Why Use a Phone Book Anymore?

Smartphone Call From Search

In my Interactive Web Marketing Class (Professor Lindsey Fair) we have been discussing Mobile Marketing in particular. We discussed how many Canadians are using their phones to look up businesses in the moment rather then a desktop computer or a phonebook. So companies need to adjust accordingly by creating a mobile site that is phone screen friendly and has their contact information available because now if you’re like me and your on the go a lot, you probably use your phone to look up restaurants hours or just to call them. All smartphones allow you to call the number directly from the search result. This is a handy feature but did you know that 70% of all smartphone users do this?

According to Google 70% of mobile searchers call a Business directly from search results. A survey of over 3,000 mobile searches that recently made purchases in 7 different areas of business (Travel, Restaurant, Auto, Local Services, Retail, Finance, Technology) revealed that 70% of these searches used the call directly from search feature.

Smartphone users are realizing the effectiveness of calling directly from the search and now businesses need to realize it too, because in the article written by the MarketingCharts Staff “47% said they are more likely to explore other brands when they’re unable to call a business directly from the search results, and an equal percentage said they get frustrated or annoyed.” Not only that if they cannot call your business about 35% would be less likely to use the brand and 33% would not recommend you to a friend.

If a marketer saw this they would realize quickly that a company couldn’t afford to loose a referral because people are more like to go to a company if a friend told them it was good.