Keeping up with their intense schedule of various product launches almost every week, Google has just released an extension of the popular AdWords program. The new service offers a Pay Per Call model, whereby advertisers can connect directly with prospects by offering a small phone icon on their text ads. Once the prospect clicks on the phone icon, they are prompted to enter their phone number and are instantly called by the Google system and then connected directly to the advertiser. Powerful indeed, and as it is in a test or “beta” period I am sure something like this will work simply based on the relevancy factor that makes AdWords one of the most powerful advertising mediums in the world.

Of course, a service like this has ignited the privacy concerns in regards to Google. Now in addition to storing search history, they also retain individuals phone numbers (although for less than 4 months according to the company’s FAQ). As with everything else that comes out to enhance the performance of online advertising, I am curious to see how well the program works. I can also see other angles to such a program, like additional layers of qualification and other elements that make that call transfer / connection worth every penny.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 25th, 2005 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Media, Marketing, Business, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.