Home Forums Blogs Articles Photos Videos Contact FAQ

Call capture

Call capture: Encyclopedia - Call capture

Call capture is a term used to describe a lead generation technology that notifies by pager, text message or Email an end user of the name, phone number and address when someone calls their 800 number. Real estate agents for example might display their 800 call capture phone number on a signrider (small, sometimes 12 x 30 sign that sits on top of the For Sale sign in a house owners yard), with a call to action like "Free Recorded Information – Call 24 hours". When someone drives by, notices the sign, writes the phone n ...

Call capture

Call capture: Encyclopedia - Call capture

Call capture

Call capture is a term used to describe a lead generation technology that notifies by pager, text message or Email an end user of the name, phone number and address when someone calls their 800 number.

Real estate agents for example might display their 800 call capture phone number on a signrider (small, sometimes 12 x 30 sign that sits on top of the For Sale sign in a house owners yard), with a call to action like "Free Recorded Information – Call 24 hours". When someone drives by, notices the sign, writes the phone number down and calls on their cell phone or land line, they are greeted by the real estate agent's personal greeted, directed to dial in the 4-digit extension for the home they are interested in. Then, they listen to a 45-60 second "audio tour" of the home. The agent's message might walk them through the foyer, into the living room, mention the fireplace and lead them to the dining room window to look at the large yard and in-ground pool.

At the end of the message, the caller can either leave a voice mail, press zero to transfer directly to the agent, press "3" to request an automatic fax of specs for the home, enter another extension to listen in on another home or simply hang up.

Regardless of what they do, the agent who owns that 800 call capture phone number will be notified by pager, text message or email within 30 seconds of the caller's phone number. If the caller is calling from a home-based phone, then the real estate agent will receive a notification with the caller's phone number, name and address.

The purpose of call capture technology is to allow the end user to track leads.

In the current environment, anytime anyone calls an office number, cell phone number or non-call capture 800 number, when it's busy or it's after hours, the caller is usually lost. Call capture technology stops that.

Call capture keeps track of who and when someone calls. For industries, like real estate, where leads are essential to survival like bread and water, maximizing the number of leads they get creates a substantial competitive advantage for any end user.

Levels or grades of call capture exist. If you have Caller ID, then you have the lowest grade of call capture. However, as you've probably noticed, calls from unpublished numbers are blocked, or, you can't view them, on Caller ID.

The best call capture technology uses ANI (Automatic Number Identification). ANI serves a function similar to Caller ID, but utilizes different underlying technology, and is usually impossible to block by prefixing a call with *67.

ANI was originally developed by telecommunications companies for billing purposes and is one of the core technologies behind 911 emergency services. It's also available for commercial purposes for customers who may benefit from knowing who is calling them. The Federal Communications Commission allows anyone who is paying for a phone call (800 numbers are free to the caller, not the owner of the 800 number) to know who is calling them. ANI is the technology that companies like Proquest Technologies and PAT Live use for their call capture technology.

ANI has another advantage over Caller ID. With Caller ID it's impossible to store or manage the number of calls that come into your mobile or office phone if you are a real estate agent or insurance agent. With call capture, your leads and their information are stored on the vendor's servers and assessable online. From there, an insurance agent then could arrange the leads in an Excel file and mail merge them into a contact management program and send them a monthly newsletter, nurturing leads until they become clients.

In addition, leads and their contact information can be sent to an email inbox by companies, such as Proquest Technologies, that use Call Capture services. For instance, a real estate agent could print out her list of leads from the previous day every morning and start to call them back.

As far as alternative lead generation systems, call capture has several advantages.

It's not a third party who is delivering the end user its leads. Third party lead generation systems, for example where consumer leads are collected by a company and then sold to an agent, make end users pay sometimes exorbitant fees for these leads that are very likely distributed to end users in the same area or zip code—diluting the value of the leads significantly. Call capture leads are unique to the end user, and at a price between $0.53 to a few dollars.
Call capture is a potent substitute for cold calling (unsolicited calls to prospects), especially in light of the Do Not Call laws. Because of the powerful appeal of "Free Recorded Information—Anytime" callers are more likely to call when they aren't likely to encounter another person. Plus, anyone who calls a call capture 800 line falls under the "90 day business inquiry" rule of the Do Not Call laws. This means that the end user can call anyone who has called their call capture 800 number in the past 90 days.

In conclusion, call capture technology gives end users an inexpensive, non-invasive way to generate leads.

Category: Telephony