Skype has expanded its pay-for-call offerings for advertisers: Click & Call Advertising with Skype supported by Marchex, is an advertising program which provides an “efficient and measureable” way to acquire new customers by using Skype to drive inbound calls.
Skype is launching this offering for the first time in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe through a partnership with Marchex, a call advertising company, which will help manage, operate and sell Click & Call Advertising with Skype.
Participating advertisers can have their phone numbers highlighted with a blue Free Call button anywhere online their numbers are displayed. When the button is clicked, the Skype software launches and the call is connected – at no cost to the caller.
Advertisers pay for qualified inbound calls via Skype on a pay-for-call basis. Call volumes are tracked by Marchex so advertisers can monitor the results of their campaign and also view detailed call analytics.
Click & Call Advertising relies on a user having Skype software installed on their PC and Skype’s browser plug-in which is downloaded automatically in Skype for Windows 4.0 or later. The service is currently not available on Mac or mobile versions of Skype software.
Skype has informed that Click & Call Advertising commences with an initial group of customers, including agencies like Razorfish, national advertisers like DISH Network and Extra Space Storage, and channel partners like PRIMEDIA.
The company says the program is available to all advertisers, agencies and marketing services providers, including companies that have a large number of local and/or national business advertising customers, such as Yellow Pages companies, Certified Marketing Representatives (CMRs), independent local advertising services providers, direct marketing providers and newspapers.
“Working together with Marchex, our objective for Click & Call Advertising is to deliver a performance advertising tool that turns the Web surfing behavior of Skype users into calls to advertisers,” said Andy Sims, Skype’s director of advertising.
“Businesses will now have the opportunity to acquire potential new customers by using Skype in a highly efficient and measureable way. The experience is also beneficial for Skype users because it’s fast, convenient and the calls are free,” he added.
How it Works
There are four steps to the program:
1. Advertisers agree to pay a fixed amount per call, along with a budget. Rates are determined based on advertiser categories.
2. Users with Skype software installed on their PC and Skype’s browser plug-in enabled see participating advertiser phone numbers graphically highlighted as a blue “Free Call” button across the entire web.
3. Users who see the blue “Free Call” button respond by placing calls to the advertiser by clicking on the “Free Call” icon.
4. Advertisers pay only for completed phone calls.
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