But there's still some work to be done.  MediaPost today reports on a new ranking released this week by the Customer Respect Group that evaluates online store performance.  According to Terry Golesworthy, president of Customer Respect Group, "The biggest change in the last year, is that more and more Web sites are using real-time customer service tools such as pop-up windows and click-to-call features, 'which lets sites help customers with what they're doing right now." Previously, many of the large Web sites offered consumers only a chance to e-mail questions--"a process that usually takes 24 hours and often results in an abandoned shopping cart.'"

Overall, the report found that retailers are leading other industries in general when it comes to customer communication.  According to their findings:

The retail industry was rated best in the area of communicating with online visitors in 2007, scoring 7.0 in Responsiveness, compared to 6.5 scored by the next highest-rated industries -- financial services and telecommunications. The variety of contact methods available to retail customers was one positive factor.

Twenty-two percent of retail sites now provide online chat, compared to the all-industry average of just 12%. Also noted was the emergence of pro-active “chat,” where visitors are invited to engage in a context-sensitive dialog based on their online behavior. “click to call” prompting a telephone call directly from the retailer to the user also showed a strong upward trend as retailers look to limit site abandonment.

Other communication channels remain well supported. Sixty-five percent of e-mail inquiries to retail companies were responded to within a day, compared to 57% among all other industries studied during the year.. Eighty-three percent of inquiries received a helpful reply -- again well ahead of the average of 60%.

However, the report points out that despite some advances, there is still a glaring gap between the way consumers experience a brand online and in-store, and consumers continue to be distrustful of the differences they see in price, benefits and services. In addition to those cross-channel disparities, consumers are still cautious about sites that don't reassure their privacy concerns.

1to1 Magazine this month features a profile of Jenny Craig's use of eStara Click to Call.  Below is an excerpt of the article:

When most people think of Jenny Craig, they probably think of spokeswomen Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli proclaiming their dramatic weight loss.

The national television and print advertising campaigns have been a success for the provider of weight loss programs. But there's another voice at work that the company attributes to its increased sales: the voice of customer service agents.

Victoria Kreutzkamp, director of call center operations and vendor management for Jenny Craig, credits the click-to-call feature on its Web site for part of the company's "huge" growth in sales.

Click here to read more (registration required). 

Last week while out at the Kelsey Group's ILM:07 conference, one of the recurring themes of the show seemed to be how publishers are delivering performance-based advertising solutions to advertisers that generate quality leads.  To do this, publishers must think about delivering much more than just clicks.  In many cases, they must be able to track consumer behavior across channels. 

To that effect, one major classifieds publisher is taking steps to provide a more holistic view of ROI for advertisers by implementing a suite of tools that offers much more than just reporting on clickthroughs.  Today we're announcing that Boat Trader, a classified-driven Web site linking boat buyers and sellers, will implement eStara Click to Call and Call Tracking technology across its website to help optimize advertiser listings, drive sales conversions and improve communication between buyers and sellers. The company will also be adding eStara Save & Send in the near future to extend the utility of its online listings to other electronic media, such as SMS and social bookmarks.

ABCNews.com writes on intersting piece on how online sites are helping offline shoppers this holiday season.

eMarketer post the results of a new survey that looks at how companies are targeting affluent shoppers online.  According to the study by Burst Media, "Nearly one-quarter of US adult Internet users earning $75,000 or more said they would spend more money during the 2007 holiday season than they did during the same period in 2006."

How are businesses looking to capture this influx of rich shoppers? Many are turning to click to call and call tracking to help deliver leads across channels.  Just yesterday, we announced a new partnership with Luxury Link to help them connect their hotel partners to affluent consumers over the phone.  As they find, these solutions are an excellent way to encourage more direct sales conversions, enhance the overall consumer experience and produce measurable results for clients.