Today, business marketing has evolved from traditional advertising of billboards and mail outs to complex digital journeys.
Companies across the globe spend large amounts of money on digital marketing, to get their product and services in front of the right audience across multiple online channels.
But is that enough?
Brand discovery is only the first part of a buyer’s journey. The next is converting this interest into a sale. And for many businesses, conversation is key in the path to purchase, which happens when the consumer picks up the phone and calls you.
However, if the insights from your digital investments tell you nothing about the consumer or their buying intent when they call… then you are only getting half the picture.
That is where WildJar comes in.
WildJar helps you understand your customers’ path to purchase from the first digital click to the final sales call!
Our award winning call tracking and analytics solution will allow you to see the entire digital journey that a customer went through before they called, providing insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns and creating a seamless buying journey, to drive higher sales and revenue.
Call tracking allows dealerships to bridge the gap between your offline and online conversions. Using unique call tracking numbers, you can now connect the phone calls your business is getting to your marketing efforts, so you can fine-tune your marketing budget to deliver a better and more personalised customer experience.
A quick look into what has been happening to call volumes across the globe.
Pre 2007, call volumes were on the decline into businesses and it wasn’t until 2009 when apple introduced the iPhone, that truly re-invented the way people search and interact with businesses.
Call volumes started to increase again, as the key call to action on a smartphone is still placing a phone call.
2016, there were 85 billion calls annually placed into businesses, and this number was to be 169 Billion calls in 2020.
Looking at where calls are coming from, you can see that today’s digital landscape is more complex than ever.
Majority of calls are coming directly from search behaviour, for example Google Ad call extensions or Local Google my business listings, where the customer doesn’t even navigate to your website before they call.
In automotive this has been the major contributor to volume increases, with 67% of volume being generated by local search listings and Google My Business.
So what does this mean for businesses - and how has 2020 looked like for call volumes?
When businesses shut their physical doors, there was a decline in activity while owners scrambled to find ways to continue to keep communication and transactions going.
Total call volume declined 46% between late February and mid-April because customers and companies were doing less business overall.
As businesses re-opened in May, call levels climbed a staggering 104% - even surpassing their pre-COVID-19 levels.
To reopen safely, businesses have made changes and accommodations, such as new sanitation procedures, e-commerce or contactless transactions and pickups.
However, consumers have also made changes to how they do business, and theyʼre relying more on calls to get information not only on products and services but about the latest and safest ways to transact.
Customers want to know about changes in hours, buying procedures, safety precautions and more, and thatʼs pushed call volume growth beyond normal, pre-COVID levels.
The automotive industry is one in which call volume is even higher than it was in early 2020.
As in-person car shopping has been deemed to be more risky, complicated and inconvenient, buyers are trying to get as much information as possible before visiting dealerships in person.
You can see there was a decline in calls over July, August as Victoria went into lockdown, however as restrictions eased, we have seen calls steadily increasing again, with November already tracking to be a record month in call volumes in the automotive.
Through our insights with working with dealerships and automotive agencies such as AdTorqueEdge and Total Selling Solutions, in the past, the auto industry is one where people would do a lot of research online and may even call/email/chat with the dealership, but would then just show up to have a real conversation.
In some of our findings, more than 50% of the people that would show up to buy a car at a dealership have no appointment and no contact records with the dealership. Now - with new restrictions in place and people being fearful of public spaces, they moved the conversations to digital channels and more importantly to the phone. These prospects or customers are now spending more time asking questions over the phone as opposed to just showing up.
With the knowledge of phone calls increasing, and increasing competition amongst brands online, how can you make sure that you are maximising your return on your investment and attributing all conversions and sales back to the correct advertising channel?
That is where our integration with 3rd party platforms can help.
Integrating WIldJar call tracking data can shed light on these marketing blind spots and help you improve your return on investment.
Get in touch with the pack and we will help you get the most out of your advertising budgets with call tracking.
