Both Google Maps and Windows Live Local have “click to call” (not yet PPCall) embedded now in their products. And several Internet yellow pages are using it. But there’s some debate and confusion about whether it’s a truly meaningful feature. Not surprisingly, eStara (a click to call vendor), has put out a press release showing the benefits of the service, according to a recently conducted survey among 1,400 IYP click to call users:
Among the chief findings were that 84 percent of users said they were “more likely” to contact a business with click to call than one without the service, while 80 percent indicated the service enhanced their IYP experience. IYP visitors are using click to call for a number of reasons:
– 14 percent used it to make a purchase;
– 28 percent to schedule an appointment or reservation;
– 33 percent used click to call to get more information about a product or service.
These are persusaive numbers. But I’ve heard many times from click to call critics that it requires “a change in consumer behavior” and is thus awkward and not widely used.
I have not directly conducted any research and so I’m often in the middle of these “he said, she said” discussions about its efficacy. I’m curious about others’ opinions, data and experiences.
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Greg Sterling is the founding principal of Sterling Market Intelligence, a consulting and research firm focused on online consumer and advertiser behavior and the relationship between the Internet and traditional media, with an emphasis on the local marketplace.
I use it once in a while. Probably not nearly as much as they want people to be using it though.
Indeed, this is mainly an issue of “a change in consumer behaviorâ€
I tend to think the more consumers would feel this method is secure and would not back-fire in a form of a telemarketing calls, the more convenient consumers would be using it (it is less risky to give your phone to a secure call-back system then providing your credit card and we do see online shopping rising).
As someone who has been studying this market for a little while now, my personal believe is that it will catch on sooner or later.
Yet the main challenge of the click-2-call platforms providers is avoiding the temptation of using the consumer phone numbers they obtain and keep the numbers confidential, even not to provide it to the advertisers. Those that will do so will gain the consumer trust and gain a broad usage.
An interesting piece with many useful data on skype’s/eBay experiments with click-to-call can be found at http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m11/i27/s02
I’ve been looking at different click-to-call services, PPCall services as well as cost-per-call tracking. I’m really glad you’re writing about it–I also believe that Bill Hartzer wrote a piece in WPW talking about VoiceStar for the analytics.
I’ve got several clients whose business depend not on conversions that can be completed online, but rather on decisions & transactions that need to be completed over the phone. Accordingly, it’s all about the call.
Click-to-call is going to depend significantly on the industry. One is going to be much more likely to have an Art Dealer call his own cell phone than have a car salesperson (or even worse, a drug rehab) call his home.
When combined with the analytics offered by companies like VoiceStar or the one I personally use: Who’s Calling, the real effectiveness of Click-to-Call is going to be unlocked. I’d like to know which keyphrases are the best for converting click-to-call visitors, in addition to those keyphrases that deliver the best conversion rates from PPC traffic-to-phone-calls.
It’s great to see the technology coming around though, I’m looking forward to seeing it develop even more.
Hotels.com implemented Click to Call (from eStara) on and saw great results like significantly higher conversion, no proof of online cannibalization, and more satisfied customers. Keep in mind that page placement and specific messaging are very important things to consider when adding a new channel like Click to Call. These two factors are good tools to ensure that the customer and the agent have the same expectations from the call. The stats from Click to Call (and eStara’s post-call surveys) can also help with discovering usability flaws with your site.