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

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Contact At Once! a patent, No. 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.

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," said Marc F. Hayes, Contact At Once! founder and inventor, in a statement. "We've built a next-generation lead form, a way for consumers to immediately initiate a conversation with advertisers, right from an online ad."

---