Online customer service with a twist

E-commerce technology vendor Jaduka has launched a service that enables shoppers and retailers to immediately connect via telephone.

The service, Click-and-Connect, enables retailers and other web site operators to place small icons on web pages, advertisements, e-mails, blog pages and other Internet-based content. After clicking on the icon, shoppers enter their phone number into a window launched by the icon. The technology then places simultaneous calls to the retailer and the shopper, immediately connecting the two to discuss the shopper’s questions or concerns. The telephone call is free of charge to shoppers.

“Businesses and individuals now can stimulate a greater response from their e-mails, advertisements and web sites,” says Jack Rynes, president of Jaduka. “Customers can dial an e-retailer at the point of impulse with one mouse click.”

Click-and-Connect also enables pay-per-call advertising, increasing online sales and conversions and reducing web site abandonment, Rynes contends. And retailers can use the service to track the effectiveness of online ad campaigns, he adds.

To promote the web-meets-phone service, Jaduka is making Click-and-Connect free for 60 minutes of phone time. Retailers and other potential customers then can recharge their accounts online for prices beginning at $3.40 per hour of talk time.