Mobile click-to-call is getting a lot of attention lately. Since Google published its study on the role of the click-to-call in the path to purchase, marketers everywhere are finally having the epiphany: Calls are important, and customers want to call. Wow! (And marketers can’t afford to ignore call conversions: 25% of searches take place on mobile devices in 2013 with mobile search expected to surpass desktop search in 2015 and Google reports that 61% of mobile searches result in a phone call. 30 billion sales calls were made to businesses in the US last year from mobile search alone.) But for those of you who are yet to have that lightning-strike moment where you finally realize you need trackable phone numbers on every single one of your marketing campaigns and assets, here are three main reasons that your customers love click-to-calls and why you should too.
1. They’re Eager
Recent studies show that 70% of mobile searchers have used a click-to-call to connect with a business directly from the search engine results page. Smartphones are fantastic for most things, but what do you think a customer is going to do when they can reach out to a business like this
versus reaching out to a business like this?
If a customer is eager to buy and they are: studies show that when people use mobile search to help make a purchasing decision, they are 30% more likely to visit a retailer website and 51% more likely to make a purchase then they don’t want to waste time filling out a form and then waiting to hear back from you. They want to talk now, and the click-to-call makes that easy.
2. It Means They Can Trust You
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that although we’re living in a digital age, we’re still humans living in a digital age. Even though we use our mobile devices to do a lot of things, at the end of the day, when we have questions we want to talk to a person. 47% of mobile searchers say that if a business doesn’t have a phone number associated with their search results, they will be more likely to explore other brands. A phone number that they can merely tap and then be connected with you in conversation means more than just easy connectivity: it means behind that brand is a human being that they can trust to be there when they need more information.
Besides, according to Google, 61% of mobile searchers state that click-to-call is most important in the purchase phase of the shopping process. They’re about to give you their hard-earned dollars, after all. Speaking to a human being ensures they’re giving their money to a company they trust.
3. They Want to Be Convinced
This ties in to trust. When consumers are searching for products and services, they are gathering information. That’s what our PPC ads and websites are for: to give customers the information they need that moves them farther along the path to purchase. When a customer taps a click-to-call, it not only indicates that they are farther along on that path, but it demonstrates a willingness to be convinced. They have questions, the answers to which (if you answer correctly) will be enough to sway them into making a purchase. This is especially true for higher-ticket items. 67% of online shoppers will call a business directly for any purchase greater than $100. We’re in the digital age, sure, but again, we’re humans in the digital age, and humans may feel iffy about dropping what they see as a large amount of money online. So they call. They want to know that they can trust you, for one, but it’s more than that. They want you to convince them. According to Google, 57% of callers call a business to talk to a real person, and 54% call because they have more questions or need more information than a website can answer. In other words, they’re fairly certain they want to make a purchase, but they want to be convinced that they’re making the right decision, and human-to-human conversation is exactly the nudge they need.
Customers love click-to-calls, and if you love customers, then you should too. Want to learn more about how to make the most of these things in a smartphone-driven world? Download this on-demand webinar, Smartphones & Omnichannel Retail: 7 Tips to Optimize Sales in a Mobile World.