The Boss' voice says "Thanks for your order Mike and I'll see you Thursday night at eight." Now you have to explain how you spent $83 before breakfast and scroll back up to top of email to click "Play" again to demonstrate process to her and see toothbrush motion freeze when Bruce Sprinsteen uses your name during video.

Don't be surprised if you get an email like this within coming weeks. Personalization, music, video, catalogs localization and overnight delivery for products in your own interest areas will be norm within year as advertisers, marketing companies and business begin using latest available technology for email. (If you allow it and privacy concerns are addressed sufficiently by businesses adopting available tools.)

The above technology was highlighted last week at Washington State Convention Center in Seattle by businesses demonstrating at Direct Marketing Association show titled "net.Marketing 2001". The DMA show was halted early by an 11am earthquake that rattled downtown area and shook us all up more than new technology did. Rock and roll took on a different meaning than that provided by Boss.

But we all emerged unscathed by rumbling of nature to contemplate ways to harness latest in compression and embedded rich media in email. Privacy concerns will clearly be biggest hump to dump if companies expect to use these tools effectively while addressing consumer worries and finding ways to adequately protect sensitive information from third parties.

Here's an email from Ed McMahon and Publishers Clearing House! How long will it take me to get used to celebrities addressing me by my own name and playing my favorite music as background to those personalized videos?

Click2Talk: http://www.click3talk.com

This service connects your site visitors to your existing phone line. You specify phone number where all incoming calls are sent. You must embed HTML code they give you into your site pages to activate service. When a visitor clicks embedded button, a Java applet initiates a phone call from their PC to number you have specified.

If your budget runs a bit higher you may want to try one of these paid services:

E Fusion: http://www.efusion.com (Voice Over)

By placing a "push to talk" button on your site pages anyone who visits your website can initiate a conversation. Check their site for current pricing.

Live Person: http://www.liveperson.com (text chat)

A visitor to your site clicks a button to start a text chat with you. Live Person runs on its own server, so there's no software for you to install. They charge a one time set up fee of $1,000.00 and a monthly license fee of $250.00 per operator seat. See their site for further details.

With amount of companies coming online, offering live customer service is one way of distinguishing yourself from crowd. Start grabbing your share of customer loyalty with this easy to implement solution.

Any questions? Click here to chat.