With the digital age of marketing and so many online tools and channels to choose from, it’s easy to focus all of your marketing efforts into online activity.
But neglecting the more traditional channels, such as phone, could actually be costing you conversions.
People-driven companies now have the competitive advantage of being able to offer a personal touch as part of their service, which isn’t always as easy for online brands. It’s this personal touch and presence of a ‘real person’ that can truly enhance your customer experience and brand legitimacy – giving you the upper-hand in winning leads and increasing customer retention rates.
So how can the telephone help transform business for you?
Gain valuable insights and key metrics more quickly
While online campaigns via social media or email can be highly effective, they often present some complex data that can be tricky and timely to interpret. For many companies, it’s a case of playing the waiting or guessing game.
With call monitoring in place, you’re able to quickly gather key metrics from simple data such as call duration, abandoned call rate or missed calls, to more advanced insights like the online customer journey and how this links to your calls and overall service.
Having easy access to this type of information will enable you to make transformational changes to your phone call experiences. Additionally, internal operations benefit from insights such as your busiest times and days of the week. Your phone calls can become as trackable as clicks on a web page.
It’s not ‘just a number’
Did you know your business phone number can say a lot about your brand? Before a potential customer even makes the move to pick up the phone and call you, they’ll have likely formed an opinion about your company, just by looking at your phone number. Here’s a quick guide –
- 02 numbers indicate you’re local, which can be great when your product or service is primarily for consumers who live close by. Depending on your company and what you offer, it can indicate familiarity and comfort to your audience.
- 03 numbers suggest a larger-scale, UK-wide business.
- 0800/0808 are freephone numbers, which are attractive to prospects and customers and can significantly boost your level of inbound enquiries.
- It’s important to select a number that fits your brand and aligns with your overarching business goals.
Improving the customer experience
Backing your brand with professional people and combining this with the right technology makes phone a prime channel for optimising your customer experience and driving more valuable conversions. Strengthen this further by adding personalised voicemail greetings, switchboard and call routing options to your phone system, and you should notice a significant impact on customer satisfaction and retention rates.
Close in on conversions
With 73% of customer service managers claiming that enquiries are becoming more and more complex*, being able to communicate in person offers personal and effective resolution to a curious consumer. Can you be sure that your prospects and customers are finding all of the answers they need online? Be sure you’re using clear call-to-actions and keeping these consistent and prominent throughout your online presence.
Having a real conversation asserts professionalism and helps to humanise your brand and what you do, in ways that simply aren’t possible online – allowing you to move sales along the pipeline and gain more from your conversions.
