17 Phone Stats Small Businesses Need to Know

The neighborhood bakery, the florist down the street, the mechanic around the corner. You might not know their names, but you probably want to. More people are making an effort to shop local today than ever before. In fact, there is 350 times more search interest in “local” and “near me” than 10 years ago, with consumers looking for everything from diners and pizzerias to print shops and pharmacies. Most of that searching happens on mobile devices, meaning consumers are just a click away from calling your business.

It’s important to understand how consumers behave across devices so that you can be there and respond in the moments that matter. Here are 17 stats to help you understand how consumers are using mobile devices, what they like (and don’t like), and how you can use technology to capitalize on their desire to shop local.

People spend a lot of time on their phones, and when they want to reach a business, they still prefer to call.

• Consumers spend more than five hours a day on their smartphones. - Blue Corona (2018)

• 37% of Americans say they most often use their smartphone for making a phone call. - ReportLinker (2017)

• 60% of consumers said they overwhelmingly would prefer to contact a business over the phone compared to other methods - BrightLocal (2019)

• 75% of consumers believe that phone calls will help them get a quicker response from businesses. - NewVoiceMedia A Nation of Serial Switchers Survey (2019)

Consumers spend multiple hours on their phones every day, and prefer to call businesses more than any other method of communication. You can use CallJoy’s advanced phone technology to improve your customers’ experience and overall business operations.

Too many small business phone calls go unanswered. Why? Small business owners are often short staffed and overwhelmed by spam calls. The bigger problem? Consumers who can’t reach you the first time probably won’t call back. 

• 70% of businesses miss more than half of their inbound calls. Given that 79.9% of small businesses in the US are “solopreneurs” with no paid employees, these results are not at all surprising. - 411 Locals (2016)

• For most small businesses, having an employee whose sole responsibility is to answer the phone isn’t feasible. As a result, 62% of phone calls to small businesses are left unanswered. - 411 Locals (2016)

• 26.3 billion robocalls were made to American phones in 2018. That’s up +46% from 2017’s total of 18 billion. - Hiya (2019)

• By the end of 2019, over 90% of all spam calls in the US will use area codes local to the recipient through a popular method is known as “Neighborhood Spoofing,” which happens when a scammer disguises their phone number and displays it as a local number on a user’s caller ID. - First Orion (2018)

• 85% of people whose calls are not answered will not call back. - Capterra (2017)

CallJoy immediately starts blocking unwanted spam calls, making it easier to answer the important calls. And even when you can’t answer, callers will be greeted by a phone agent who will give them basic info and suggested Call Actions. With CallJoy, you’ll never miss a call again.

Consumers are using their phones to search for you. Once they find you, they take action very quickly via a call or visit.

• 64% of consumers have used Google My Business listings to find a business’s address or phone number. - Bright Local (2019)

• 70% of shoppers have utilized click-to-call buttons from search ads. -Invoca Call Intelligence Index (2019)

• 88% of searches for local businesses on a mobile device result in either a call or visit to the business within 24 hours. - Nectafy (2019)

Updating your Google My Business page with your CallJoy number means callers are just one click away from accurate and up-to-date information, even if you can’t make it to the phone.

Callers don’t want to be put on hold. Instead, they want to use technology to get information before they purchase.

• 32% of callers will hang up immediately when placed on hold. - Text Request (2015)

• 6 in 10 shoppers in the US prefer using digital self-serve tools for inquiries. These include websites (24%), mobile apps (14%), voice response systems (13%) or online chat (12%). - AmEx Customer Service Barometer (2017)

• More than half of shoppers are interested in technology that lets them know whether a product is available or in-stock. - National Retail Federation (2019)

• 43% of SMBs says that improving customer experience and retention is their top strategy to improve revenue growth - Leadpages (2017)

• 59% of small business leaders express difficulty implementing and rolling out new technologies -Salesforce (2019)

Instead of answering a phone call only to put a customer on hold, immediately give your callers the answers they’re looking for. You can use CallJoy to easily give information like your location and hours of operation, as well as options for taking online actions, such as a link to book an appointment or place a takeout order. CallJoy is designed to be easy to set up, manage and use so anyone with a smartphone or laptop can get it up and running quickly. 

Click here for a free 14-day trial of CallJoy and begin delighting your patrons with a modern customer service experience.