This blog entry will present some surprising facts about inbound calls in marketing and why Call Tracking is the ideal method to use this potential.
It will demonstrate that more calls are being made rather than fewer, the phase in which a call is most likely to be made, the shopping cart value at which making a call is preferred and which sector would not generate sales without the telephone.
More and more inbound calls
BIA/Kelsey has published a study on “Call Commerce” which examined, among other things, the extent to which the number of incoming calls to companies is developing. The following graph shows the number of calls, broken down by online advertising channels:
When I look at the development in recent years, I notice two major changes in particular:
- Telephoning doesn’t cost anything anymore, so there’s no reason to not call anymore.
- Cell first – it’s much easier to call someone from your cellphone than to write an e-mail or fill out a contact form.
In which sectors are inbound calls extremely important as lead sources?
The first row contains the percentage of call conversions out of the total amount of all conversions; the second row contains the ratio of contact forms to the number of inbound calls as the lead source.
Healthcare | Automotive | Finance | Travel | KMU | |
Percentage of call conversions | 60% | 62% | 73% | 43% | 80% |
Ratio of completed forms to inbound calls | 1:24 | 1:26 | 1:17 | 1:8 | 1:4 |
If more than 50% of conversions depend on the phone, this means that more than half of new transactions depend on calls. Those responsible are often not aware of this and it can result in bad decisions. If, in one of these sectors, I try to force the customer to use a different channel, I may stop them from buying from me.
When is it most important for the interested party to be able to call?
I’ve copied an excerpt here:
What is the value of the goods above which the customer would rather conduct the transaction by telephone?
I think the easiest way to illustrate this is using the example of visiting a restaurant: If I want to eat something at lunchtime and go to a restaurant, I won’t usually make a reservation and will spend less than $33. If I go out for dinner with friends and/or family, I will obviously call to book a table in advance and will certainly spend more than $33. If you are selling products in these sectors and are often above this limit, you need a phone number on the site that is easy to find.
Call leads convert 10 to 15 times more often than web leads!
The mentioned study by BIA Kelsey confirmed that incoming calls are incredibly valuable. They convert on average 10 to 15 times more frequently than web leads.Call data has been analyzed in many different sectors and shows that 29% of all incoming calls led to a sale, appointment or reservation.By contrast, the web leads only convert about 2% – that’s only one transaction from 50 completed contact forms!
For every 50 calls, you would get 14.5 transactions with a conversion rate of 29%.These statistics show us that call leads perform more than ten times better than filling out forms on the website.In other words, an interested party who downloads one of your white papers or attends your webinar is much less likely to become a customer than someone who calls you.