The State of the Mobile Experience: How People Use Their Phones Today [Infographic]

Let’s pretend you just won the lottery. What’s the very next thing you do?

Send a mass text sprinkled with celebration emojis? Call your significant other/best friend/mom while doing the happy dance? Tweet about your plans to buy a Lambo and quit your job?

If you answered B, you’re like most people on the planet. When it’s really important and the stakes are high, a real conversation is the only thing that will do. In fact, people prefer a phone call to share major life events over all other forms of communication -- including social media, text, and email, according to recent data released by Invoca.

And don’t assume the desire to talk is limited to our personal lives. The truth is people often prefer a phone call when contacting a business. Even millennials. Cue the sound of digital marketing perceptions being shattered everywhere ...

The Role of Phone Calls in Today's Mobile Experience

In the age of mobile, using our phones to make a call just seems so ... pedestrian. But in reality, we’re using our pocket-sized computers to click, swipe, search, play, and make phone calls -- more than ever. 

Let’s look at some stats about the role phone calls play in today’s mobile experience:

• Mobile calls to businesses will reach 162 billion by 2019, more than double from 2014. 
• Nearly 3X more people use their phone to call a business versus fill out a form.
• 66% of millennials are very likely to contact a business by calling versus 22% who are likely to use social media.

This data tells an interesting story: All the new communications technology in the world can’t replace human-to-human conversation. In truth, technology has made it easier for us to hop from a digital experience to a phone call, which is why businesses are getting more customer-initiated phone calls than ever before.

When and Why Do People Prefer to Talk?

According to Invoca, these are the top three reasons people to choose call a business:

1. They need a quick answer.
2. They want to express concern to a person vs. filling out a form.
3. They want expert advice.

No matter how streamlined a website or convenient an app, it’s often faster and easier to talk to a real person, especially if you’re on a mobile device where fat thumbs and small screens can really slow you down.

Not to mention, the need to talk is even more prevalent when it comes to complex purchases. Most people don't shop for a mortgage entirely online? And the reason is that those situations call for a human touch, someone who can answer complex questions, ease concerns and help customers make the right decisions.

What’s a Digital Marketer To Do?

I think a lot of digital marketers inherently know how important phone calls are to the customer journey. They just don’t think they are in a position to do anything about it.

However, call intelligence solutions can actually help marketers create a seamless and consistent customer experience across all channels -- online and offline. With call intelligence, marketers can tie together every part of the customer experience and use the insights gathered to inform their future interactions. Talk about personalization.

(Please include attribution to Invoca.com with this graphic.)