Open phone lines: an essential digital marketing component

By 2018, the number of smartphone users will account for over one third of the global population and with mobile internet traffic now surpassing desktop, digital marketers have been quick to invest time and budget into mobile content and advertising. 

Consumers too have an expectation that everything they want is accessible from their fingertips, 24/7, and while their demands are being met online, brands should still remember the importance of offering a multi-channel approach to customer service.

Pete Danks, chief marketing officer at global one-to-one marketing specialist, Clicksco explains how implementing lead generation tool, Click2call, into the marketing mix helps increase sales and improve customer satisfaction.

Bridging the online-offline gap

Three out of five online searches are made via mobile, and most come with high, often local intent. Consumers want something now, so it's no surprise that the mobile ad space is among the hottest areas for growth in the digital marketing industry.

But mobile has a unique nature; the device is always-on and acts as a gateway to voice communications, and successful brands are those adopting ad formats that leverage these qualities.

One way of staying ahead of the game is by implementing Click-to-Call (C2C), a lead generation marketing tool where advertisers pay for qualified phone leads straight from a search ad or optimised mobile landing page. This approach, quite simply, to incorporate a telephone number into a mobile advert, gives high-intent consumers the ability to dial a business directly from a mobile search. While it may seem obvious, some advertisers forget that vitally smartphones can make and receive calls, so linking the adverts with the ability to call the advertiser, offers a much better consumer journey – one fit for all audiences and purchase types, from big ticket items to casual spur of the moment whims.

As surprising as it may seem, the phone is still a popular medium for customers to interact with businesses. The reasons for this are much the same as why they opt for mobile search – they want easy access to accurate information, and they want it now. The key difference is that, sometimes, they want to talk to a real person as part of the process, and as a result, inbound calls to businesses are booming.

And with 40 million calls directed through Google ads each month worldwide, it is fair to say that Click-to-Call is a clear sales driver. This increasingly popular lead generation tool allows both brands and consumers the ability to bridge the online-offline gap in the path to purchase, and as research shows that a staggering 94% of UK consumers have needed to call a company they were searching for via mobile, brands must realise that failing to offer the functionality leaves them at risk of losing out.

On top of this, Google reported that 36% of searchers would be more likely to 'explore other brands' when C2C isn't available; 32% would 'feel frustrated or annoyed' and 30% would be 'disappointed in the brand.'

Making a connection

Our own experience of this comes from working with our partner agency and the US arm of a global mobile telecommunications company. The phone giant has used our C2C services for several years, resulting in better quality leads, reduced cost per lead (CPL) and an increase in revenue for its wireless products.

The company wanted to attract prospects at the time they intended to buy, and in a competitive marketplace, it needed a fast and agile marketing solution to capture and convert these prospects quickly.

As a communications company that understands its audiences inside-out, it played to its strengths by running a fully integrated marketing campaign that placed real value on C2C. As a result, between 2015-2016 we were able to improve the efficiency of its leads-to-revenue, by generating nearly 36 times more revenue year-on-year.

Open all lines of communication

The average C2C conversation lasts six minutes, offering a compelling opportunity for brands to increase engagement by directly building relationships with their customers. Yet, still many companies are neglecting to add telephone numbers to their mobile adverts and not realising the value a C2C campaign can have in bolstering sales, keeping customers happy and driving brand loyalty.

According to the 2016 BIA/Kelsey Industry Watch report 'Call Commerce: A $1 Trillion Economic Engine', the combination of smartphone penetration, high commercial intent, and the natural transition between mobile engagement and phone calls will result in the number of mobile calls being made to businesses skyrocketing to 169 billion by 2020.

So, are your phone lines open and accessible on your ads? This one measure could mean the difference between a sale, or not?

Source: Open phone lines: an essential digital marketing component