Thanks for the response. To answer your questions…yes, eStara offers both PC to Phone and Phone to Phone connectivity. Our own usage statistics from a sampling of our global client base shows that, to date, about 10 to 15 percent of users use PC to Phone.

eStara’s service requires no additional software or hardware installation. On the most basic level, all that is required on the part of the merchant is the inclusion of a few lines of HTML code to their website. With eStara’s service users have the option of either speaking through their PC (requires an ActiveX plugin) or entering in their phone number for a callback from their business (similar to what Google had been testing).

The amount of information that is passed to the merchant really depends on the implementation. Always, eStara complies with the privacy and security policies of each company. However, information about the customer, such as phone number, shopping cart contents and history can be shared using eStara’s patent-pending cross-channel data passing.

I notice that your company offers browsing customers a PC-to-phone or Phone-to-phone option on Estara enabled sites to connect to the merchant. Do your stats show that people have a preference for phone-to-phone?

In regards to the third party software download - is it just a browser plugin or a stand-alone application?

I believe that when Google was testing click to call late last year, the merchant was never given the customers’ phone number as a privacy measure - Google just connected the two parties. Does Estara provide the merchant with the customer’s phone number?

I’m very curious about click-to-call as I believe it’s certainly one of the “NBT”’s in marketing.

It’s important to have options. Why create barriers between buyer and seller? Sure, some people will be perfectly comfortable using Skype, but everybody has a phone, and in order to make this model work for both the merchant and consumer, you have to allow a PC to Phone and Phone to Phone connection.