Calls are more valuable than e-leads. They convert better, because an inbound call is always going to be more interested in buying than a user who submitted a form and is being called back hours later. Call center reps can close a deal better on an inbound call than they can on a form-fill lead that they’re calling back. Inbound calls, like PPC search leads, are the cream of the crop of DR marketing
That said, Skype is now selling a click to call product through Marchex. The article in AdAge on it today just forgot to mention one TINY LITTLE DETAIL. Users ONLY see the “Free Call” button if they have the Skype browser plugin installed. I’m a geek, I use Skype daily, and I don’t even have that plugin. So how many people are ever going to see that “Free Call” highlighted link? Skype/Marchex still haven’t told me.
This is a great idea, and if everyone who just had Skype installed on their computer (or smartphone!) would see this link, then it would be huge. But because it requires a browser extension to be installed, and it’s probably a very small market. Is this worth the time to set up & test? Depends on the size of the client. But if your Google click to call gets less than a dozen calls per month, you’re probably not going to get too many here.
