What is “Click-To-Call?”

A unique business communications solution, “Click-to-Call” enables instantaneous communication between a website viewer and the website owner.

How does Click-to-Call work?

In all Click-to-Call implementations, a web site viewer is connected to a third party via a voice channel. To use Click-to-Call, you click on a link or icon on a web page and then, either via your computer or a telephone, you are connected to the web site owner.

Two basic types of Click-to-Call exist: computer-based and telephone-based.

With computer-based Click-to-Call, a viewer’s computer is connected to either the website owner’s computer or telephone. There are a number of disadvantages to computer-based Click-to-Call. First, the quality of the communication is directly affected by your computer's connection to the Internet, the website owner’s connection to the Internet, and the speakers and microphones used on both sides. While computer-based Click-to-Call is generally much less expensive than telephone-based Click-to-Call, there is a clear trade-off in quality and ease-of-use.

With telephone-based Click-to-Call, once a user Clicks-to-Call, the user is asked to enter their phone number. The Click-to-Call service then initiates a traditional telephone call to the viewer, as well as a call to the website owner, and conferences the calls. The call quality is traditional telephone quality and requires no special hardware or software for the viewer or the website owner.

Ifbyphone's Smart Click-to-Call takes general Click-to-Call functionality to the next level and works in the following way:

Ifbyphone's Smart Click-to-Call service provides the ability for general Click-to-Call functionality in combination with the all of the advanced building blocks provided by Ifbyphone. For example, a user will see a general Click-to-Call button along with a prompt for a phone number. Once the button is clicked, Ifbyphone's advanced services route the Click-to-Call based on current day, time of day, area code of caller and much more. In addition, Smart Click-to-Calls can link to custom IVR applications.

How can “Click-to-Call” work for me?

Generally, any business owner with a live website can benefit from using Click-to-Call. The most obvious benefit is the ability to convert web traffic into phone traffic almost instantaneously. Consider this scenario: You are the owner of Venice Beach Surf and Skate Shop, and Mark, a web site user and potential customer, is considering buying a brand-new, high-end surfboard from your store. Mark goes to the Venice Beach Surf and Skate shop website to save some time and check out the store’s inventory before making a trip to your location. While casually browsing your site, Mark finds two surfboards he really likes, but he isn’t sure which is best for him, or if the price is negotiable. At this point, Mark may decide to close his browser and revisit his search another day, or he might decide to do a quick Google search and find a competitor’s website, perhaps one that has more product information. He might also decide to get in his car and drive to the store, but this is probably the least likely of all scenarios.

In any case, adding Click-to-Call functionality to your website would make it fast and easy for Mark to get in touch with a sales representative at your store making it less likely that he closes his browser or navigates to another website. Moreover, once Mark is connected to one of your sales representatives, if the sales representative is willing to negotiate, Mark might even decide to buy the surfboard right then and there, with a credit card, over the phone. Just like that.

This is just one of the many possible scenarios in which Click-to-Call can serve your business helping you retain users, convert customers and increase sales.

Additional Resources

Ifbyphone Glossary

Ifbyphone Blog

Ifbyphone Services