As smartphones continue their steady spread across the human landscape, a new pattern is rapidly emerging as one of the most influential on the purchasing preferences of consumers. A newly released report from the mobile advertising analytics firm Marchex identified click-to-call commerce as one of the most financially significant trends in ecommerce marketing.

According to the “2015 Click-to-Call Commerce Mobile Performance Report,” click-to-call mobile engagement will account for more than $1 trillion dollars in revenue by the end of 2015, and that amount is projected to double by 2020.

In analyzing data gathered from more than 24 million phone calls across thirteen verticals during an eighteen-month span, Marchex found that click-to-call revenues were more than three times that of retail e-commerce, and about ten percent of all revenue generated by offline transactions.

In addition, mobile apps and publishers will generate more than 90 billion calls to businesses this year, with those calls converting to reservations, appointments, or sales 15 to 25 percent of the time for most industries.

Other findings show that:

  • There is money in click-to-call. Callers who connect with a business through a mobile search are four times more likely to be paying customers than those who are directed to a web page after clicking on an online ad; and
  • Millennials are the dominant click-to-call demographic and the most likely to make a purchase.

Surprisingly, businesses may be leaving money on the table. Twenty percent of calls made are abandoned before contact is made due to such issues as long hold times, reaching voice mail, or problems with interactive voice response (IVR) systems, potentially forfeiting billions more in revenue.

References:

BusinessWire. “New Mobile Advertising Data Shows Click-to-Call Commerce is Engine of Mobile Economy; Contributes More than $1 Trillion in Consumer Purchases,” July 30, 2015.

Busby, John. “Marchex Institute Releases 2015 Click-to-Call Commerce Mobile Performance Report,” Marchex. July 30, 2015.

Sterling, Greg. “Report Pegs Click-to-Call Commerce at More than $1 Trillion Annually”; Marketing Land. July 31, 2015.