- Allowing customers to quickly and easily contact your business by phone call can improve your sales and build trust.
- By the year 2020, there will be an estimated 4.78 billion smartphone users potentially ready to call your business.
- 68% of consumers will stop looking for your company phone number if they can't find it in two minutes.
- Your sales and website analytics can help you make practical marketing decisions to improve lead generation and conversions.
Marketers spend a majority of their time thinking about how to reach potential customers through email and social media. These two platforms are responsible for generating leads, retaining customers and building valuable relationships, but they are just a piece of the puzzle. Many consumers still like having phone conversations with businesses before they buy their product or service.
A business phone service option gives consumers a chance to call in and ask questions before they complete their purchase. This builds trust in your brand and helps drive consumers through your sales funnel.
We are going to look at several tactics you can use to get more customer calls with your website. These tactics include split-testing your contact CTA and analyzing your data.
1. Make calling your business a CTA.
As business owners, we are familiar with common calls to action (CTAs) such as "subscribe now," "tell me more" and "sign me up." A CTA that encourages consumers to call your business can help you generate leads through phone traffic.
Have you ever tried to call a business through its website, only to discover that its number is buried deep in a separate menu at the bottom of the page? If so, you're not alone. Research shows that 68% of consumers looking to call a business will leave the website if they can't find a phone number in less than two minutes. In other words, you're benefiting your competition by not having a clear CTA that encourages people to call your business with questions or concerns.
Your homepage should include a CTA that allows customers to email you or access your phone number in seconds. Use this opportunity to split-test different CTA colors and positions on your site. Color psychology and marketing research suggests that the color of your CTA text can impact the responses from your audience. Testing different layouts can result in more leads and phone calls to your business.
2. Implement click-to-call for mobile devices.
Listing your phone number is a great way to encourage consumers to contact your business – and allowing customers to call your business directly from your website simplifies the process for around half of your visitors.
The click-to-call feature is something you can add to your CTA. On your sidebar, you can list an option for consumers to send you an email or call you during business hours. When the person clicks the call button, the phone app opens on their device with your number already dialed. All they have to do is start the call.
According to Statista, 4.78 billion people will have access to a smartphone by 2020. Mobile devices allow users to come to your website, check your pricing page, browse your blog and contact your company. If you're dealing with consumers who are interested in talking to a real person, this feature could result in more calls, which translates to increased sales.
Additionally, 52% of all search queries come from smartphones. In other words, consumers are likely to land on your website from their mobile device. A click-to-call feature encourages consumers to get answers as soon as they have a question. Curious site visitors are likely to become customers if they can get in touch with you immediately from their phones.
3. Master customer service.
Customer service plays a significant role in how much phone traffic you'll get with your website. The first decision you have to make is whether you'll outsource customer service tasks to an agency or handle the work in-house. Outsourced customer support teams can be useful if you work alone or only with a small group. An in-house customer support team is a great option too if you have the resources for it, because it gives you more control over the support process. [Looking to outsource your customer service calls? Check out our best picks and reviews for call center services.]
Next, you'll want to consider whether your website features live chat in addition to phone support. Chatbots and live chat can prove helpful for consumers looking for a quick answer. You shouldn't exclude them from your website if possible, but you should pick and prioritize one or the other as your primary lifeline to customers.
When working with text and phone support, you'll need to find a balance between the two teams, ensuring your customers have an excellent experience and your team has a reasonable workload. Finally, you must train and test your team until they consistently deliver excellent customer service.
The connection between customer service and phone calls is clear. If people have bad experiences dealing with your service team, they will tell their friends. Word of a poorly performing customer service team spreads quickly and can devastate small-scale companies. On a similar note, if a customer contacts your company by phone and has a positive experience, they may recommend you to a friend or family member.
4. Track your analytics.
At this point, you should know and understand your website traffic and sales analytic data. The information in these reports helps you learn more about your target audience while drawing in new customers.
Let's say you run a marketing firm and learn through your Google Analytics data that over 60% of consumers are looking at one of your blog posts about getting new clients. It's safe to assume that the majority of your target audience relates to this piece and is having trouble finding new clients.
Now that you know this, you can leverage it with your marketing campaigns and contact banner on your site. Imagine if someone landed on your website looking for a solution to this problem and noticed your banner says, "Need help securing clients? Call for a consultation!" Chances are you would instantly build rapport with that consumer because you understand what they are going through. As a result, they are more likely to call your business.
Your website analytics can also help you find gaps in your design or improve your content strategy. If people are coming to your business and searching for something that doesn't exist, you can use that data to create new and relevant content. The next time a consumer comes to your website, they will find that piece of content, and they are then more likely to call your company.
Conclusion
You can forget about the rumors; business phone lines are not dead. A majority of consumers use their phones to browse online. If you carefully plan your marketing strategy around customers and their concerns, you can improve the odds that they will call you for information or to make a purchase.
Stay mindful of your web design, analytics, customer support team and marketing campaigns to see increased phone traffic from your website. As your business grows, you may have to bring on more phone support representatives and lines for specific issues, such as billing and technical support. Despite the challenges some business owners face when encouraging consumers to call their companies, they generally see positive results once consumers realize they can talk to an agent in seconds.