Revenue Generation at the Click of a Button

David Tang, VP global marketing for VoSKY discusses
the benefits of click-to-call functions and how your business can take advantage of them

Want to optimise your website for real-time communications, and open it up to a potential customer base of nearly 300M users? How about increasing your online sales revenues and improving your customer service and support?

Faced with these questions, most businesses would reply: ìYes pleaseî, closely followed by ìHow?î Well, the solution is simple: just connect your business website to your telephone system.

This is the basic principle behind Web click-to-call. It involves placing a ìclick here to call meî link or button icon on a web page, which, when selected, sets up a phone call for the visitor with a customer service representative, using a Voice over IP (VoIP) link. Alternatively, customers can log a request to be called back, by entering their preferred phone number into the site.

Call conversion
Click-to-call gives the web browser instant interaction with a business, and is proven to increase website ëstickinessí and boost sales. Research by analyst Jupiter Research has shown that companies using click-to-call reduce their website abandonment rates by 22-25%, cut shopping cart abandonment by up to 50%, and increased online revenues by as much as 45%. All this stems from the ability to let site visitors ask their final questions which stand in the way of a sale ñ turning browsers into buyers.

So far, so good. But how do you go about deploying click-to-call? Well, until recently, routing the call from the website to the phone system would involve bespoke Web coding and complex interfacing with the PBX ñ putting the potential benefits of the technology beyond the reach of many businesses.

But the good news is that with Skype ñ the worldís largest VoIP network, with nearly 300 million users ñ and a PBX-to-Skype gateway, which links business phone systems to the web, thereís now an easy to deploy solution for click-to-call thatís within any companyís grasp.

Talking benefits
The PBX-to-Skype gateway enables a cost-effective migration to VoIP. Put simply, it allows users to access Skype in exactly the same way as they access an ordinary phone line, from their desktop phone handset. They just dial 9 for a line, or 8 for Skype. This means thereís no need to change existing phone systems, so companies preserve their investments.

With the gateway installed, companies can simply add ëSkype meí or ëClick here to be called backí buttons on their web pages. Users that already have Skype accounts can then call directly, and be routed to an appropriate call handler within the business; alternatively, they key in their phone number and the business PBX will call the user to connect them to an agent.

In either case, the call is routed via Skype, making it free, or very low cost. This enables the business to tap into the benefits of click-to-call, to improve sales and customer service.

Whatís more, the business can take advantage of Skype for conventional business calls, and get inter-office Skype telephony free ñ generating further compelling savings.

A case study: RecruitmentRevolution.com
One company thatís already enjoying the benefits of the click-to-call is Berkshire-based RecruitmentRevolution.com, an innovative job marketing and introductory agency.

They have installed a VoSKY PBX-to-Skype Gateway to their existing VoiceMail Pro phone system to enable all employees to make, receive and transfer internet-based Skype calls in the same way as conventional phone calls. There is no need to use headsets for Internet calls, because all inbound and outbound Skype calls are routed through users' regular desktop telephone handsets.

From the RecruitmentRevolution.com website, the client or job candidate can click on the ëClick here to Skype usí button on any page of the companyís website and call into RecruitmentRevolution.com for free. The call goes directly through the VoSKY gateway and is routed onto the office telephone system, making it no different than receiving any other call for staff ñ but at no cost to either party.

Click payback
So click-to-call can not only drive revenue generation through enhanced online sales conversion rates, and a reduction in website abandonment. It also helps to maximise online marketing campaigns as the instant click-to-call capability can increase sales leads ñ all compelling reasons for deploying the technology.

Who would have thought that simply adding phone-call capability could be a killer web application?