Business is calling: Click-to-call and mobile marketing

The mobile phone is unique in that it is the bridge between the online world (ie the internet) and offline world (ie the real world). The device is used to interact with the real world through the internet to ride with Uber, interact with iBeacons or simply get directions to a store. As such, it has dramatically changed the consumer’s path to purchase. One of the biggest impacts is the consumer’s return to the phone call, given the ease of clickable phone numbers in search results and on mobile web pages and apps. In fact, after years of customers using the internet to browse their way to a website rather than a door, click-to-call has emerged as the most common form of purchase-oriented activity from mobile ads. Research from Google indicates that 70 per cent of mobile searchers click-to-call from mobile advertisements. Consumers place billions more phone calls from organic search results and other search-related applications, including Yelp, Apple Maps and so on. In essence, the phone call is the primary conduit to more than US$1tn in consumer spending. This paper will explore the impact of click-to-call on brands, and how marketers can adapt to this new form of consumer purchase behaviour.