If you thought the rise of digital technology would make good old phone calls to businesses obsolete, think again. Mobile devices and mobile search are actually inspiring more, not fewer, calls to businesses. According to the 2016 Call Intelligence Index, in 2015 digital marketing drove 92 percent of calls to businesses - an increase from 84 percent in 2014.
How can your business use online marketing to drive more calls to your sales reps, while ensuring you can handle the additional call volume? Follow these tips.
Get More Inbound Calls with Digital Marketing
Have an online web form on your website - but don't rely on that alone to drive customer contacts. Yes, 24 percent of customers in the study prefer to contact businesses by filling out online web forms, but nearly two-thirds (65 percent) would rather contact businesses by phone. Make sure you offer both options.
Optimize your website for search, especially mobile search, because more calls come from mobile search results (48 percent) than any other source. The number-two digital call driver is desktop search activity (the source of 17 percent of calls); content/review sites come third, driving nine percent of calls. But no matter where online searches are done, they lead to results: After conducting an online search, more than six out of 10 people make a purchase offline.
Make it easy for mobile users to call your business. Using click-to-call buttons on your business website or in your online ads eliminates unnecessary steps that can slow users down or keep them from calling you. Some 70 percent of survey respondents have used the click-to-call button in an online search ad.
Be Prepared to Handle the Inbound Calls
Know if your industry is experiencing a rise in calls. Although the number of digital-driven phone calls to businesses is growing across all industries, the study says businesses selling high-value products and services, or whose customers need personal assistance to make a purchase, are seeing the largest increase. Home services, automotive and financial services businesses are the industries with the most calls driven by mobile sources.
Make sure your business is adequately staffed to handle calls at the time they're most likely to occur. During the week, people are most likely to call businesses between 11 and 11:59 AM local time; on weekends, they're most likely to call from noon to 12:59 PM. Mondays are the busiest days for business calls, while Sundays are the slowest; businesses receive 55 percent more calls on Mondays than on Sundays.
Implement effective phone technology. Using the right type of call center technology ensures customers calling from mobile search don't have to wait too long for an answer (because they probably won't). Also look for a phone system that enables callers to reach you or your sales team any time, anywhere - whether you're in the office, in the field or traveling. Features like the ability to forward calls to multiple alternate numbers can make the difference between making and losing the sale.
Republished by permission. Original here.
Smartphone Photo via Shutterstock
This article, "Secrets for Using Digital Marketing to Drive More Inbound Sales Calls" was first published on Small Business Trends
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