Top 10 reasons EVERY Doctor needs Click-to-Call

Every month, the “Click-To-Call” is used by millions of visitors on mobile websites.  It’s no surprise then that a large percentage of those clicks are being made by current and prospective patients when they are trying to reach their doctor’s office for an appointment, directions or some other immediate reason.
In late September, Google released the results of a study undertaken with 3,000 mobile searchers that attempted to quantify the role Click-to-Call call played in the decision-making process for a purchase or service. The results certainly aren’t shocking, but do paint a good picture of how important the feature is to your office’s success on the mobile web.
Here’s our compiled list of the top ten reasons why Click-to-Call can dramatically increase sales.
(*Google refers to “customers” many times.  For your purpsoes, that of course would be current and prospective patients)
1.) 70% of mobile searchers have used Click-to-Call to connect with a business directly from the search engine results page. 51% of them use it frequently or always from search results.
Key takeaway: Most of the time, people looking for your office on the mobile web simply need to contact you, and a phone call is still the preferred method over other communication options. Not having the Click-to-Call feature on your mobile site requires the customer to go through at least one additional layer of navigation, which is never a good thing.
2.) 47% of mobile searchers say that if a business does not have a phone number associated with their search results, they will be more likely to explore other options.
Key takeaway: Half of mobile searchers are already expecting your office to have a phone number associated with your website. Having a chunk of those mobile searchers go over to the competition could be an unfortunate consequence of not implementing this very simple solution.
3.) 61% of mobile searchers state that Click-to-Call is most important in the decision phase of the entire decision-making process.
Key takeaway: If your potential patient has made it to the point where they want you as their doctor, they’re engaged. They’ve done their research, shopped around and are finally at the point where they’re ready to make an appointment. It’s critical that at the moment your prospective patient feels confident in their decision and Click-to-Call is a big part of that.
4.) Patients with real or perceived urgent needs will expect it and their patience for doing additional research through your mobile website will be short.
Key takeaway:  Many prospective patients have an emergency or need to make an appointment – quick.  Adding the Click-to-Call feature on your mobile site will save your stressed customer frustration and time by helping them get the answers they need quickly.
5.) 54% of customers (i.e., patients) call to get quick answers and give real time feedback, with 54% having more questions or needing more information than a website can answer.
Key takeaway: Enabling patients to ask questions via a phone call also gives them the ability to give you valuable feedback. For example, maybe they have a comment about how you can improve the functionality of your mobile site. It’s this valuable, one-off type of information that can really make a difference in your marketing and the way you do your medical business. In addition, because of the nature of your business as a physician, your website may not always have all the answers a customer is looking for, and this makes providing a two-way communication option essential.
6.) 88% of mobile searchers consider call length to be important (4.4 average minute call length). 72% of clicks on a mobile search ad’s call button last longer than 30 seconds.
Key takeaway: This statistic indicates that most people call the office with an expectation that all of their main non-medical questions are going to be answered. It’s important to have all of your frequently asked questions communicated well to your support staff so that patients are given the right kind of information.
7.) 76% of consumers use mobile call features to schedule an appointment for local services.
Key takeaway: For certain businesses, like yours as a physician, most of their patients come from a certain geographic area. Click-to-Call is a major part of catering to these patients, as many of them are looking for a doctor that they need relatively quickly.
8.) When people use mobile search to help make a decision they are 39% more likely to call an office (Google Search Moments)
Key takeaway: This statistic speaks to both the immediacy and nature of the mobile web. Mobile visitors aren’t just browsing the web (think the person who’s window shopping), they are seriously intent on taking some kind of action (think the person who has five pairs of pants and 6 shirts in a dressing room). Click-to-Call helps them take that action. Also, let us never forget that when you get down to it, smartphones are still, first and foremost, phones. It only makes sense that consumers would use them as such to help make a decision.
9.) 56% of calls via a mobile search happen within the first 60 minutes.
Key takeaway: To reiterate the importance of fulfilling a patient’s need immediately, more than half of phone call interactions with an office are within the first hour. Many patients want an opportunity to compare and contrast medical services and insurance plans taken by your office and with your competition. If you don’t have Click-to-Call and they do, you may be out of the race before it begins.
10.) Most of your competitors aren’t doing it.
Key takeaway: It’s a fact that 95% of small- and medium-sized businesses(of which of course doctor’s offices are) do not have a mobile-optimized website. As evidenced in reason #2, having Click-to-Call as a feature on your mobile website most likely gives your medical practice a revenue boost from customers who switched to your mobile site from one without the same functionality.
Sources:
Click to Call in the path to purchase – Google
SMB Digital Marketing – BIA Kelsey
Search Moments – Google