All smartphone users are aware of Truecaller, the app that reveals the true identity of a caller. It has become an indispensable part of smartphone users over the years. In 2011-12, Truecaller was one of the biggest hyped subjects. It was, indeed, a blessing in disguise for the phone users who were dealing with the pros and cons of the mobile phone revolution.
Let’s have a look at the successful journey of the platform. What made Truecaller popular? Because, it made the tech-savvy life of people a lot much simpler. The mobile revolution was life-changing; but it also presented difficulties like unknown mobile numbers, spam calls, undesired calls or privacy/security concerns. But, there was no global phone directory to check the source. Truecaller filled that gap.
Nami Zarringhala and Alan Mamedi started Truecaller in 2009. Back then, it was only available for Blackberry. More than being a global phone list, it now provides security and privacy. It recognizes spam calls, blocks unwanted phone calls and texts, shows names of unsaved contact numbers, and also reports fraud and other rejected calls. It is available both on the web and app versions on iPhone, Windows, Blackberry, Android and Symbian phones.
Nami and Alan say the idea of Truecaller began with the old concepts of phone books and yellow pages which were used at the time of the base phone. The phonebooks had all the necessary connections and relevant information. This facility went missing with the evolution of smartphones. Moreover, issues like spam and scam call also emerged. Nami Zarringhalam and Alan Namedi who were batch mates at the Royal Institutes of Technology, Sweden, found an opportunity in this crisis. After doing research, they developed an online global directory. This online directory was mostly used to search mobile numbers of all missed calls. For the database for the app, they collected data from the national phone directory. This is how Truecaller began. Now, using Truecaller, one can search people anywhere by name or number.
As mentioned earlier, Truecaller started small. From a few connections to billions of connections to date, Truecaller had quite a successful journey. The secret is Truecaller’s business and marketing model. The idea of Truecaller appealed to mobile users, especially in the Middle East, Asia and European countries.
Truecaller’s marketing strategy goes like this. Once a person gets used to this app, it will offer its premium plan. Also, Truecaller sells its data to big businesses such as airline companies which might find it very useful for the company’s purpose. Another interesting business move is to ask for a review from a user who has successfully accessed the app five times. It also provides the user with an option to invite friends via WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram, Text etc. This strategy brought followers to social media. If someone is taking a free trial, after 30 days, a push notification that highlights its best points will be sent.
