Increased Marketing Budget? Spend it Wisely!
According to the Gartner 2022 CMO Spend and Strategy Survey, marketing budgets have started to bounce back and are now 9.5% of total company revenue in 2022, up from 6.4% in 2021. That’s nearly a 50% uplift but it does not take us right back to pre-pandemic levels of over 11%. So, while there is increased confidence there is an underlying concern of bumps on the horizon. Are we all being a little too cautious for the moment?
The pandemic saw new entrants successfully launching new ways of selling goods, predominantly online. However, as we return to normality, these ‘disrupters’ are having problems with their business model as customers really do seem to want to visit a showroom or speak to a salesman. While disrupters may have achieved high levels of brand awareness, consumers have shown that they really want a blended online and offline experience when buying higher-priced and low-frequency products. It is clear customers often want to deal with a real person when buying a car, house, holiday, or other major purchase.
These personal interactions can take place at different stages in the buying journey depending on the specific needs and motivations of the buyer. When they do happen, how a retailer responds can determine whether they will win the business. The buying journey is now a blend of ‘online’ for researching the best option, price, and find specific stock (on review pages, comparison sites, YouTube, your website, competitor’s websites and classified sites), and ‘offline’ for telephone call enquiries to provide affirmation of their choice, and the in-person visit to see product and test drives.
With extra funds flowing back into marketing budgets and a more hybrid buying journey for consumers, there is a real need to keep track of all the leads and follow them all up properly. In the automotive sector recent data shows that only 50% of leads receive a response and only half of those get an accurate, helpful, and timely reply. With the big increase in budgets likely this year it should result in an equally large increase in lead volumes, so it is vital your systems ensure you track every one of them.
Historically, we have seen that lots of high-quality leads never make it into the CRM. That potential business is forever lost and never tracked. We also see that customer phone calls are not tracked or managed properly resulting in ready-to-buy customers being ignored and never getting a response.
Calltracks can provide a wide range of tools to help you map your customer’s journey and interactions, and regain your lost, fumbled and missed calls. You can optimise your marketing spend and gain more sales from your leads. Responding to leads properly will instantly make a difference. Not just in sales but customer satisfaction too. Don’t waste any extra marketing budget by letting that call or lead fall through the net.
Contact us today to learn more about our call tracking solutions and start optimising your marketing efforts.