From ECommerce-Guide.com:

While live support sounds like a positive solution for both businesses and Web site visitors, it is not without issues. One problem is that a text-based chat just isn't appropriate for all types of business.

eStara recently launched of its real-time text chat solution. However, its flagship product is its Click to call. Instead of users clicking to text chat via the Web site, clients can choose to "click-to-call" by entering in their phone number. The call request is routed through eStara's data center, which instantly places phone calls to both the customer and the merchant's call center. To the customer it appears as if they are requesting a simple phone call, but analytics come into play as the customer's data and history (based on the Web site's privacy policy) is also transferred to the attending agent.

eStara's Marketing Communications Manager, Dan Obregon, stresses the power of voice and the need for businesses to offer the right form of communication at the right time.

"For more complex or high value transactions, voice is often the most comfortable form of communication for client."

Citing loan applications and financial oriented services as an example, Dan Obregon went on to say that many service oriented businesses would benefit more from offering clients immediate phone support through their Web site.

While eStara's Click to call is geared to large businesses and enterprise clients, small businesses can look to third-party providers such as Verizon Super Pages or the Amazon A9 search directory for click-to-call solutions. Both of these services offer business listings with click-to-call deployment (offered on a pay-per-call subscription basis). In this case, small businesses don't even need their own Web site to offer click-to-call services to prospective Internet customers.

Rather than making a firm decision between offering click-to-call or click-to-chat solutions, businesses can also offer use combination of both. eStara's solution offers a text-based communication session which can be seamlessly escalated to a phone session through the easy-to-use Web interface.