Installing an online form on your web site is one of the easiest ways to enable customers (and others) to contact you. They input their contact information and a message and press submit. A few seconds later, you receive their message.
While forms are nice, what’s even better, for some types of customers, is the ability to connect with you on the phone through a “click to call” feature, wherein customers input their number onto a form on your web site and seconds later you are speaking to them on the phone.
Amazon.com uses this type of feature to support their video on demand service.
There’s several “click to call” services available and one of them was recently launched.
Bravestorm announced general availability of its click-to-call offering, BoldCall Express, an online lead generation tool that provides small businesses with an easy and affordable way to connect with their website visitors.
800 numbers are very useful, but “click to call” has a different psychological appeal, that fulfills the “immediate perception” of “wanting to speak with you now” of your web site visitors.
According to the press release, BoldCall Express helps entrepreneurs get the most from their website by including an invitation feature that proactively engages visitors to the website and encourages them to talk with the business. With one click, visitors to the site can request that someone from the company call them at a specific number. Those calls can be routed to any number the business chooses -including a cell phone. For you solo entrepreneurs who rely on virtual phone systems, this is a useful feature.
But getting the phone to ring is just the first step. BoldCall Express provides businesses with invaluable intelligence about the calls that come through the site. Before picking up the phone, BoldCall Express provides business owners with the name of the caller, their city of origin, and the web page from which they requested the call. It also tells website owners whether the caller has phoned before.
Ramon Ray is the editor and tech evangelist for Smallbiztechnology.com
