* Ifbyphone
Connecting with customers using your Web site can only be taken so far with text-based communications (i.e. built-in Web-based chat services and so on); at some point you’re going to want to actually talk with people. You could, of course, publish your phone number on your Web site, but when you are trying to engage people it is far better to offer a service that causes users the least amount of drag.
Today I have a service that provides just that kind of connection through what is called a “click to call” service. Ifbyphone, offers “Smart Click to Call”, which allows a user to enter a phone number where they want to be contacted in a Web site widget. The service then rings the user’s phone and your phone simultaneously and when you both pick up, voila! You are connected.
The “smart” part of the Ifbyphone service is because you can define rules that connect to various phones or services depending on the day and time. The services include a “Find me” facility, an interactive voice system for surveys and custom applications, auto attendants, virtual receptionist, and voicemail. There’s also an API so that you can create your own routing systems.
The lowest service level is the bare bones “Phone-me-now” package, which allows for a six month trial with up to 100 minutes of calls without any scheduling or other services and costs 10 cents per minute once you’ve used the 100 minutes. Higher service levels start with 100 minutes included and 8 cents per minute for additional minutes up to enterprise scale high volume plans.
In a future issue of this newsletter I’ll discuss a PC-to-PC-based service that looks promising – in the meantime, I’ve got to see if I can break it.
The beauty of the Ifbyphone service is that as long as the user has a basic Web browser they can easily establish a call with you – no other PC facilities are required, which means that it applies to the broadest computer using audience possible.
