Much easier to click than dial.
Social cost of a web link versus a phone number may be lower as well (that may be cultural but it may be true)
Adds other modes like calendar or chat or AI directly in flow.
No need to reveal a phone number.
Video
Internationally accessible (no long distance)
And for HN tradition’s sake for these types of comments, no one likes rsync.
In what way is this easier than click to dial? They’re both one click, but in this scenario I need a headset/microphone, a stable Internet connection, and if I do this from my smart phone it doesn’t know I’m in a call so when I hold the phone up to my face I will likely hit buttons.
I've been dialing from a click for 20 years now.
- assign calls to different members (round-robin, escalation)
- capture lead info (name, email, etc)
- don't reveal actual phone number
- recording, transcription
- soon, conversational AI agent (as optional backup)
With a WhatsApp/phone, you can't really switch it from one employee to another easily. Managing load is harder, seeing call logs is harder. And a full call center solution is too much for a small business.