Toll-Free University

Establish a Direct Line with Your Best Customers

Connect with your best customers through phone calls to build relationships and drive sales.

Today, consumers dream of convenience. They gravitate toward mobile shopping to access everything and anything they need right at their fingertips. But when shopping gets complicated – like choosing the best professional camera for their $5,000 budget – consumers increasingly are tapping into their mobile device’s other main power: Placing a phone call to someone who can help.

The opportunity of voice

Mobile phones and online shopping have made it easy for consumers to complete the entire purchase journey online, from the comfort of their beds. In fact, phone calls can be a uniquely powerful communications channel in the path to purchase.

When customers dial your business number, they’re often at the moment of highest interest, empowering you to connect with your best leads in real time. Consumers that call often have a complex problem or question that can only be answered by speaking with another human being—such as advice on choosing a home security system or taking out a mortgage.

Naturally, this means that consumers that call are already engaged with your brand and far along on the purchase journey. Customers who call convert faster, spend more and churn less.

Research from Marchex bears this out:

• Calling customers convert faster. Sixty percent of marketers say that those who initiate an inbound call during the customer journey convert an average of 30% faster.
• Calling customers spend more. Sixty percent of marketers say that calling customers spend an average of 28% more.
• Calling customers have a higher retention rate. Fifty-four percent of marketers say that calling customers have a 28% higher retention rate.
• Calling customers are a significant sales driver. Marketers say that customers who initiate an inbound call at some point in the customer journey comprise an average of 27% of overall sales.

Prompt customers to call

BIA/Kelsey has found that phone calls to businesses are on the rise, and predicts by 2020 there will be 169 billion phone calls to businesses each year. By making phone calls an extension of your marketing strategy, rather than a standalone channel, you too can attract engaged customers, build a relationship through person-to-person conversation, and drive sales. Consider the following tips to get your phones ringing off the hook:

Prioritize mobile users

According to BIA/Kelsey, mobile calls represented 60% of inbound calls to businesses in 2016. Unlike desktop computers, mobile phones feature the dual ability to search and call or text from a single convenient device. Companies should make it easy for customers to call from their cell phones by placing their phone number in ads and utilizing click-to-call.

Make it simple

Not only should consumers be able to call your business at the click of a button, they should be able to find that clickable number almost instantly. Sixty-eight percent of callers will only search for a company’s phone number for two minutes or less before moving on to another company.

Simplicity also extends to the customer user experience on the phone. Do customers have to wait on hold for 20 minutes? Do they have to explain their request to three different agents? Are they sent to the right department? Fine-tuning your call center can help you keep customers calling back.

Make it seamless

According to IBM, today’s consumers seek brands that create a seamless experience that feels less automated and more human, less generic and more personal, and less about the brand and more about them. Create this omni-channel experience by developing discrete strategies for handling customers who call in on mobile phone, customers who would rather text agents, and customers that call in at odd hours of the night.

To streamline your marketing efforts and drive sales, it all comes down to one thing: Picking up the phone to reach your best customers.

Toll-Free calls generate big sales from your best customers

There’s no better phone number to put in front of consumers than your Toll-Free Number. Toll-Free Numbers encourage your customers to get in touch when they’re ready to spend. They are the recognized direct link to businesses, at a time when consumer-to-business interaction is increasingly valuable. They’re integral to better sales. And they’re capable of texting, opening consumers and businesses to a more modern form of direct connection.

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