18 Powerful Statistics that prove business phone calls are as important as ever

18 Powerful Statistics that prove business phone calls are as important as ever

A phone call is, without doubt, one of the most effective tools for doing business. But then, of course we’d say that – we live and breathe telecoms. To put some weight behind this statement, we thought we’d compile some game changing business phone call statistics that really prove how important the telephone really is to your company.

Keeping customers

• Customers greatly prefer human-to-human interactions like phone calls (62%), email (46%), and chat (37%) to self-service (14%) or bots (13%) when dealing with issues – Loyalty360
• 25% of callers give up after they’re kept on hold for too long – NewVoice
• When it comes to resolving a complex issue, 40% of consumers want to speak to a real person over the phone – American Express
• 66% of customers will switch companies because of poor customer service – Accenture
• 77% of respondents to a survey believe a phone call is the most effective way to get an answer quickly – New Voice Media
• 62% have to repeatedly contact a company to resolve an issue – Harvard Business Review
• 30% of consumers say not being able to reach a real human is the most frustrating part of a bad customer service experience – Microsoft
• 85% of people whose calls aren’t answered will not call back – message-direct.co.uk

Making the most out of marketing

• 52% of individuals who want to contact a business after an enquiry will do it via telephone – Luma Partners
• 70% of mobile searchers say they regularly call a business from a mobile search ad – Google
• Although online chat, social media and email are widespread, ‘click to call’ is actually one of the most effective calls to action a business can have on its website. A click to call call to action, above the fold, can increase the conversion rate of a site by 200% – Quick Sprout
• 61% of searchers on mobile believe it’s important that they can call a business when they’re in the purchase phase of the buying cycle – Google
• 65% of people prefer to contact a business by phone vs. just 24% who prefer to fill out an online form –Invoca

Bolstering business

• According to Google’s ‘Click to Call’ research, 59% of customers prefer to call because they want a quick answer, whilst 57% call as they want to talk to a real person. – Google
• In a PWC survey, 78% of UK participants prefer to interact with a human, especially as technology improves – PwC
• 52% of consumers say they have made an additional purchase from a company after a positive customer service experience – Zendesk
• 93% of adults own or use a mobile phone in the UK – Tech Tracker
• 86% of telephone communication is made up of ‘tone of voice’ and just 14% the words we say – ContactPoint
• If a web lead is followed up within 5 minutes, you’re 9 times more likely to convert them – InsideSales.com
• 80% of sales require 5 follow-up phone calls after an initial meeting; 44% of salespeople give up after 1 follow-up – The Marketing Donut