- ThinkingPhones, an innovator in developing mobile-enabled, analytics-driven business communications, today released a new report, “Answer Rates in the US: Knowing When to Call,” revealing ideal times for businesses to call prospects and generate qualified leads. The report, which examines over 25 million inbound phone calls, identifies exactly when individuals are most and least likely to answer a call based on their location and whether or not the call originates from a known or unknown number.
Summary of Key Findings:
- Although people are more likely to answer the phone for a known number on a weekday, they are more likely to answer an unknown number on the weekend
- If calling during work hours, it is best to call on Monday or Friday, and as late in the day as possible
- People are 5-10% more likely to pick up the call between 8-9 p.m. over the weekend than on a weekday
- People in states on the East Coast are more likely to answer calls than people on the West Coast overall
- If calling in the morning or early afternoon, efforts should be allocated to calling people located in the Northeast
- If calling people located in the West, call after 2 p.m., preferably on the weekend
Known vs. Unknown Calls: Looking at the total call answer rates, individuals are more likely to pick up a call from a known caller.
- 56% – Average overall percentage of individuals that answer their phone regardless of whether the number is known or unknown
- 65% – Percentage of individuals that answer calls from known numbers
- 43% – Percentage of individuals that answer calls from unknown numbers
Hourly Answer Rates: Looking at hourly answer rates, calls from known numbers are answered at a fairly stagnant rate throughout the day, whereas individuals answer unknown calls more frequently later in the day. Answer rates for unknown calls drop off by 20% around 8 a.m., and creep back up until 9 p.m. Answer rates exceed 50% after 8 p.m.
- 6 a.m. – 50%
- 8 a.m. – 30%
- 3 p.m. – 40%
- 7 p.m. – 45%
- 9 p.m. – 60%
Weekday vs. Weekend: Individuals are 6-8% more likely to pick up an unknown call over the weekend than on an average weekday.
- 50% of unknown calls are answered on Sunday. This day proves to be when individuals are most willing to pick up an unknown call, with an answer rate 9% higher than the weekly low
- 41% of unknown calls are answered on Wednesday (the weekly low)
- Friday is the weekday when individuals are most likely to answer unknown calls, with an answer rate of 2.5% higher than Wednesday
- 5-10% of individuals are more likely to pick up a call over the weekend between 8-9 p.m.
- The optimal time for calling an individual who does not have you saved in their address book is 7 p.m.
East Coast vs. West Coast: Overall, individuals on the East Coast are 2.3% more likely to pick up a call than people in the West, and 4.5% more likely to pick up an unknown call. In particular, four out of the five highest answer rates are in states located in the Northeast.
- Regardless of whether the caller is known or unknown, individuals on the East Coast pick up the phone 56% of the time compared to individuals on the West Coast who answer the phone 53.7% of the time overall
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States with the highest answer rates for unknown calls include:
- Rhode Island – 55%
- Mississippi – 50%
- New York – 48%
- Washington, D.C. – 47%
- New Jersey – 45%
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States with the lowest answer rates for unknown calls include:
- Maine – 22%
- Wyoming – 33%
- Montana – 35%
- Delaware – 35%
- Oregon – 37%
Supporting Quotes:
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David Laubner, SVP, ThinkingPhones:
- “There are many considerations that go into making a sales call, from knowing buyer value to understanding where they are on the path to purchase. More often than not, what’s missing is knowing the best time to reach a prospect over the phone to increase the chances of having a live conversation and, subsequently, nurturing a lead. We analyzed call answer rates – the probability that a person answers a call – from multiple perspectives: geographic differences, response to known vs. unknown numbers, time of day and day of the week. Using this data, we then pinpointed the time and day, as well as regions, which are best for calling individuals. After considering these trends based on time and location, the results have a lot to say about optimal calling practices.”
- “The more you can define your market, the greater the chances are of differentiating your business and gaining access to decision makers. Understanding answer rates is a large part of that exercise. At the most nuanced level, these statistics reveal insights into who is most likely to answer a call and when they are most likely to do so. The analysis has also exposed a number of calling strategies for people who anticipate being an unknown caller, which is particularly relevant for businesses that seek to optimize their call strategy to nurture prospects into qualified leads.”
Click here to view the infographic:
http://info.thinkingphones.com/call-me-maybe-infographic
Report Methodology:
Data samples 25.7 million inbound phone calls made from Android device users in the United States between March 1-June 30, 2014. The population was sampled at 1 percent for a sample size of 257,000.
About ThinkingPhones
ThinkingPhones, an innovator in developing mobile-enabled, analytics-driven business communications, seamlessly unifies voice, text, and conferencing services on a single cloud platform. The company, a three-time Gartner Magic Quadrant for UCaaS “Leader” and Frost & Sullivan UCaaS “Company of the Year,” is the only unified communications provider suited to deliver solutions that solve the evolving collaboration challenges inherent in today's increasingly mobile and social workforce. ThinkingPhones has locations in Boston, New York, Ottawa, London, Amsterdam, and Portugal. For more information, visit www.thinkingphones.com.
