Courting the Great Unwired

The single biggest source of potential ISP customer growth is Net novices—individuals with no online experience. One company has set out to corner this market.

by Patricia Fusco ISP-Planet Managing Editor [May 2, 2000]

DotPlanet.com contends it can rival top tier Internet service providers and Web portals by offering average Americans a unique blend of technology with a human touch.

The new firm last week launched its bold business initiative designed to provide face-to-face support for access to its ISP services, as well as its general information and financial service Web portals.

DotPlanet.com is positioning its Internet services to take on America Online, Inc. (AOL), and Prodigy Communications Corp. (PRGY) through its in-house technical support offering to subscribers. The firm figures it will rival Yahoo!, Inc. (YHOO) with its Web portal by instilling brand loyalty in its Web-novice customer base.

Going it together
Atlanta-based DotPlanet.com formed alliances with several key companies to lure people who are not online into becoming Web participants in its business venture. The firm provides nationwide dial-up access through a strategic alliance with MCI WorldCom, Inc. (WCOM) . Through its deal with direct marketer Zillionaire.com, Inc., it's constructed a DotPlanet.com lifestyle Web destination portal.

John Benham, Zillionaire.com chief marketing officer, said its target audience made DotPlanet.com an intriguing partner in the Internet e-commerce marketplace.

"Our target audience is the vast unwired of America. All they need to realize the incredible potential of the Internet is someone to walk them through step-by-step and help overcome any barriers they may have," Benham said.

Sales armada
DotPlanet.com operates an integrated sales force of more 30,000 Internet Associates. Its I-Associate army provides face-to-face Internet coaching to demonstrate the power of the Internet and to promote the user's comfort with Web usage.

Benham added that DotPlanet.com is the only ISP of national scale to opt for human distribution of its services over traditional marketing channels.

"The true power of our business model is the ability of our I-Associates to penetrate all markets and show the power of the advanced, yet easy to use technology of the DotPlanet site and services," Benham continued. "As the only ISP that is distributed primarily through human interaction rather than a direct mail campaign, the service is bridging touch and technology."

The power of one
By catering to first-time users, the company becomes an intimate support system for new users to overcome their fears of technology. The marketing plan substitutes the enormous advertising expense typically associated with e-commerce start-up ventures with the expense of sending one-on-one support to subscribers' homes.

DotPlanet.com believes that it will instill brand-loyalty within its thankful subscriber base through personalized care provided by its technical sales force.

DotPlanet.com was founded in January and is led by President Jonathan W. Berger, who must orchestrate the company's quest toward becoming a leader in the emerging Internet economy. Berger served as partner in charge of KPMG International's corporate finance practice in the Southeast for nine years.

Berger said his experience with KPMG has offered him the opportunity to learn from other Web companies' mistakes.

Unique value proposition
"In 17 years of investment banking, I've seen a lot of companies fail despite costly marketing and advertising efforts," Berger said. "What DotPlanet.com has that no other company does is a built-in marketing force at its core that has direct contact with its customers."

DotPlanet.com aims to utilize its field force to extend opportunities for non-Internet users and Internet novices to successfully join the new e-business economy. It believes that providing individualized support and customer intimacy is the key to overcoming technological barriers to new technology.

Each of DotPlanet.com's 30,000 I-Associates would only need to connect about 733 subscribers to rival AOL's 22 million members. That equates to about 2 hook-ups a day for each I-Associate to equal AOL's subscriber tally in one year. Even if DotPlanet.com achieves such a connectivity success rate, it remains to be seen how it would equal Yahoo's Web popularity as the search site receives more than 145 million individual visitors each month, worldwide.

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