82% of digital marketers say it’s important to link online marketing to offline sales. Yet… 78% of digital marketers only link the call to marketing activity at the most basic campaign level. The question is, how is this possible?
‘ResponseTap’ recently did research to understand the role of the phone in a customer journey, today and into the future. The findings demonstrate that the role of the phone is bigger than perhaps marketing perceives it to be.
Today it’s all about online purchasing; no more hassles with going to a store. Instead, we can just sit back and purchase from our homes. However, sometimes picking up the phone and communicating with a real person for specific information is the only way consumers can achieve pre-purchase peace of mind. Indeed, statistically, 54% of people want the reassurance of some human interaction before completing a purchase. (Harris Interactive)
So it’s clear that consumers want and need to engage over the phone to support their online journey, which in reality is something businesses already know. Marketers must therefore overcome three potential blind spots regarding the phone to ultimately better serve their customers and gain advantage from their data:
Blind spot 1: What happens post abandonment? Marketers have a limited view once a consumer jumps offline to the phone.
Blind spot 2: Missing revenue. Although revenue is being generated via the phone, it’s not being fully attributed back to marketing. The issue for marketing is that many businesses operate in silos.
Blind spot 3: Mistaken identity. If consumers are going offline, the value of online data for analysis is limited.
The acceptance and integration of the phone call across all marketing channels is a significant step to fulfilling this accountability need. Marketers need to address their blind spots, integrate more keenly across the business and not underestimate the role and value of the humble phone call. Because, consumers certainly don’t.