You might have heard about pay-per-click(PPC) or pay per impression (PPI) from Google adwords. Pay Per Call aka "Pay per phone call" (PPCall), "click to call" and "Call On Select" are relatively new marketing technologies that are sure to start getting more attention in the coming years.
Normally in Pay per click marketing, you can make your web site visitor to fill out the contact form to get back them later (to provide more details about your product before they choose to buy) / or provide your product details and ask your website visitors to contact you. The bad part is that your sales person may not even make contact with the prospect since people become busy or have already purchased through someone else. Finally the sales conversion is only the portion of pay per click compaign.
What is Pay Per Call then?
Pay Per Call marketing encourage the user to establish phone contact rather than sending them to a web site link and this is where the real potential lies. Pay per call advertising cuts down on the number of clicks that a user has to make in order to gain the information they need on a site.
How can I set up pay per call?
A pay per call ad is set up much like a Pay Per Click advertisement, except with a phone number added and highlighted.
There are two models:
1) A toll free number is provided to the user which allows the ad network to track calls made to the advertiser.
2) The user enters their phone number, clicks a button and the ad network dials the advertiser and the user simultaneously. The user picks up their phone and can hear the connection being made. As the advertising network is handling the connection for the call, the user is not charged for it. This also allows added privacy for the user as the advertiser is not provide with their phone number.
Who are the pay per call providers?
Google has "Click to Call". In some Adwords ads, a green phone icon is displayed. When the icon is clicked, a form appears prompting a user to enter their phone number. When the number is entered, Google calls the advertiser and the user and a connection is made between the two parties.
Ingenio provides toll-free numbers in Pay Per Call ads which forward directly to your business phone number. Ingenio charges on the first call from an identifiable phone number within a 30-day period. Subsequent calls to the toll free number within that time from the same number are free. Ingenio doesn't charge for short calls, hang-ups or unanswered calls.
FindWhat (aka Miva), works a similar model to Ingenio; i.e they provide a toll free number for users to call.
