New Mobile Advertising Data Shows Click-to-Call Commerce is Engine of Mobile Economy; Contributes to More Than $1 Trillion in...

Mobile consumers are increasingly using smartphones to connect directly with businesses, changing the way that Americans purchase products and services. Independent data released today from Marchex (NASDAQ:MCHX), a mobile advertising analytics company, forecasts that “click-to-call commerce” will contribute to more than $1 trillion in consumer purchases this year. Further, the study finds that consumers who “click-to-call” directly from a mobile advertisement are four times more likely to purchase a product or service than a consumer who interacts with an online ad.

To understand how often consumers purchase products from click-to-call advertisements, Marchex analyzed aggregated and anonymized data from 24 million consumer-to-business mobile phone calls to customers of Marchex Call Analytics and Marchex Call Marketplace. To measure sales and consumer intent from click-to-call campaigns, the study used Marchex Call DNA, which visually maps, scores and classifies phone calls automatically.

The study defines click-to-call commerce as a new type of consumer purchase behavior influenced by consumer adoption of smartphones. In 2015, consumers will call businesses directly from mobile publishers and apps more than 93 billion times, according to industry research group BIA/Kelsey. The study confirms that many of those phone calls result in an appointment, reservation, in-store purchase or over-the-phone sale and forecasts that these calls result in more than $1 trillion in consumer purchases.

“Although e-commerce is a major force in consumer spending, it accounts for just 7% of retail spending and less than 2% of total consumer expenditures,” said Michael Boland, Chief Analyst and VP, Content at BIA/Kelsey, a research and advisory firm. “The other 98% are increasingly influenced by smartphones and a phone call is often the bridge from the mobile world to the offline world for dozens of industries, including financial services, insurance, home services, health care and personal care.”

Among the findings announced today:

• Across more than a dozen industries, including insurance, travel, auto repair, legal services and home improvement, 5-25% of phone calls from mobile ads convert into sales, appointments or reservations.
• On average, a “click-to-call” from a mobile consumer is 4 times more likely to become a paying customer than a consumer clicking to a Web page from an online ad.
• Robocalls are a major challenge for click-to-call marketers, and issues vary by severity across mobile publishers. Marketers require analytics-based solutions to measure media efficiency.
• The “leaky funnel” of click-to-call commerce is often at the call center or local business. For some industries, more than 20% of phone calls from mobile ads are unanswered.
• Millennials are the most likely to “click-to-call” of any age group, and should be the target of mobile click-to-call campaigns.

“Marketers are allocating more time to understand how to reach mobile consumers, especially millennials. Our data shows that for many types of purchases, millennials prefer to contact a business directly by phone, and then are following through with purchases,” said John Busby, SVP of Consumer Insights for the Marchex Institute, the data and insights arm of Marchex.

The findings appear in a white paper released today entitled “2015 Click-to-Call Commerce Mobile Performance Report,” and is the latest report from the Marchex Institute.

To download the white paper, please visit http://pages.marchex.com/mobile-report.html

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150730005165/en/

Marchex, Inc.Investor RelationsTrevor Caldwell, 206-331-3600ir(at)marchex.comorMedia Inquiries:Corporate Communications206-331-3434pr(at)marchex.com