For companies who do business over the phone, the goal of marketing is clear: drive more phone calls. The good news is, consumers typically choose the easiest path to purchase. Click-to-call ads are convenient, and nearly everyone carries a phone. Even better news, research shows that customers who call are typically high-intent customers with a much higher likelihood to convert. Though consumers perform research on mobile devices, they almost always place a call when purchasing a higher price-point item–cars, insurance, travel, and other big-ticket items.
If the goal of marketing is to get more calls, the first step is to understand who’s already calling, why they call and what happens on the call, so you can learn what it takes for these callers to convert to customers and find more callers like them.
Why call optimization matters
More marketers are recognizing the need to analyze calls. But not all solutions deliver the insights required. Unfortunately, some solutions only deliver high-level, incomplete insight into calls. For instance, information like “A call that lasts at least two minutes most often concludes in a sale” could be helpful. But consider what critical information is NOT revealed: exactly how many two-minute calls resulted in a sale? What was said in that two-minute conversation? How much time was spent on hold? Did the sales agent contribute to the sale, or did they impede it?
On the other hand, a robust call analytics solution delivers complete call analysis: the intent of the consumer based on high-intent keywords; sales agents’ skills and their adherence to scripts; and ultimately the call outcome—whether that’s a sale, an appointment, or a missed opportunity. In addition to knowing how long the call lasted, analytics can tell you what high-intent keywords lead to transactions; how agents perform against specified criteria, and other critical data.
Armed with this information, businesses can pinpoint the gaps and inefficiencies in their call operations and make improvements. When the phone channel is optimized, you improve your opportunities for a successful outcome with existing callers.
How to drive more high-intent calls
When you understand your audience—who’s calling your business—you can target similar audiences to drive more calls. There are tools that allow you to retarget callers who engaged with your business, but did not convert to a sale. You can also analyze the audience that did convert and target other audiences like them on social media.
Marketing today is a highly competitive endeavor. It’s not enough to analyze digital channels and ignore phone calls. Use the data you already own to make better, more informed decisions, and ensure the calls you receive are delivering high quality, high-intent prospects.
