Communicating with customers about a product / service, with the aim of obtaining an immediate response. It usually involves the following: an offer; providing sufficient information to enable customers to make a decision over whether or not to act; an explicit Òcall to actionÓ eg Òfind out more, or place you order now byÉÓ; a means of response eg by telephone (often via a freephone number), email, or web address. There are now TV channels (eg QVC and BidTV) dedicated entirely for this purpose.