Q] What is the objective behind launching the Chhota SMS campaign?
Today, Truecaller is synonymous to caller ID, spam detection, spam blocking, etc. But over the last few years, we have built up the entire communication suite, inside the app. We put our best efforts, to give the users a wholesome and complete communication experience. We launched the Chhota SMS campaign not because of a sudden hike of users. Smart SMS works across all functionalities. For example, you have a message of 150 characters, but you are looking only for an OTP in it. So, you have to read the entire message, memorize that OTP, and go to another window for a transaction. Our objective is to save you from this by making an SMS smarter. We intend to make you concentrate only on the important things. It’s a human need to be more focused and efficient, and to move on to more important things in life.
Q] In the campaign, why did you choose the Jordindian actors instead of featuring a few actual users of the application?
Every campaign (or product) has different needs in terms of creative ideas. We have done a lot of campaigns where we featured regular people too. So depending on the need of a campaign, we look for the right kind of talent.
Q] In India, what kind of challenges are you facing while expanding your user base in tier II and tier III towns? Which markets have been contributing greatly to the growth of Truecaller?
Growth of Truecaller is not restricted to urban areas. In fact, it has seen more growth in tier II and tier III towns. One major challenge in those areas is to create awareness about Truecaller and its features. People understand it properly only when they download it. Another challenge is to do away with the misconceptions about the app. We want to tell the consumers that we are actually a privacy-focussed service and that we do not sell data to anyone. We want to educate them on how Truecaller works, how we earn revenues, among others.
India is our biggest market. Out of our user base, over 200 million daily active users are from India and that contributes a huge amount of revenue. Outside India, we have seen interesting growth in Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Africa.
Q] What does your marketing mix look like? Can you give a rough estimate of your marketing spends?
Our marketing mix varies from market to market. In India, Television still rules, and we did a massive television campaign last year. We also do a lot of work through influencers. We are also one of the brands that have experimented with Print and Outdoor campaigns. While we spend substantially on Digital too, that is not the biggest media for us. 
Q] Even as some other applications are trying to provide the users with similar services, your core area is still uninvaded. In an age of competition, how are you managing to be a leader?
Truecaller is a community-based platform. We have created certain quality of services because our users are constantly contributing to it. For example, I can see your name on my screen because either you are registered on Truecaller or somebody, whom you must have called, gave your name to it. That helps me know who is calling me. If you multiply that community model of 300 million global users, you will realize the quality of the data we have, and the loyalty and retention we have. Our community is our biggest USP.
