Ingenio Unveils “Live!Leads” Click-to-Call Solution
Enhanced Web-to-Phone Connections Help Online Directories and Internet Yellow Pages Offer More Value to Advertisers
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–January 12, 2004Ingenio, Inc. today announced the launch of its Live!Leads Web-to-phone solution. Live!Leads helps online directories and Internet Yellow Pages publishers increase advertiser ROI by improving lead flow and the likelihood of making successful connections with callers. Consumers benefit from the convenience of seamless Web-to-phone connectivity, which translates to higher satisfaction and increased directory usage.
When Live!Leads buttons are deployed in an online directory, the consumer clicks on an advertiser's “Call Now” button and is prompted to enter their phone number (which remains private throughout the process). A moment later their phone rings, and they're connected with the service provider they have chosen. The consumer needs only to enter their phone number once, as it is stored in their computer for all future calls.
For advertisers, this new product solves one of the key issues they face in justifying advertising expenses -- how to maximize the calls they receive from their advertising placements. Today, too many advertisers are missing too many calls. Ingenio's Call Connectivity Survey (400 small businesses, July 2003) indicates that nearly 40% of consumers who try to reach a small business service provider from an online directory or Internet Yellow Pages fail to do so within 24 hours. For online advertisers, these lost business opportunities are very significant and on average represent up to 20% of their annual gross revenue.
Ingenio's Live!Leads click-to-call phone connections solve this problem. Live!Leads provides smart, flexible call routing so that advertisers can control when and where they take new customer calls. These call management features can be controlled in real time, using either an 800 # or a Web interface. This is ideal for advertisers who spend a lot of time in the car, at the job site or away from their desk.
"In an increasingly competitive advertising environment, directories need to offer advertisers more effective ways to turn leads into new customers," said Marc Barach, Ingenio's Chief Marketing Officer. "Live!Leads offers a simple, powerful solution for the weakest link in the online directory chain: the ability to connect customers with advertisers. It's also a proven fact that giving consumers a choice of response devices increases overall response. That's why our click-to-call product increases advertiser lead flowÉand that's what it's all about," Barach added.
The product is also available in the Live!Leads E-Commerce Edition. This innovative service lets professional services advertisers such as attorneys, accountants and tech experts conduct paid phone consultations in real time with interested customers who find their listings online. Ingenio's ecommerce platform delivers 24/7 connectivity, time tracking, billing, payment processing, reporting and customer service behind each transaction. "Our platform currently supports over 5 million ecommerce minutes a month using this product. It's a very popular and lucrative product for this class of advertisers and service providers," said Barach.