Why Calls Matter 12 Times More Than Online Clicks

Everyone is online these days, aren’t they? Of course they are! With the Internet being so quick and easy to access, you never have to leave the house! And the stats speak for themselves! 

Statista found that 80% of people now do the majority of their shopping online. And it’s these same people that prefer to communicate with businesses via social media and web chat. 

80% seems a pretty definitive figure when you’re considering how to grow and develop your business. Yet we wondered if it tells the whole story of how people and customers are behaving these days. As with all research, you should always be cautious about taking what you first read at face value. We wanted to know more, so did some more digging.

What the other pros are saying

BIA Kelsey has their finger on the pulse when it comes to what businesses should be doing in order to succeed. Their research conducted on small to medium businesses revealed that 64% of inbound calls converted better than any online and in-person lead. 

A further deep dive into the data revealed that up to 40% of inbound calls turned into paying leads. This resulted in a conversion rate of more than 12 times that of web leads. 

Not content with one source, we looked at what Hubspot and Marketing Sherpa had to say on the subject. And they didn’t disappoint! They had asked their own customers what marketing and communication methods worked for them. Surprisingly, lead magnets and online forms only yielded a conversion rate of 2%! 

How to use the research

Although the initial figure of 80% is very high, the fact that online leads perform abysmally is very telling. It means that just because the majority of people are shopping online, it’s not necessarily how they made their first purchase. Neither does it mean that it is their preferred communication method is via an online space. 

In fact, Statista also found that a whopping 33.85 million UK residents favour dialling your digits to get your attention.

We agree it’s tempting to plough your budget into staffing all your online communication channels and fine-tuning your lead magnets. But there is still an argument that you should have a solid foundation for the basics – namely your call management.

Getting the basics right

First impressions are everything, with exemplary customer service coming a close second. And somewhere that you needn’t fail on this is when your customer calls your telephone number. That’s because here at SwitchboardFREE we’ve made call management quick and easy.

When your sales leads or existing customers call in they can be greeted in line with your brand. Then they will be automatically diverted to the right person to assist them. This ensures no call is missed and makes for a smooth and efficient customer experience. 

You can give your customers the option to hold whilst listening to whatever music you choose. You can announce their position in the queue, so they can decide whether to wait or not. Plus, you can even offer them the chance to leave a message which you will instantly be notified of. 

With more than 20 call managements offered completely free, you can afford to let SwitchboardFREE work hard in getting all those leads through to you and qualified in no time at all.