Mobile Phone Calls = Higher Conversion Rates

This is a guest post by Jason Wells of Convirza (formerly LogMyCalls), who has some interesting data on the power of phone calls – and good reasons to measure your web-influenced call traffic.

One of the byproducts of the mobile marketing explosion is an increase in the number of phone calls businesses receive. BIA/Kelsey, in a report released in mid-June, says that the number of phone calls most businesses receive will double by the end of 2013. You read that correctly. Most businesses will receive twice as many phone calls in 18 months.

It sounds staggering, but it makes sense.

Google says that 61% of mobile searches result in a phone call. xAd says that 52% of all mobile ads result in a phone call. Add those numbers to burgeoning smartphone penetration and it all equals more phone calls.

What Does this Mean For Conversions?

I can hear you, expert online marketer, panicking a bit here. Won’t this mess up your conversion rates for landing pages? Won’t it make things ‘messier’ to track if people start calling you more? Maybe. But it will also make your conversion rates go up.

Convirza tracks conversions resulting from phone calls, and here’s what our research shows us.

Inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than inbound web leads. In other words, someone that downloads a White Paper or attends a webinar is significantly less likely to receive a Demo of your product or buy from you than someone that calls your business.

Not surprisingly, the same BIA/Kelsey report notes that 61% of businesses rate their inbound phone calls as ‘excellent leads.’ Only 52% rate web leads as ‘excellent leads.’

Recently we ran 3 different email campaigns with 3 different advertisers. Each campaign advertised the same White Paper. Because we’re obsessed with marketing analytics, we tracked these campaigns fastidiously. We tracked how many people downloaded the White Paper and we tracked how many phone calls each landing page produced.

Here’s what we learned.

LogMyCalls Landing Page

This landing page saw a 47% click conversion rate and a 50% call conversion rate.

Campaign 1 – The landing page converted at 42.1%; a respectable, 11.7% of those leads wanted a demo of our product. We also placed a phone number prominently on the landing page. That phone number produced sixteen phone calls, ten of which resulted in demos. That means 62% of the phone calls resulted in a demo. That’s higher than 11.7% :-)

Campaign 2 – The landing page converted at 40.1%. And a reasonable 13.2% of the people that downloaded the White Paper ended up receiving a demo of our product. Again, this landing page also generated phone calls. Around 50% of those phone calls resulted in demos.

Campaign 3 – The landing page converted at 47.4%. And a very, very poor 3.6% of those leads wanted a demo (this campaign was conducted very recently so we expect that number to rise). Again, over 50% of the people who called via the landing page requested a demo.

Phone conversion rates are higher. It is just that simple.

Mobile Marketing Produces Calls, Conversions

Google says that pay-per-call mobile Adwords campaigns have 6% to 8% higher conversion rates than pay-per-click mobile Adwords campaigns. They also say that including phrases like ‘Call Now’ or Call us Today’ in the mobile ad copy improves conversion rates.
Calls are king.

The reason for these higher conversion rates for mobile is simple: it is natural for mobile searchers to call. After all, they are searching on a phone. Mobile callers also enter the sales funnel at a much lower point. Mobile searchers rarely do extensive research on their mobile device. Rather, mobile users search when they are looking for something they need immediately. This means action is more likely and a phone call is more likely.

What Does All This Mean?

The first thing it means is that a landing page conversion rate is simply not as ‘clean’ as it used to be. You have to factor calls into the equation. To ignore them is to ignore the highest performing element of the landing page. And that would be silly.

Second, it means that businesses need to be staffed and prepared to answer phone calls and answer them effectively. Because, just like a landing page, small tweaks to phone pitch can make a close rate go up or down.

Third, it means that you shouldn’t measure mobile conversions in the same way you’ve measured online conversions for the last 10 years. Mobile is not about pageviews and abandon rate.
Finally, we should point out that some businesses will be impacted by mobile more than others. We recognize this. But, keep this in mind: if you have a lead type (inbound phone call) that is converting 30%, 40% or 50% of the time, why wouldn’t you want to generate more leads of that type?

52 replies
  1. McKay Allen says:

    Hi David, I work with Jason and we’ve seen great success with mobile LP as a click-to-call only. The two most common actions on mobile are maps and phone calls. Landing pages should be built around those actions. 

    Reply
  2. Peter Bourne says:

    Good stuff, Jason. I just went through with a customer the analytics issues around tracking attribution and she reported many of the same things you observe here. Its great to see some data to back it up too. Thanks.

    Reply
  3. Joe Mcfadden says:

    Jason, great data.   I’m interested in sourcing the data for the 10-15X number – inbound call conversions compared to inbound web.   Was this from your own data or another source?   I’d like to reference the source.   

    Reply
    • Jason Wells says:

      Hi Joe,
      It is from our data. MECLabs says that only about 2% to 6% of web leads convert to clients. Our data shows that anywhere from 25% to 75% of inbound phone calls convert to clients. Pretty stunning stuff!

      Reply
  4. Nats says:

    Good stuff, Jason. I just went through with a customer the analytics issues around tracking attribution and he reported many of the same things you observe here. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] that with the fact that not all customers enjoy filling out lead forms and inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than an inbound web lead, it becomes clear: if you’re not tracking your phone calls, you’re leaving money on the […]

  2. […] drain is to design a landing page that generates inbound phone calls. An inbound phone lead has a 1000% chance of converting compared to other […]

  3. […] shows that phone call leads are 10-15x more valuable than web based enquiries and I’m sure Compare The Market are fully aware of their close rates […]

  4. […] calls are made to businesses annually. Then there’s the research proving inbound calls are 10 to 15 times more likely to convert than inbound web […]

  5. […] Embrace the phone, or they will go someplace else. […]

  6. […] other leads. How much better? Studies have found callers convert 10 times better than web leads. Conversion Scientist decided to put the findings to the test with real world campaigns and found that calls did indeed […]

  7. […] – ask any salesperson which leads they prefer and they’ll always answer ‘the telephone’. Telephone leads convert more: Fact. 10 -15 times more, […]

  8. […] tracking is like Google Analytics (GA) for your phone. However, given that inbound callers are 10-15 times more likely to convert than web leads, one could argue that utilizing virtual phone numbers that can be tracked is even […]

  9. […] a post just won’t fly without frequent support. Here’s a topic – Generating Mobile Phone Calls from the Web – that looked like it was going to iceberg on us (see below). However, every couple of months we […]

  10. […] vond, toevallig ook uit 2011, spreekt zelfs over een mogelijke conversieverdubbeling. Op zijn minst 12% conversietoename is de conclusie van een Amerikaans onlinemarketing-bureau (blogartikel ui […]

  11. […] on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist […]

  12. […] more, studies have shown that inbound calls convert to revenue 10 to 15 times more than web leads – making telephone calls a highly sought after […]

  13. […] more, studies have shown that inbound calls convert to revenue 10 to 15 times more than web leads – making telephone calls a highly sought after […]

  14. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  15. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  16. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  17. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  18. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  19. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  20. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  21. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  22. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  23. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  24. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  25. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  26. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  27. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  28. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  29. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  30. […] Why? Ceaselessly instances, it takes a number of hobby to get any individual on the telephone. If truth be told, inbound telephone calls are 10-15X extra prone to convert than web site leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  31. […] Why? Often times, it takes a lot of interest to get someone on the phone. In fact, inbound phone calls are 10-15X more likely to convert than website leads, according to Conversion Scientist. […]

  32. […] Okay, so we’ve spoken about this before. The presence of a phone number can really improve how well a website is converting. […]

  33. […] Preaching to the choir, right? The good thing is that it’s been scientifically proven that phone leads close at higher rates compared to any other type of lead. Almost ten-fold actually. […]

  34. […] Inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than inbound web leads (source) […]

  35. […] Inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than inbound web leads (source) […]

  36. […] for businesses, Jason Wells suggests that inbound calls convert around 30-50% of customers, so this opportunity is huge for […]

  37. […] Inbound phone calls are 15-20 times more likely to turn into customers than inbound web leads. And according to a report from BIA/Kelsey, nearly 2/3 of Fortune 500 companies say that phone calls are their highest quality lead source. […]

  38. […] to one “conversion scientist” phone call leads turn into sales about 10-15x more often than email […]

  39. […] then again, inbound phone calls are 10-15 x more likely to convert. So there’s […]

  40. […] that with the fact that not all customers enjoy filling out lead forms and inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than an inbound web lead, it becomes clear: if you’re not tracking your phone calls, you’re leaving money on the […]

  41. […] offline, usually over the phone.  Another study has demonstrated that phone calls are as much as 15 times more likely to generate sales than online customer engagement.  Therefore, all marketing data that cannot […]

  42. […] According to a study conducted by BIA/Kelsey, inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than an inbound web lead. In that same study, 61% of businesses rate their inbound phone leads as “excellent” vs only 51% giving their web leads the same rating. […]

  43. […] that with the fact that not all customers enjoy filling out lead forms and inbound phone calls are 10-15 times more likely to convert than an inbound web lead, it becomes clear: if you’re not tracking your phone calls, you’re leaving money on the […]

  44. […]      61% of mobile searches lead to an inbound phone call     Inbound phone calls generally convert at 10 to 15 times the rate of other leads.         Source […]

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *