Google Click-To-Call offers free telephone calls to customers

26/10/2006 by paul

Google are trialling a new service in Australia called Click-to-Call (CTC). This will add a telephone icon () next to subscribed adwords advertisers (the sponsored results on the top and right hand side of Google results pages), which customers can click to be connected directly to the advertiser by telephone.

The customer provides a telephone number in a simple drop-down form that appears after clicking the icon; Google calls that number; the customer hears a ringing tone when they answer the call; and the advertiser answers the other end. Simple.

The call to the customer is free unless they're phoning from a mobile phone, in which case, standard call charges apply. They charges to the advertiser, both for adding this service and the call charge are not yet available, but with modern VoIP technology sure to be involved, we expect them to be minimal.

Will this be a hit with your customers? For a long time now, the onus on e-commerce has been with the customer. My personal belief is that customers will eventually figure that this isn't necessary and expect more in return for their potential custom; i.e. the customer expects to be sold to, not to actively buy themselves. After all, why should customers visit your website at all? Most Internet shoppers do not discover new purchase opportunities online, but use the Internet to find the best deals on products they've heard of elsewhere, so why not have someone call them for free and answer their questions directly? Why go to the effort of searching for delivery costs, returns policies, etc, yourself, when you can call and ask someone those questions?

Keywords :  google, click-to-call, adwords, telephone, voip, the future of ecommerce,