Merchant powered click-to-call method

Abstract

A method is disclosed for enhancing the predictability, scalability and cost effectiveness of online advertising with voice over IP connectivity and event tracking technologies. A service provider maintains a list of merchants who have offered to pay for customer VoIP calls to their establishment. The service provider maintains a real time connection with this merchant list and renders an advertisement in a distinguishing way in real time. A potential customer who views this advertisement on a web page may establish a VoIP call session with a merchant by selecting a free click-to-call link on the web page. When the customer places the call, the service provider pays for the call. Merchants in turn pay the service provider for displaying the ads that generated the calls on a price per call, price per impression or fixed fee basis.

Description

CLAIM OF PRIORITY[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 262,358 filed on Oct. 28, 2005 entitled MERCHANT POWERED CLICK-TO-CALL METHOD, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Field of the Present System[0003]The present system is directed to methods for improving online advertising with voice over IP connectivity and event tracking.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]The World Wide Web has made it easy for consumers and merchants to find each other. Consumers utilize search engines and keyword searches to identify merchants of desired goods and services, and then websites and other on-line research tools allow consumers to sift through the results to find what they are looking for. For merchants, sponsored searches and pay for placement advertising allow merchants to get their products and services in front of target consumers, i.e., consumers who have already indicated an interest in ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present system is a way to advertise online using voice over IP connectivity and event tracking technologies. A service provider maintains a list of merchants who want customers leads referred to them in the form of phone calls. The service provider displays advertisements on behalf of merchants with the intent of encouraging customers to call participating businesses. The service provider pay for the call, and while the caller or the merchant may use their traditional PSTN phone lines, neither will incur telecommunications charges. The service provider may be an enterprise service provider or a partner to enterprise service providers. The system allows potential customers to access the merchant's advertisement from a web page or a communications client. The service provider determines where and how often merchant advertisements are displayed based on end user behavior and merchant sales data. The system stores demographic information relating to call, which helps merchants determine the effectiveness of their advertisements and focus their advertisements and sales efforts where they will provide the greatest returns.

Problems solved by technology

As the majority of merchants receive telephone calls using traditional PSTN telephones, the C2C model generally results in telephone charges to the consumer.

By not receiving these calls, at least a portion of which would have resulted in sales, the merchant is losing potential revenue.

Toll free phone numbers are expensive however, and their costs difficult to contain.

If more customers call the toll free number or if calls last longer than expected, merchants may be left with significant unanticipated costs to cover.

Directory listings are expensive however, and cannot be easily adjusted over periods of time.

Furthermore, it is difficult for a merchant to know whether paying for directory listings is a productive marketing investment, since they cannot easily track which customers were attracted to the business from a directory listing versus other forms of advertising.

The service provider pays for the call, and while the caller or the merchant may use their traditional PSTN phone lines, neither will incur telecommunications charges.

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