Interesting post a couple days ago at Stoffer's Soapbox that looks at pay-per-call/cost-per-action from a customer experience perspective.  As Stoffer points out, cosumers (particularly Gen Y consumers) want many ways to access information and companies can no longer approach the customer acquisition process on their own terms.

Zach McGeary of Jupiter Research writes about a new report, "Real-time Online Interaction Strategies: Opportunities for Managing Higher-Cost and Higher-Value Online Interactions." According to his posting, the study looks at how companies are leveraging proactive outreach via either chat or click-to-call to:

* Increase Average Order Value
* Increase Conversion Rates
* Lower inquiry handle times

Survey firm the Luxury Institute released some interesting stats this week regarding the online shopping habits of walthy consumers. The survey finds that rich consumers would buy more online in a "customer-centric environment" or one where the customer service is akin to what you'd expect at a boutique store. According to Internet Retailer, "The Luxury Institute surveyed 1,000 consumers with average household income of $288,000 and average net worth of $2.5 million. It determined that 96% of them buy products and services online, with 55% doing so frequently; and 99% of wealthy consumers use the Internet to research before they buy. According to the survey findings, more than half of the wealthy consumers surveyed prefer to make purchases of women’s apparel online while 43% prefer to use the web when buying men`s apparel."

This makes a strong case for offering these high-value online customers with advanced personlization features and offering them proactive assistance from a customer service representative based on their online behavior.

As explained in the latest ATG Insight Newsletter:

Personalization ensures that a prospect's shopping experience is guided by relevance. It can be based on known preferences, assigned personas or segments, items in a shopping cart, past purchase decisions, and so on. The core functionality to infuse personalization into online shopping has been in place for nearly a decade. Today, this functionality has become easy enough to use that it is no longer exclusively leveraged by power users. As a result, nearly any Web store can introduce experiences that are tailored for specific targets.

Meanwhile, proactive assistance through Click to Call and Click to Chat enables consumers to speak with a live person via phone or online chat with the click of a button, and can play a major role in completing a transaction. For example, once a shopper selects a product for purchase, they often have lingering questions about product specifications, delivery, or shipping. To help shoppers work through these issues, offering them live assistance through click to call and click to chat to can ensure that transaction gets closed at the highest possible value and, at the same time, increase customer loyalty.

The practice of doctors making house calls is probably long gone in most parts of the world, but that doesn't mean healthcare providers are not concerned about connecting with patients in real-time. One example is how a growing number of healthcare providers are beginning to integrate click to call to put patients in touch directly with a healthcare specialist that can address their needs immediately. 

As reported this week by the Detroit Free Press:

Emphasizing quick services, the Detroit Medical Center has launched a click-to-talk function on its Web site so consumers can make an electronic request to speak to staffers immediately.

Through the program, consumers can schedule tests, talk to a nurse or make appointments.

Last week we pointed to a new report from Forrester that asked "Who will dominate local search?"  Also released last week was a report from another analyst that suggests why the Forrester question is so important...there's a lot of money in the local search game.  According to coverage from destinationCRM.com, "The local online advertising market is poised for rapid growth from its current $4.3 billion annual revenue due to heavy competition and new businesses entering the fray."