I read yesterday that VoIP, Inc released their patented Pay-Per-Call advertising network “RazrClick”. In a nutshell, RazrClick allows advertiser to receive placement across a search or content and pay $8 to $10 for every call they receive from a probable purchaser. Sounds like a slam dunk right?
While VoIP, Inc touts that they have agreements with Google and eBay to leverage their technology, it has been widely reported that Google’s first pay-per-call trials where yielded poor results and that pay-per-call was no longer a priority. If the king of online search advertising trials were not well received and they show little interest in pursuing it in the future, it could signal that what seems like a no brainer could be a dud.
My take is that most folks using the Internet to shop are trying to avoid interaction and that the prospects of calling a merchant are not as attractive as placing an order online or sending an email inquiry. That and the fact that advertisers are being charged $8 to $10 per call, leads me to believe that although pay-per-call has a lot of hype, like it’s ad supported calling brethren, just does not have legs.
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I can’t agree Garrett. Read this:
http://www.lucafiligheddu.com/2007/12/the-need-of-a-human-on-the-line.html
8-10$ Per call? Online tire kicking now has a dollar amount associated with it.
Nice article…
The day after they announce the deal with Google and eBay, VoIP Inc. shuts down its network operations.
Another pure play VoIP provider bites the dust.
(VOIC 0.01, +0.00, +47.3%) this could help the company grow their business… away from VoIP.
A couple comments:
*First - full disclosure - I work for IfByPhone, a company that provides Click-to-Call and other features.
I think integrating click-to-call links with specific types of ads might make sense, depending on the market. Someone googling for “chicago plumber” might be more likely to call without visiting a website than say “LCD TV.” I’d just expect that the risk-reward proposition to be a very important part of marketing campaign.
However, given those price points, that is a big and risky cost to the people taking out the ads. The real value is getting people to their site and then putting click-to-calls in specific areas of their site that will allow them to get higher quality leads at a much cheaper price than the Pay-per-call program you mention.
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