Contact At Once! Granted Patent for Two-Way Communications in Online Advertising

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Contact At Once! announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent 8,374,915 covering its invention of a system and method for publishing online advertisements and search results that include a real-time two-way communications system, such as instant messaging, Voice-over-IP, click-to-call, or video.

“According to Borrell Associates’ 2012 Automotive Advertising Outlook, online ad spend in that industry alone was projected to increase almost 40 percent”

The Contact At Once! Software-as-a-Service solution currently provides live chat in advertising and text in online ads, connecting consumers to local advertisers for some of the world’s largest vertical search providers in the automotive, apartment and Real Estate industries.

"Getting shoppers to complete lead forms is hard and getting harder, especially from mobile devices,” says Marc F. Hayes, Contact At Once! founder and inventor. “We’ve built a next- generation lead form - a way for consumers to immediately initiate a conversation with advertisers, right from an online ad.”

Vertical search providers using the Contact At Once! system in online ad listings have documented 20% increases in shopper interaction. A recent R.L. Polk analysis commissioned by Contact At Once! showed that households of 1 in 3 identifiable online shoppers who chatted with auto dealers purchased a vehicle within 60 days.

"According to Borrell Associates’ 2012 Automotive Advertising Outlook, online ad spend in that industry alone was projected to increase almost 40 percent,” says Hayes. “Beyond vertical search, we’re looking at many ways our technology can enhance the effectiveness of online advertising, and in particular, mobile ads.”

About Contact At Once!

Contact At Once! pioneered the use of live chat in ads, enabling more connections between online shoppers and businesses. More than 12,000 users of automotive chat, apartment chat and Real Estate chat rely on Contact At Once! to drive incremental sales opportunities from their websites and increase the return on advertising investments. Contact At Once! has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s fastest growing private companies for two years in a row and was named to the Deloitte 2012 Technology Fast 500. For more information, visit www.contactatonce.com.