Missed Calls Are Killing Your Marketing ROI

Editor’s note: Bryce Edwards is the founder and CEO of Conju.ai, which helps pest control businesses capture more revenue by automating missed call follow-up with AI. Edwards wrote the following feature about the importance of good call operations for pest control businesses.

Eighty-five percent of missed callers will not call back the business they were trying to contact.

While online forms, chat widgets, and Google LSA messages seem to dominate online discussions about optimizing lead intake, pest control businesses still rely on phone calls for many new bookings. Even minor improvements in your phone system's ability to connect callers with the information, services, or people they're seeking can significantly impact your bookings and revenue.

Missed calls make marketers look bad
Consider the following: An incoming phone call means the marketing team did everything right. They built trust with your caller, made it incredibly easy for them to contact you, and got them to dial your number. However, more often than we'd like to admit, these calls go unanswered because our call operations are under-resourced, our phone system gets in its own way, or we drop the ball when it comes to following up with missed callers. This means you get fewer conversions for your marketing efforts, which increases your average customer acquisition cost, and decreases your marketing ROI.

Admitting is the first step: Track your call metrics
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Getting visibility on the performance of your call operations is the first step to understanding the magnitude and root causes of your missed call problem. Most businesses I have worked with are surprised to learn just how many calls they are missing. The first step to solving a problem is not just admitting that you have one, but analyzing how and when they happen. How do your missed calls manifest? Is it a result of the caller hanging up while the phone is ringing, on hold, or when they are asked to leave a message? Or, does it happen once they come into contact with a dial tree?

Your dialtree is probably less helpful than you think
We've all endured a robotic voice instructing, "Press one for new customers, press two for payments, press..." If we can remember which option we wanted to select, we're put on hold and forced to listen to jazz music through a scratchy phone speaker until a human picks up or we leave a message. You don't like it, and your customers don't either.

Your phone system likely looks like this:
1. Press a number to select service
2. Listen to jazz music while in queue
3. Connect with a human.

You might be surprised to learn that only 45% of first-time callers interact with the dial tree; the rest simply hang up (some say this figure is closer to 70%). Only about half of those who make it through the first filter wait longer than 10 seconds in the queue (performance may vary with the quality of hold music). That means in the first 10 seconds of a call, ~75% of people hang up before they connect to a human. 

If you can, you should opt for less rigid dialtree menus. The more steps you add to your dialtree, the more severe the drop-off. As a rule of thumb, the closer you can get to having a human voice as the first point of contact, the better.

Improve call center staffing
To avoid losing 50% of your inbound calls, connecting your callers with a human instead of a dial tree is an effective way to double your phone leads. However, it's costly.

If your business is seasonal or your call volume unpredictable, ensuring you're not over or understaffed is challenging. Outsourcing your call operations or using a fractional receptionist or after hours call center can reduce the cost of being overstaffed, but most solutions come with sticker shock and long-term contracts.
Improve your call follow-up process

Call Back Immediately
Accepting that you'll miss a certain percentage of calls no matter what, ensuring you get back in touch with your callers as soon as possible is your best strategy for capturing more inbound phone leads.

If you can contact your missed caller within 2 minutes, they are highly likely to re-engage with you. The challenge is ensuring you get back to them before they call your competitor.

Send an Automated Missed Call Text
Fortunately, there are various phone systems that automate missed call follow-ups. Many systems allow you to configure a text message automatically sent to missed callers. Typically, these texts say something like, "This is So-And-So Pest Control sorry we missed your call, we'll call you right back," and then you actually have to call them back to complete booking. Or do you?

Use an AI receptionist to qualify and book jobs
To take it a step further, you can now use AI to automate missed calls and follow up. AI receptionists like Conju.ai are an affordable way to ensure that when you miss a call, you don't miss a job. Instead of just sending a single text message and hoping the customer waits for your callback,  AI follow-up systems engage your caller in a text conversation, ask qualifying questions, and book new jobs via text. Unlike the menu-driven chatbots of yesteryear, these next-gen AI receptionists converse naturally and respond to calls like your best sales reps. If your callers are busy texting your AI receptionist, you can be sure they are not calling your competitors. Systems like Conju also use the same tools that your employees do by integrating with your CRM, SMS platform, or phone system so you don’t have to change your systems to leverage the full potential of AI.

Final thoughts
Missed calls are more than just minor inconveniences; they are significant obstacles to maximizing your marketing ROI. Addressing this issue requires a multifaceted approach involving enhanced call operations, a more thoughtful customer experience, and leveraging the latest technologies. Implementing these solutions not only reduces the number of missed opportunities but also strengthens your brand's reputation and drives business growth. Taking action against missed calls is an investment in your company's future, turning potential losses into valuable gains.