Connecticut-based YouGottaCall.com Awarded Patent

YouGottaCall.com, a Connecticut-based start-up company which is an online word-of-mouth referral service that benefits both businesses and consumers, has been awarded a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

The idea behind the referral service is for consumers to use social media to connect and share information. YouGottaCall is free to join and use. Consumers recommend businesses, and members can also search for businesses trusted by their friends.

Its model offers an innovative way for consumers to find a trusted business through their network of friends and neighbors. It also provides businesses with a unique way to harness word-of-mouth advertising. Each time a referral results in a new customer for a member-business, that business pays a fee. Each business sets the amount of the fee they wish to pay.

In a “pay it forward” twist, 80 percent of the fee is forwarded to the members’ favorite charities. Thus, YouGottaCall’s slogan: “Good referrals. Doing good!”

“In today’s evolving social economy, trust is a real form of social capital. Each time our members share trusted referrals, the social capital becomes a cash donation for their favorite charities,” explained Tim Tracey of West Hartford, founder of YouGottaCall.com.

According to Tracey, there are other services such as Yelp, Yahoo Local, Google and Angie’s List which provide similar services, but YouGottaCall is a “step forward for the social economy. It benefits not only consumers and local businesses, but not-for-profit organizations as well. So each referral benefits the community.”

“The social economy is going to dictate that more and more people will use social media to find trusted local businesses,” Tracey added.

A graduate of in West Hartford, Tracy, 52, has extensive experience in sales and marketing. Having marketed automation services to insurance agencies through AMS Services (now Vertafore) in Windsor, he is now a consultant in the insurance IT industry.

Intrigued by the social networking site LinkedIn, Tracey began thinking of how this principle could benefit the local marketplace. In 2008, he and his partners launched YouGottaCall. Based in South Windsor, the referral service is funded by private investments, said Tracey. Foresite Technologies of East Hartford is a technology and development partner. In 2010, YouGottaCall was a Connecticut Technology Council “Company to Watch,” and finalist for the Hartford Business Journal’s Strateg-e Award for “Best Use of Social Media.”

Added Tracey, “This patent is important because large social network sites are searching for ways to monetize their services. YouGottaCall converts social capital into charitable donations. We look forward to helping more not-for-profit organizations generate donations from activity their supporters are doing anyways – sharing trusted recommendations.” 

As of now, said Tracey, YouGottaCall.com has more than 500 members and 250 member businesses in Connecticut and western Massachusetts.

For more information, visit www.yougottacall.com, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.