Pros of Click-to-Call

There are two primary benefits of using click-to-call. The first is that these days, more than half the time people are browsing via a mobile device, and 70 percent of those mobile searches can result in a click-to-call over the cellular network. So, this works best for the mobile-first users. The second is that this means that the prospect can call and immediately reach you while they are still engaged and interested in your product.

Cons

On the other hand, the major drawback is that it only works on a smartphone. Click-to-call will not work on a laptop, tablet or any gadget that does not have an outgoing call line built in. Additionally, it requires multiple phone numbers and call minutes to serve many customers, resulting in high costs to the company. If the prospective customer is in a different country, they pay international rates for the call.

If the customer is making the call from the native dialer, you lose all analytical data and call context. Obviously, if they are not on a smartphone, the customer will need to use a second device to dial the number and call, and that may discourage them from calling at all.

Click-to-Call Back

Click-to-call Back (Figure 2, below) is a widget that will allow the customer to leave their phone number with your call center. The call center then calls the prospective customer back.

Figure 2: Click-to-Call Back call flow

Pros of Click-to-Call Back

There are two major pros for click-to-call back. The first is that you, the call center, set the timing of return phone calls. Thus, you can limit the calls to working hours, which allows you to manage the call center time better. The second is that, by definition, you have the customer’s phone number for future interactions.

Cons

This can end up costing you sales, as prospects lose interest really quickly. Get back to them an hour later and they may no longer be interested. If you’re calling back a day, later they will not know who you are or why you are calling. If no agents are available when the form was submitted, or it was submitted during off-hours, the customer may forget that he even filled the form, which means wasted funds on calls. To make matters worse, people generally dislike leaving phone numbers with call companies, so again you may never even know you lost them. 

From the operational side, this will require multiple call minutes to serve many customers, which can be costly. If the company is global, international calling rates will apply.

Figure 3: Web-to-Call call flow

Introducing Web-to-Call

Web-to-call (Figure 3, above) takes a different approach to communicating with the customer. Since the introduction of WebRTC technologies, modern browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Chromium are capable of handling multimedia streams and access to microphones and speakers. This opens the possibility of using the browser as a communications tool, providing a means of direct communication.