Before widespread adoption of the Internet, Facebook, Twitter or even email, using your telephone was the only form of social networking that involved dedicated technology of any sort. The only way to reach out beyond your immediate physical location to contact someone was to pick up your phone handset, spin that rotary dial and ring someone up.

Even today, the immediacy and intimacy of voice still far outshines email, instant messaging and text messaging for true interpersonal communication. Knowing this, why is voice hardly considered for digital applications and not integrated into all web sites and other digital media as a standard practice?

In my opinion, too many of the tools we have today (such as voicemail) have turned into a sort of applied procrastination. People don’t answer, so the calling party leaves a message and the phone tag begins. I’m not a fan of voicemail for this very reason. Stop deferring the conversation already–connect now and talk this through today! Phone tag is not productive.

And please don’t Superpoke me, send me an email or IM me–call me already! Aside from true face to face interaction, is a phone call not the most present form of communication we have at our disposal? I think it is.

Another problematic form of conversation is email. Yes, it can be extremely effective and it documents conversations very well. However, email has some limitations. First off, tone is very often misread in emails, leading to misunderstandings and even hard feelings. Also email, like voicemail, is easy for people to defer. Again, if you want to handle something today, pick up the phone and call that person. Stop the procrastination!

As far as trying to reach and convert the maximum percentage of new customers through your company web site, why do we make it so hard for web site visitors to contact someone when they have a question? Fill out a contact form? Why must you ask me 20 questions? I’m filling out the form because I have questions for YOU! Why isn’t this easier? Why can’t I just call someone!? Why can’t you make it easy for me to call someone to answer my question? Why is adding web initiated calling NOT a best practice for any and all ecommerce sites!?

Are you afraid of phone calls from your web site? Yes, of course you are going to get some calls that are not relevant, but out of those there are sure to be a percentage that are going to become new customers, employees, business partners or maybe even the deal of a lifetime. But without making it easy for visitors to call you, the phone won’t ring! And that’s just not acceptable for any business seeking to grow. All doors to your business must remain open for your business to reach its true potential.

Make it easy for your customers to contact you and they will. Adding web initiated calling to a site should be a standard element of any web initiative, just as site navigation and menus are. Web initiated calling, such as Jaduka’s Click-and-Connect service, makes it easy for site visitors to contact a live person for assistance. Voice, the original social app, should be another piece of the puzzle to maximizing the investment you have made online.

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