Picking up a phone to make a call sometimes seems archaic, but data released on Monday shows the how different digital marketing channels today can drive calls direct to businesses, retailers,
brands or contact centers and then convert them into buyers.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice and SMS agents engage callers twenty-four hours each day, so when a caller can't reach a
person at a brand, an AI agent can qualify their intent, answer questions, schedule a callback, or book an appointment via text.
These create leads, according to data released Monday from
Invoca, which helps to convert inbound leads.
Rather than short-cutting the route to purchase, AI-driven summaries cause consumers
to scroll deeper, consider more options, and validate choices before converting or calling a business, but mistrust in what they see in search results has also prompted consumers to pick up the phone
to call the brand, the retailer, or the business before they make a purchase.
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This is the first year that Invoca
had enough data to measure calls driven by generative AI search.
The lead rate from ChatGPT-referred calls to companies and brands stands out, with 49% of answered calls from ChatGPT
considered leads, roughly 10 percentage points above the all-channel average and 6 points higher than the next-best performing channel, Google Business Profiles at 43%, according to Invoca.
Calls coming from ChatGPT are more likely to be qualified leads, the data shows. Someone who uses an AI assistant to research a product or service and then picks up the phone to call the retailer
or brand is "fairly deep in their buying journey."
The percentage seems promising, per the data, despite the total volume of calls attributable to generative AI is still very low, with no
measurable volume from large language models (LLMs) other than ChatGPT.
For now, the bulk of phone leads and conversions still come from proven, high-volume channels like paid search and
Google Business Profiles.
The data from anonymized AI insights from more than 70 million phone calls and 600 million minutes of conversation. Data reveals that across all
industries, 38% of calls answered by a person are leads, and 42% of those leads convert on the call.
The biggest change that has occurred since consumers began using chatbots to answer
questions, certain channels like OpenAI ChatGPT are better at driving top-of-funnel leads versus bottom-of-funnel conversions.
ChatGPT answered calls that were leads about 49% of the time, and
converted those leads about 40% of the time. Google Business Profiles followed close behind with 43% and 42%, respectively. Paid search flipped the script with 39% and 43%,
respectively.
Paid search in this study drove the highest volume of calls, leads, and conversions of any paid channel. The same applies to Google Business Profiles for multi-location
businesses on the organic side. Channel efficiency matters, but so does scale, according to the data.
Google Ads remains the most important digital advertising channel for driving phone-based
conversions. Even small improvements to phone lead and conversion rates from search ads seem to have a significant impact on business results, according to the data.
Across the
automotive sector, answered calls that were leads were successful about 54% of the time, and those that converted were 45%.