Adwords for the telephone - bad news for your florist.

If one read the patent application RINGBACK ADVERTISING it is apparent that Google will try to monetize their Google Voice offering.

The question Google should ask itself is: Are the public ready for ad-based telephone services? This has been tried a few times on this side of the pond - without success.

I am not a psychologist - but it does not take one to realize that for most people, phone conversations are very personal. Not necessarily personal in a private sense, but in one-on-one kind of communication.

Based on what I have seen with these kind of offerings, only a few people are positive - the majority of users will feel this to be very intrusive.

If I understand the patent correctly, the proposed solution will behave much like what Goodle Adwords now does: Targeted marketing based on the number the caller are dialing.

This can become quite interesting, but in a not so funny way: Let's say you want to call your florist - and while waiting for the call to be put through you hear an advert from a competing florist. In this scenario your florist may not be very happy, but that is really not your problem - it might become Google's problem where your florist simply refuse to pay Google for his ads. After all, your florist was ambushed on it's home turf.

What's more concerning for you, as a user, is the confusion you will feel when you dial your florist, but get another florist "on the line". You might even hang up in confusion. Secondly - you will have to live the nagging feeling of Google putting you on "advertising hold" instead of expedite your call as quickly as possible. Could you end your call prematurely, instead of listening to the whole ad?

If one read section 18 and 19 of the patent where Google define listen-through rate ("LTR"), it's clear that Google does in fact expect people to hang up before their calls is put through.

This is bad news for your florist.

Let's look at the other side: What if your florist decide to run his own ads on Google Voice when customers are calling him (i.e. only run adverts for his own business)?

When people call him, they might be annoyed to listen to a advert before talking to a service representative. Do you really want to annoy your customers before even talking to them?

To get the most bang for the bucks, the florist should in theory of course try not to answer the phone too fast - he want to maximize the LTR. The net result is annoyed customers.

Unless Google are going to approach this new revenue stream carefully, this can be a prime recipe for a major setback to one of the coolest, at least in a lot of people eyes, but they do not know the other options out there, telephony services out there.

In the mean time - be kind to your florist.

If you are one of the many florist that have, or is planning to, email me, and telling me what a jerk I am - you have missed the point completely. This posting is NOT about florists.