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At the start of every New Year, marketers and contact centre leaders will be scoping out what lies ahead. Often, that means looking at new solutions to enhance their tech stacks. For any call-centric business, call intelligence platforms are likely in the mix. But as consumer behaviour continues to evolve, the tools and technologies marketers and contact centre leaders use will need to follow suit.
To make sure you keep up pace, we put together these comprehensive reports to delve into what those changes in consumer behaviour look like, and what that means for marketing and contact centre teams.
What you’ll find in the reports
- What’s happening to calls in your sector
- The call intelligence outlook for Marketers and Contact Centre Leaders
- Top tips from marketing and contact centre specialists
- How to build a compelling business case for call intelligence in your business
If you’re keen for a little preview of what’s in the reports, keep reading! Want to get stuck in straight away? Get your reports now:
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What’s happening to calls in your sector?
Different businesses will have different call volumes and durations but, intel from our Insights & Intelligence team shows us that call durations are on the rise across the board. Here's a snapshot of what that looks like at a sector level where we've seen some of the most notable changes:
Picking out these key trends from last year tells us something key for both marketers and contact centre leaders.
For marketers
We know that higher call durations often spell higher intent leads, so it makes sense to get more customers picking up the phone to drive pipeline. But marketers know they have to prove their worth if they want to secure further marketing investment. That means being able to show the true ROI of campaigns, and being able to quickly spot what is and isn’t working to maximise campaign performance and lead gen efforts.
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For contact centre leaders
If call durations are higher but this isn’t being reflected in your revenue, it could be a sign that optimisation is needed. This might include things like deflecting low-value calls, so agents have more time to focus on converting customers. Deflecting these lower-value calls will also mean improvements in agent satisfaction, operational efficiency, agent productivity, and customer satisfaction.
2024 outlook
As we’ve kicked off the New Year, we’re already starting to see a lot of movement. Here’s a bit of a taster as we enter 2024:
In the first week of 2024, our Insights & Intelligence team has seen an 11.8% YoY increase in call duration. This trend has been ongoing for the past few weeks, meaning it’s even more vital for marketers and contact centre leaders to make the most of every minute.
We’ve also seen several sectors where the average call duration has exceeded 10 minutes. Now, considering the average call duration sits just above 5 minutes, it’s clear that phone conversations – and consumer behaviour – are changing. Some of those sectors include:
- Financial services (over 15 minutes)
- Personal Injury (over 11 minutes)
- Telecommunications (over 11 mins)
- Charity (over 11 mins)
- Energy, Utilities & Waste (over 10min)
As well as an increase in call duration, we’ve also seen a big jump in the volume of website traffic to the automotive dealer sector.
volume of website traffic to the automotive dealer sector
Ian Godbold, Marketing & Digital Transformation for the automotive industry, has this to say:
“This presents a promising outlook for the sector. On the flip side, it also means it’s even more important to make sure the right follow-up strategies are in place to harness the potential leads generated during this period.
A key element of ensuring that’s the case is making use of tools like Infinity’s call intelligence platform to understand what happens on those calls. Listening to recorded calls or using Infinity’s Conversation Analytics provides valuable insights into call quality and conversion rates. This proactive approach enables businesses to identify areas of improvement, refine communication strategies, and enhance the overall customer experience.”
Insights from industry experts
Now we’ve seen the stats, let’s take a look at what that means for you. We spoke to industry heavyweights in the marketing and contact centre spaces to take a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities these trends present. They offer up top tips that will help you pave the way for success in 2024 and beyond.
What this means for marketers
The marketing experts we spoke to include Wes Parker – Co-Founder at DemandMore, Harry Webster – Associate Director at Campion Communications, Carl Hewitt – CEO & Co-Founder at Hewitt Matthews, and Matt McGillicuddy – Head of Growth Marketing at Infinity.
The main crux of the discussions we had put the spotlight on the importance of encouraging customers to call. Why? Research has shown that customers who pick up the phone convert 30% times faster and tend to spend more. But how do you get more phone leads in the pipeline?
According to Wes, click-to-call rates can increase from 8.8% to 14.3% when you use a local area dialling code
Also think about tracking the customer journey from click, to call, to revenue – not just the number of calls your ads generate. By doing this, bidding platforms have a better understanding of the quality and intent of the phone calls you generate and algorithmically optimise towards better lead quality.
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Lastly, we know that confidence levels are low, so retaining budget and justifying future spend is going to be a tall order. That’s why having full visibility over what is generating leads will be more important than ever to justify future marketing investment.
What this means for contact centres
The contact centre specialists we spoke to include Brian Cantor – Principal Analyst at Customer Contact Week Digital (CCW Digital), Kris Graham – Contact Centre Consultant at Opus Technology, and Chris Browne – Head of Insights at Infinity.
We all know that a phone call is one of the most personal touchpoints you can have with your customers. But the thing is, every single one of your customers is totally unique. As such, they’re going to have a totally unique set of requirements.
Brian says that by knowing what a customer is thinking and feeling, you can instantly deliver a better experience
So, while it’s important to promote self-service where appropriate in the contact centre – it’s also key to make the most of data to tailor customer experiences when they do pick up the phone. That’s why contact centre leaders need to make the most of their data to enhance personal touchpoints in the customer journey where possible.
Kris also touches on the fact that around 85% of customers prefer to go down the self-serve route. But for more complex enquiries where an agent is needed, automating part of the customer conversation like Identification and Verification (ID&V) can save 30 to 45 seconds on every call.
If a contact centre receives 1,000 calls per day, this automation could save 1.75 FTE alone
The call intelligence outlook for Marketers and Contact Centre Leaders
The fluctuations in call volume and duration we’ve identified just go to show that consumer behaviour and expectations are always changing. So, if marketers and contact centre leaders are going to come out on top, they need to make sure they’re always on the front foot. It’s all about anticipating what customers want and delivering experiences that exceed their ever-growing expectations to ultimately drive more revenue.
As the trends in the reports indicate, phone calls remain an important touchpoint. As such, understanding what happens on every call is a crucial element of knowing how to engage and satisfy customers effectively. Ensuring the right tools are in place is a non-negotiable for any business looking to gain a competitive edge.
Armed with this intel, marketers and contact centre leaders can identify key conversion drivers and friction points in the customer journey. As a result, making data-driven decisions about where to make investments and improvements becomes a whole load easier (and much more cost-effective). All in all, call intelligence is an essential tool that will help boost campaign performance, create efficiencies, drive more conversions, and boost sales.
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