Reducing Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is one of the most promising results for any company, which can be achieved through campaign optimization, improved media targeting, or increased landing page conversion rates, for example. While these initiatives remain relevant, one factor has gained prominence in companies' strategies, enabling this achievement: Open Gateway.
Far beyond a new set of APIs, it represents a way to bring digital applications closer to the infrastructure of telecommunications operators. In this way, instead of treating the network merely as a means of data transport, companies gain access to capabilities that were previously restricted to operators, such as phone number verification, SIM card swap validation, connection quality confirmation, and authentication based on the mobile network itself.
The result is a significant shift in the relationship between the parties: processes that previously depended on additional validation steps now occur transparently for the user, increasing their trust and credibility in the brand. This, in addition to reducing one of the biggest enemies of conversion: friction.
It's common, for example, to find customer journeys where the customer needs to enter a code received via SMS, answer security questions, or repeat information just to prove their identity. Each added step represents a new opportunity for abandonment. But, with APIs like Number Verification, for example, a company can confirm that the device actually belongs to the number provided, without requiring any additional action from the user. The process becomes virtually invisible.
The more difficult it becomes to identify whether a user is legitimate, the greater the investment required to validate registrations, combat fraud, and recover abandoned customers. This cost almost never appears in isolation in marketing spreadsheets, but it directly impacts the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC). In this sense, having fewer steps that shorten the journey increases the chances of converting that potential customer.
Of all these benefits, perhaps the greatest impact is in the reduction of fraud. Sectors such as banks, fintechs, insurance companies, retail, marketplaces, and dealerships deal daily with attempts to create fake accounts, identity theft, and scams involving the improper exchange of SIM cards. In addition to financial losses, each fraud increases operational costs and forces companies to invest more in prevention mechanisms.
Open Gateway changes this logic by allowing real-time queries about critical phone line events, such as recent SIM card changes. This significantly reduces attacks that exploit exactly this type of vulnerability, reducing corporate losses and lockouts for legitimate customers.
Today, many companies tighten authentication processes to prevent attacks, which only increases friction for all users, including those who have never posed any risk. But when validation becomes smarter, it's possible to offer a simpler experience without sacrificing security, ensuring a balance that directly benefits Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC).
There is another aspect that is rarely discussed: data quality. Marketing campaigns often waste investment trying to acquire non-existent users, duplicate registrations, or invalid numbers. The sooner these inconsistencies are identified, the less media is wasted and the more efficient the campaigns become. Here, Open Gateway ceases to be just an authentication technology and begins to act as an intelligence layer for the entire digital journey.
This also changes how companies think about innovation. Instead of developing isolated solutions for each security, identity, or connectivity problem, it becomes possible to consume these capabilities as standardized services, available to any application that wishes to use them. This is precisely one of the main objectives of Open Gateway: to transform complex functionalities of mobile networks into open, interoperable, and scalable APIs.
In the coming years, the discussion will shift from "who uses Open Gateway" to "which journeys are not yet using Open Gateway." Because, ultimately, reducing CAC has never been just about spending less on media; it has always been about eliminating everything that prevents a legitimate customer from completing their journey. And it is precisely at this point that this initiative can become one of the most relevant for digital acquisition in the next decade.
Werique Franca is Product & Business Manager at Pontaltech.
