RESTON, Va.--Nov. 30, 2005--Earlier this week, Sensis - Australia's leading information resource - launched a pay-per-call pilot on its search engine, sensis.com.au, powered by eStara's click to call technology.

With the click of a button, users of sensis.com.au - the search engine for Australians, can initiate a phone conversation with advertisers. The partnership was announced at this week's Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media 2005 (ILM:05) conference.

"Sensis is very excited to offer Australia's first 'Click to Call' solution, a leading edge technology," said Alex Parsons, Group Manager sensis.com.au. "We're committed to delivering innovative advertising solutions and encourage advertisers to participate in the trial to help grow their business, by driving direct phone leads from search results."

The service will be offered by Sensis at flat-rate pricing through the pilot. The company plans on migrating to auction-based pricing in 2006 and expects advertisers to pay a higher rate due to the increased value of phone leads in comparison to clicks to a website. Calls are free to the end-user.

Further expansion of the service will include deployment of call tracking numbers in addition to the click to call buttons. Built on eStara's VoIP (Voice over the Internet Protocol) platform, the service tracks inbound phone activity for toll-free numbers and provides real-time reporting and number provisioning.

Analysts predict pay per call advertising to become a $4 to $5 billion industry by 2009. "We're seeing rapid acceptance of pay per call in the local search market," said John Federman, CEO of eStara. "By providing this service to its advertisers, Sensis is showing that they are thought-leaders in the industry."

To measure customer satisfaction, Sensis is offering post-call surveys to end-users. eStara surveys of directory customers have found over 92 percent of click to call users said that they would be more likely to contact an advertiser that offers click to call over one that does not, and 95 percent of users said a click to call option made it more likely that they would visit again in the future.

Plus, nearly 90 percent of users said that click to call "greatly" or "significantly" enhanced their experience using online directories.

About Sensis:

Sensis is Australia's leading information resource, making complex lives simpler by helping Australians find, buy and sell. Sensis delivers innovative and integrated search solutions via print, online, voice and wireless channels to connect Australians 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Its powerful, multi-channel portfolio provides an unparalleled local information source incorporating: the White Pages(R) and Yellow Pages(R) directories; the CitySearch(R) lifestyle site; the Whereis(R) location and navigation database; the search engine for Australians sensis.com.au; and sensis 1234, the operator-assisted, premium voice information service; and The Trading Post Group's stable of weekly and monthly publications and Universal Publisher's mapping publications. Invizage Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sensis is one of Australia's market leaders in IT services to small and medium sized enterprises. In June 2005, Sensis launched LinkMe.com.au, an innovative online career networking site in partnership with MBI Investments.

About eStara:

eStara (www.estara.com) provides the world's most robust and widely deployed "click to call" service, with more than three million users in 113 countries. eStara's IP telephony infrastructure seamlessly transitions consumers, together with the context of their online session, into immediate telephone or PC-based voice contact with the business. The same patented base technology drives eStara's Track the Call(SM), a flexible, scalable call tracking and monitoring service that supports pay-per-call and subscription revenue models with the largest inventory of local and toll-free phone numbers in the industry.

Founded in 1999, eStara now serves over 350 global enterprises across many industries including directory and on-line publishing, financial services, travel and hospitality, and online retail. Customers include Amazon.com's A9.com, Apple Computer, Continental Airlines, DaimlerChrysler, Dell Financial Services, Hilton Hotels, Sensis, Verizon's Superpages.com and Yahoo! UK & Ireland.

According to the New York Times, a study released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project indicates that online classified advertising has increased 80 percent this year.  However, few newspapers are witnessing this growth. 

With increased competition a handful of online newspapers, like the Palm Beach Post, are turning to click to call technology to prove ROI to their advertisers and remain competitive with the likes of Craigslist. 

Recently, Hotel Executive Magazine invited eStara to start contributing to the publication as members of its Editorial Board. Over the course of the next year, we'll be sharing our thoughts on how leaders in the Hotel marketing field can use technology (like click to call) to help them increase online sales conversions and improve customer satisfaction.

Here's an excerpt from our first article:

Recently, the Red Lion hotel brand re-launched its website. As part of that redesign, the company incorporated a “click to call” button as a way for consumers to initiate a web-based conversation from key pages within the site. Potential bookers could talk to a Red Lion guest service agent, either via telephone or an internet-connected PC. Calls could be automatically directed to the appropriate person or department based on the page in which the inquiry is made including reservation agents, national sales, and the company's loyalty program service agents.

"We want our guests to 'Stay Comfortable' and everything about the site is built around ease of use and helping customers get all the information they need at exactly the moment they need it," explained Barry Hughes, Vice President, Marketing and Distribution. "Consumers continue to shift their research and booking activities to the web and our new site gives them a comprehensive toolset to make the best and most informed decision possible - all in one place."

For Red Lion, the online experience was an important way to provide their customers with unequalled access to rates and information. Adding this key feature was a big part of them helping to achieve that.

In a recent study of online consumers, Jupiter Research found that 73 percent of online consumers preferred phone-based customer service to FAQs, Online Chat or e-mail. For consumers who spent $500 or more online in the past six months, Jupiter found they were much more satisfied with the phone than any other customer service touch points.

Does this mean you should abandon your self-service web strategy? Of course not, but you should make it so that your website can enable customers to complete a transaction whether it be online or offline.

Pegasus Solutions recently introduced a suite of voice reservation services for individual hotels, chains and groups in need of either full-service or supplemental call answering. As part of that service, they are providing a feature that allows hotels to integrate their website with a Pegasus call center. Users are connected instantly with a live reservation agent. The consumer can choose to speak directly through his or her computer using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology or through any traditional telephone by simply entering their phone number and receiving an immediate call back.

The company recognizes that while the web channel is important for hotels, it’s still important to provide consumers with choices. According to Jimmy Suh, vice president of distribution and revenue management for Kimpton Hotels, “This simple addition to our website is helping us increase our online business and helps us convert curious lookers into guests."

From this week's Automotive News:

The automaker found that some truck shoppers were getting frustrated with the process of selecting a model and preferences.

"In general, it's an intuitive process, but when you get to some pickup trucks it can be very complicated," Morton says. "We noticed that we were having some abandonment where a customer would start but might not complete the configuration."

They might not understand certain terminology or may not know how to determine the towing capacity that they need, he said.

"They can click on the icon and talk to an expert at our call center who can help them answer those types of questions," Morton says.

The Chrysler group is pleased with the results. Up to 20 percent of the customers using Click to Talk have purchased a vehicle, compared with just 10 percent of callers who contact the Chrysler group through traditional marketing materials.

eStara, which was founded in 1999, is a privately held company in Reston, Va.

It also is used on the GM BuyPower Web site, and on other Web sites from such companies as Dell Inc., Continental Airlines Inc. and J. Crew Inc.

Talk by phone or computer

Here's how it works. After clicking on the Click to Talk icon, the user is asked whether he or she wants to talk by land line, cell phone or computer.

"We automatically detect whether or not you have the capability to use your computer as a phone device, if your speakers are connected and whether your microphone is on," says Brad Timchuk, senior vice president of sales and business development at eStara.

If the customer wants to talk by phone, he or she enters a phone number. The eStara system places the call to that number, and then connects the customer to the Chrysler group call center.

It started with a whisper.  About 13 hours ago, Greg Yardley noticed a click to call button on a Google site and now the world's talking about Google and pay per call.

eStara is glad to see that Google has recognized the value of what eStara's been the leader at doing for the last 5 years, and is hopeful their move will bring more attention to the growing success eStara's click to call has seen with dozens of Internet directories around the world including Amazon A9.com, Verizon Superpages, Yahoo UK & Ireland, Findexa, QDQ, and Europages. 

Google's move is completely logical for every company that has a pay-per-click model, why pay a premium for the customer billing piece when you have the customer relationship and the engine to bill-per-action already?  This is a good proof point for the players looking to be wholesalers (like eStara) that pay-per-call will be like pay-per-click, with technology partners focusing on the telephony and reporting, not the customer relationship and billing.

eStara's IP-telephony technology allows companies like Google to use click to call and call tracking, not just one or the other.  And we give users a choice between talking via the telephone or through a PC.

We've seen how click to call has benefited the more than 350 large enterprises that use eStara's Push to Talk.  Google's entry into the space really validates that this technology can move into the search engine and directory space to really benefit SME advertisers.