Driving Home the Point of Sale

Callbutton's Web-to-phone technology can help businesses struggling to make online sales pay off...

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SEATTLE, March, 2002 - E-commerce was supposed to revolutionize sales: If a customer wanted to buy something, it was supposed to be a simple point and click away. The problem was, would-be online customers were slipping through the cracks because they often grew frustrated by a lack of human interaction during the sales process. In fact, even when the vendor sites promised to provide an actual salesperson online, the interaction was mostly spotty.

The net result: Merchants were spending millions of dollars to market and advertise products but were left wondering why customers didn't seem to be completing enough sales. Callbutton may have solved that mystery, or at least found a potential solution, targeting vendors that have already cultivated a strong web presence but require human sales contact to seal the deal.

How it works is this: A vendor sets up a deal with Callbutton whereby Callbutton's patent-pending routing engine technology is integrated with the vendors existing online ads, in order to pull the customer into a sale and keep them there.

"We connect customers to live conversations with real people," Callbutton CEO Michael Markette said. "It's really that simple."

If a person is using a PC with a microphone, Callbutton could use Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to instantly connect the customer and salesperson. But since VoIP isn't reliable for most users, Callbutton's current customers prefer connected calls by telephone. Using this technology, a customer enters his/her contact information into a dialog box, and in a matter of seconds or minutes, they can receive a phone call from the appropriate salesperson.

In addition to the obvious advantages to keeping the customer inside the virtual store, permitting a host of up-selling opportunities, the experience also seems to be an improvement for the customer. "We think this kind of software switch is the future of communications," Markette said. "It doesn't matter what kind of business you're in. People need to connect, and we make that happen... You've got to get that person on the phone right away. Many companies have disparate sales and marketing departments, particularly those with different satellite offices across the country, like a mattress warehouse or something. We connect to the right people."

Callbutton was founded as a spin-off of Intelemedia Communications, an ASP and outsourcing company, in January 2001. At the time, Intelemedia thought Callbutton's technology was worthy of its own business, and though Intelemedia invested in the seed round, Markette and company are now on their own.

"It's a big market," Markette said. "We had this technology, and this seemed like the most logical way to use it."

The company is racking up an impressive client list, with 200 companies-ranging form international sign maker FASTSIGNS to e-business software developer Akamai Technologies-with the majority being niche businesses using the technology for their online sales. As for revenue streams form these clients, Callbutton charges a setup fee (from $149 to $2,495), a monthly maintenance fee (from $79 to $695), and per-call fees (averaging about $1 for a typical 3 1/2 minute call).

With a money-making plan in place, an extensive client list, and a technology that's well past the development stage, Callbutton is now seeking another $400,000 to increase the size of its sale and marketing staff; company managers say they need two marketers to get the word out.

Down the road, the company may rededicate itself to ironing out some minor kinks in its still-young technology, problems such as failed connections and a better feedback loop to provide some kind of call receipt on a more prompt basis. But that's just a matter of trouble-shooting, and with more funding, Callbutton is confident it can ferret out such problems out-and be poised to capitalize the predicted Web-to-phone revolution in the e-commerce industry before its competitors can.

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