The past few weeks have been historic. Not since World War II have we experienced the type of disruption in our daily lives that the Coronavirus has caused. What does that mean for the future of our companies and economy? Nobody really knows for sure. One thing is certain however, we can no longer do business in the same ways as before. We must learn to use all marketing tactics at our disposal to quickly replace the loss of conventions, conferences and in person meetings. Email programs, Web-ex’s, Virtual Conferences and in-sourced and outsourced calling programs will be standard practices moving forward.
It is with these thoughts in mind that we analyzed our own contact rates comparing this past week to several random weeks in 2020. The goal is to identify whether or not our decision-maker reach rates are indeed lower and, if so, by how much? We also wanted to find out which industries are suffering the most and which ones, if any, are still viable markets to contact. We have summarized this data in a series of charts below and will be updating these charts in the coming weeks as we seek to keep our finger on the pulse of the market for our clients.
Connection Rates
Below is the connect rate percentage by day) over the past week. This covers nearly 25,000 dials:
| COVID-19 Pandemic | Connect | Non Connect |
| 3/11/2020 (Date of White House Press Conference) | 11.23% | 88.77% |
| 3/12/2020 | 7.49% | 92.51% |
| 3/13/2020 | 7.93% | 92.07% |
| 3/16/2020 | 9.86% | 90.14% |
| 3/17/2020 | 11.64% | 88.36% |
| 3/18/2020 | 12.68% | 87.32% |
| Total | 10.24% | 89.76% |
Below are three random weeks in 2020 to compare:
| Random Calling Week in 2020 | Connect | Non Connect | Total Dials |
| 1/29/2020 – 2/4/2020 | 9.15% | 90.85% | 28,228 |
| 2/12/2020 – 02/19/2020 | 9.43% | 90.85% | 29,203 |
| 02/26/2020 – 03/04/2020 | 9.51% | 90.49% | 26,567 |
| 03/11/2020 – 03/18/2020 | 10.24% | 89.67% | 23,043 |
Contact rates are holding steady! There is no significant difference so far in connection rates.
Furthermore, most industry sectors remained virtually unchanged. Two specific industries, “Health Care and Social Assistance” and “Wholesale Trade,” did experience large variances in connection rates. As expected, connection rates in the Healthcare Sector dropped from 9.26% to 6.71%. However, connection rates in Wholesale Trade spiked from 9.68% to 14.10%.
Decision Maker Conversion Rates
Similar to connection rates, we compared conversion rates of decision makers for several random weeks in 2020. Conversion rates are based upon the number of Qualified Decision Makers who received a complete brand presentation and either accepted or declined the call to action (Ex.: appointment request webinar request, etc.).
Below is the conversion rate data by day over the past week:
| COVID-19 Pandemic | Accepted Call to Action | Declined Call to Action |
| 3/11/2020 (Date of White House Press Conference) | 29.96% | 70.04% |
| 3/12/2020 | 38.32% | 61.68% |
| 3/13/2020 | 41.04% | 58.96% |
| 3/16/2020 | 45.33% | 54.67% |
| 3/17/2020 | 38.57% | 61.43% |
| 3/18/2020 | 35.77% | 64.23% |
| Total | 37.85% | 62.23% |
Below are three random weeks in 2020 to compare:
| Random Calling Weeks in 2020 | Accepted Call to Action | Declined Call to Action |
| 1/29/2020 – 2/4/2020 | 29.17% | 70.83% |
| 2/12/2020 – 02/19/2020 | 31.95% | 68.05% |
| 02/26/2020 – 03/04/2020 | 30.52% | 69.48% |
| 03/11/2020 – 03/18/2020 | 37.85% | 62.15% |
In correlation with contact rates, conversion rates remained strong and actually spiked during the most recent week compared to earlier in 2020.
Business Continuity
The good news is that outbound calling is still an effective way to reach your customers/prospects to tell your story. And, given today’s business climate, your customers need to hear from you! Whether you decide to call them with your in-house staff or need to outsource to a service bureau such as Tele Business USA, you need to let your customers/prospects know that you’re still open for business, able to fulfill their requests, and meet their needs. Based upon our most recent data, your customers will likely be glad you called.
Next Week
The one constant in life is that change is inevitable and a lot has changed in just one week. That is why I feel that now, more than ever, we all have help each other navigate the new landscape and share as much knowledge as possible. We are currently testing new messaging and next week I plan to share our learnings in this area, along with updates to our data tables and examples of projects we are working on for other clients.
If you would like look at any of the data mentioned above by SIC or NAICS, need help with any type of outreach, or simply have some questions, please feel free to contact us connect@tbiz.com or 847-897-3020.
Good luck and stay safe!