America’s Speech Patterns Uncovered – New Marchex Institute Call Analytics Data Ranks Each State for Impatience, Chattine...

Patience may be a virtue, but it is increasingly harder to find among U.S. consumers, according to a new report titled “America’s Speech Patterns Uncovered,” released today by the Marchex Institute, the data and insights center for mobile advertising analytics company, Marchex (NASDAQ:MCHX).

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Marchex Call DNA technology measured hold times, rate of speech and frequency of speech from a data set of more than four million phone calls placed by consumers to businesses across a wide variety of industries from 2013-2015. The data found that hold times often lead consumers to hang up in frustration. In fact, analysts from Marchex predict Americans will waste more than 900 million hours waiting on hold in 2016, revealing an urgent need for businesses to improve their customer service over the phone.

“America has become an ‘I-want-it-now’ culture,” said John Busby, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Consumer Insights. “Putting customers on hold puts businesses at huge risk. With a smartphone in everybody’s hand, it’s easier than ever for consumers to hang up and call a competitor.”

The Marchex Institute analyzed anonymous data from consumer calls from all 50 states and found:

• Some states are more impatient than others. Residents from Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina and New York are most likely to hang up when put on hold. Across a wide variety of industries, median hold times exceed six minutes.
• In our hyper-connected lives, Americans are talking faster than ever. Marchex data found the fastest talkers come from the Pacific Northwest, New England and upper Midwest. The top five states with “fast talkers” are Oregon, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Kansas and Iowa.
• Those who talk more slowly still have a lot to say. Residents of North Carolina and South Carolina are near the top of the list for “slow talkers,” yet also make the top 10 list of “most words in a phone conversation.”
• New Yorkers and Californians top the list for most talkative. The study found that a New Yorker will use 62% more words than someone from Iowa when calling a business.

“Creating a genuine human connection over the phone is critical for businesses across many industries,” Busby added. “Understanding consumer behavior at the point of purchase provides opportunities to improve customer satisfaction and increase revenue.”

Consumer adoption of smartphones is expected to prompt Americans to make more than 100 billion phone calls to businesses in 2016. Marchex Call DNA® enables marketers to better understand and improve customer service and business performance during these calls.

A full copy of the study, along with rankings for all 50 states, can be found at http://www.marchex.com/2016/02/02/talkative/

About Marchex

Marchex is a mobile advertising analytics company that connects online behavior to real-world, offline actions. By linking critical touchpoints in the customer journey, Marchex’s products enable a 360-degree view of marketing effectiveness. Brands and agencies utilize Marchex’s products to transform business performance.

Please visit www.marchex.com, blog.marchex.com or @marchex on Twitter (Twitter.com/Marchex), where Marchex discloses material information from time to time about the company, its financial information, and its business.

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Marchex, Inc.Investor RelationsTrevor Caldwell, 206-331-3600ir(at)marchex.comorMedia Inquiries:March [e-mail]