Local voice search advertising is already getting promising results, with widespread reach, and high click through rates, according to V-Enable CMO Craig Hagopian, who was speaking at DMS 08. V-Enable is a San Diego-based mobile voice search company with 65 employees. It partners with SuperPages.com, Yellow Book, and AT&T’s Ingenio and Yellowpages.com
Hagopian said that the company is averaging six searches per month from typical user. Featured ads posted at the top of searches are clicked on 10-15 percent of the time , and half of those clicks results in a call to a business. The ads are typically go for $1.20 to $1.40 per action.
The implications may be important. Looking forward, the wallet and key are likely to go away as everything gets digitized. “But the phone stays with you,” he said.
Search activity on the phone is also worth noting. Top features, in order, include Yellow Pages, Directory Assistance, Navigate/Mapping and Internet/Directory Assistance. “All come together with mobile. The mobile phone can do all these things,” said Hagopian.