Tech Roundup: A look at some of the latest solutions on the market
February 2006
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New technological solutions are being developed at a dizzying pace, and the good news is that many of them do not require an upgrade in hardware or software for most marketers to integrate them into their bag of tricks. The following is a sampling of some of the latest offerings from tech vendors in areas such as data hygiene, live chat, pay-per-call and more.
Bazaarvoice
Based in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice provides hosted customer ratings and review features for e-commerce Web sites. The ratings tools and review postings can be customized to match the marketer’s Web site design for seamless integration, without the installation of hardware or software. Using automated rules, human review and best-practice policies, Bazaarvoice monitors review posts and works with clients to make sure user-generated content (UGC) is accurate and relevant to other visitors.
To leverage this UGC as word-of-mouth marketing to pull in site traffic, the postings can be turned into review landing pages; these are branded Web pages that have been optimized for search engine bots by saturating the pages with user content that contains custom keywords and phrases. In addition, companies can syndicate review content into e-mail, catalog and other marketing vehicles. A community manager develops reports on program metrics that include tactical recommendations.
For more information: Visit www.bazaar voice.com.
NewsGator Hosted Solution
This turnkey RSS aggregation tool from NewsGator, a Denver-based RSS platform company, allows marketers to offer RSS feeds to their site visitors via their own, branded reader, turning their Web site into an information portal. With this tool, marketers can recommend specific feeds while also allowing visitors to select from hundreds of thousands of feeds through the NewsGator network. Built-in templates allow users to set up their branded readers quickly, while the hosted application eliminates the need for marketers to install software or manage servers.
For more information: Visit www.newsgator.com.
Pay-per-call Collect
By connecting pay-per-call technology and local search to phone billing services, Los Angeles-based technology solutions firm Jambo enables small businesses to generate phone leads on an as-needed basis while paying for the service via their standard phone bill. When a search user selects a particular business category in the Jambo Advertising Network, Jambo provides the inquirer with a unique phone number for each merchant. When calls come in via this number, merchants receive the option to accept or decline any calls, and thus the charges. Using a proprietary scoring model, Jambo keeps track of the percentage of declined calls as well as other business criteria related to search relevancy to determine which merchants will receive future calls. When an inquiry results in a lead, Jambo forwards this information to the search partner so it can approach the merchant with opportunities to enhance its local search presence. Merchants also receive regular reports on the phone numbers and ZIP codes of all leads they accepted.
For more information: Visit www.jambo.com.
leadQ
Part of the inQ family of live chat solutions (cartQ, customer serviceQ, etc.), leadQ allows online marketers to use live chat to capture more lead data from site visitors. From helping visitors fill out lead forms to addressing their online information needs, this Agoura Hills, Calif., firm’s chat agents maximize site interaction with prospects and customers by engaging visitors in conversation and responding to their cues with script-driven prompts. According to the marketer’s Web objectives and visitor behavior, the chat session can be initiated in response to specific criteria, such as time spent on the site, number of visits to the site, leaving the site, etc. Marketers also can choose whether they want the chat to take place in a pop-up window or as a built-in section of a Web page. Chat agents can direct visitors to fill out the applicable lead form or collect the pertinent information through the online chat.
The software application runs on a JavaScript tag and allows users to access reporting information—including chat transcripts and conversion statistics—via an online portal. inQ also provides a marketing agency to develop and manage campaigns for a fully outsourced solution.
For more information: Visit www.inq.com
Voicelogin
The Voicelogin solution from New York City performance marketing network and interactive agency AdValiant, helps marketers transform calls into
a real-time data cleansing process, regardless of whether calls are handled by a live agent or an automated attendant. Before calls are connected, the phone number is run against a database of more than 160 million households (provided by AdValiant’s parent company, Dialogue Group); matches allow the marketer to verify, update and add appropriate information to the consumer’s data profile, thus enabling the marketer to address calls in a more efficient, relevant manner. Proprietary voice-recognition technology is leveraged to accurately capture and confirm inbound caller data.
For more information: Visit www.advaliant.com.
Bazaarvoice
Based in Austin, Texas, Bazaarvoice provides hosted customer ratings and review features for e-commerce Web sites. The ratings tools and review postings can be customized to match the marketer’s Web site design for seamless integration, without the installation of hardware or software. Using automated rules, human review and best-practice policies, Bazaarvoice monitors review posts and works with clients to make sure user-generated content (UGC) is accurate and relevant to other visitors.
To leverage this UGC as word-of-mouth marketing to pull in site traffic, the postings can be turned into review landing pages; these are branded Web pages that have been optimized for search engine bots by saturating the pages with user content that contains custom keywords and phrases. In addition, companies can syndicate review content into e-mail, catalog and other marketing vehicles. A community manager develops reports on program metrics that include tactical recommendations.
For more information: Visit www.bazaar voice.com.
NewsGator Hosted Solution
This turnkey RSS aggregation tool from NewsGator, a Denver-based RSS platform company, allows marketers to offer RSS feeds to their site visitors via their own, branded reader, turning their Web site into an information portal. With this tool, marketers can recommend specific feeds while also allowing visitors to select from hundreds of thousands of feeds through the NewsGator network. Built-in templates allow users to set up their branded readers quickly, while the hosted application eliminates the need for marketers to install software or manage servers.
For more information: Visit www.newsgator.com.
Pay-per-call Collect
By connecting pay-per-call technology and local search to phone billing services, Los Angeles-based technology solutions firm Jambo enables small businesses to generate phone leads on an as-needed basis while paying for the service via their standard phone bill. When a search user selects a particular business category in the Jambo Advertising Network, Jambo provides the inquirer with a unique phone number for each merchant. When calls come in via this number, merchants receive the option to accept or decline any calls, and thus the charges. Using a proprietary scoring model, Jambo keeps track of the percentage of declined calls as well as other business criteria related to search relevancy to determine which merchants will receive future calls. When an inquiry results in a lead, Jambo forwards this information to the search partner so it can approach the merchant with opportunities to enhance its local search presence. Merchants also receive regular reports on the phone numbers and ZIP codes of all leads they accepted.
For more information: Visit www.jambo.com.
leadQ
Part of the inQ family of live chat solutions (cartQ, customer serviceQ, etc.), leadQ allows online marketers to use live chat to capture more lead data from site visitors. From helping visitors fill out lead forms to addressing their online information needs, this Agoura Hills, Calif., firm’s chat agents maximize site interaction with prospects and customers by engaging visitors in conversation and responding to their cues with script-driven prompts. According to the marketer’s Web objectives and visitor behavior, the chat session can be initiated in response to specific criteria, such as time spent on the site, number of visits to the site, leaving the site, etc. Marketers also can choose whether they want the chat to take place in a pop-up window or as a built-in section of a Web page. Chat agents can direct visitors to fill out the applicable lead form or collect the pertinent information through the online chat.
The software application runs on a JavaScript tag and allows users to access reporting information—including chat transcripts and conversion statistics—via an online portal. inQ also provides a marketing agency to develop and manage campaigns for a fully outsourced solution.
For more information: Visit www.inq.com
Voicelogin
The Voicelogin solution from New York City performance marketing network and interactive agency AdValiant, helps marketers transform calls into
a real-time data cleansing process, regardless of whether calls are handled by a live agent or an automated attendant. Before calls are connected, the phone number is run against a database of more than 160 million households (provided by AdValiant’s parent company, Dialogue Group); matches allow the marketer to verify, update and add appropriate information to the consumer’s data profile, thus enabling the marketer to address calls in a more efficient, relevant manner. Proprietary voice-recognition technology is leveraged to accurately capture and confirm inbound caller data.
For more information: Visit www.advaliant.com.
Companies Mentioned:
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