While one tap purchases using carrier billing have existed exclusively on mobile for some time, including Boku’s own one tap solutions, Phone-on-File is the first technology and Boku is the only carrier billing provider to truly allow the phone number to challenge credit cards on any and all platforms for repeat purchases. Phone-on-File is also the only solution that has been developed with direct carrier approval to provide this functionality and simply asks the user to provide a standing authorization to the merchant to charge their phone bill up to a specified limit.

For one-time purchases, Phone-on-File is designed to give merchants who use carrier billing the same streamlined one-click checkout offered by services like Amazon, without the need for a credit card. The initial sign-up is completed through a one-time SMS authentication and all future purchases are completed in one click, bypassing a second authorization that is typically required for carrier billing transactions. Importantly, because the authorization is provided to the merchant, consumers can utilize the one-click checkout feature on any platform through which they purchase a merchant’s goods and/or services including desktop, mobile web, and mobile in-app. Much like stored credit card information is used to streamline purchases, this single-click experience reduces checkout friction for consumers and drives conversion uplift for merchants. Boku has implemented Phone-on-File for one-time purchases with a select group of global merchants and the results have shown an average conversion uplift of 5% and a reduction in returning user billing failures by close to 50%.

For subscription purchases, Phone-on-File allows carrier billing to function like credit cards, whereby carrier billing can be accepted as a recurring payment option without the need for subsequent approvals during the subscription like credit cards, whereby carrier billing can be accepted as a recurring payment option without the need for subsequent approvals during the subscription period. The technology gives merchants the ability to control the timing of the charge once the user has provided his/her standing authorization and to offer key subscription features such as free and discounted trial periods. It also allows carrier billing to be easily integrated into the merchant’s existing subscription engines.

“A key element to the strength of companies like Amazon and Apple has been their ability to create frictionless checkout experiences using stored credit card information,” said Jon Prideaux, Boku CEO. “This is that same experience that Boku is bringing to the mobile phone number with Phone-on-File. Our goal is to make stored ‘phone-on-file’ every bit as powerful as a ‘card-on-file’ for the benefit of our merchant partners.”

The new Phone-on-File functionality is currently available in the UK, Germany, Italy and the United States with more markets to be made available in the coming months.