplace it in
their house as you suggested. Skype, Google Voice (free), etc. will call the
phone while providing other services.

I can only imagine ad based revenue working for this, which will be miniscule
even if a large customer base develops as the time spent on the site will be
less than 10sec.

------
parfe
Upon the user entering his number immediately redirect him to a sponsor's
webpage. You don't care if the user stays on your site, and if you deliver him
to an advertiser instantly everyone wins.

Combined with the area code you can localize the redirection.

------
83457
Advertise an app that allows you to find your phone through GPS. Send a
message/link "You found it near you this time, but what if you left it
somewhere else? Try this cheap app..."

So in other words, a premium version for people who already found your free
version useful.

------
gte910h
Allow the user to send in App notifications to their iPhone allowing them to
popup something on the screen offereing a reward to the finder.

~~~
sjs382
It's a service that will dial your phone so you can find it when it rings.
This is presumably for a situation where you lost your phone in a couch
cushion or something similar. :)

------
ashishbharthi
You can give user an option to opt into (by default selected) SMS advertizing
with local offers.

------
quizbiz
banner ads to sell new phones banner ads for services that restore contacts

------
gojomo
Some people may still have their landline only to call their cellphone when
they misplace it. Encourage these people to cancel their landline and donate a
portion of the savings to you, so your service will always be available.

------
fleitz
I think the primary problem with monetizing this idea is letting people know
it exists.

I would register a twitter account such as cant_find_your_phone etc, search
the firehose, and then tweet the user.

