CallRail, the AI-powered lead intelligence platform, unveiled a new report on which marketing channels are having the most impact for small businesses, titled “From conversations to conversions: How small businesses can market smarter.” The research, based on 1.1 million leads across key industries – including automotive, financial services, healthcare, home services, legal, real estate and real estate investment – provides one of the first data sets for businesses to benchmark marketing performance within their industry.

“It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by today’s marketing landscape, especially for small business leaders who need to ensure their resources are going toward areas with the maximum return on investment for their business”

Every small business dreams of growth but limited budgets, resource constraints and the complexity of multiple channels make it difficult to identify the marketing efforts that drive meaningful leads. By pinpointing which channels work best, businesses can optimize marketing spend, boost customer acquisition and fuel profitability.

“It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by today’s marketing landscape, especially for small business leaders who need to ensure their resources are going toward areas with the maximum return on investment for their business,” said Laura Beussman, Senior Vice President of Marketing at CallRail. “Our findings offer actionable insights that help empower these businesses to make data-driven decisions, allowing them to fine-tune their marketing spend and strategy by identifying the top-performing marketing channels and keywords that drive conversations and conversions by industry.”

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Key findings from the report include:

• Key channels driving conversations: Understanding what is driving the calls and text messages a business is receiving is crucial to making data-driven decisions about marketing spend to attract a higher volume of qualified leads that can truly drive business growth. The top three channels driving conversations remain consistent across each industry and include Google Ads (37%) followed by Google My Business (23%) and organic search (22%).

• Missed calls are missed opportunities: Not answering the phone can have a major impact on the bottom line of a small business – up to 85% of customers whose calls go unanswered will not call back. Healthcare emerged as the industry with the highest missed call rate at 32% followed closely by legal (28%), home services (14%) and real estate (9%).

• The channels driving qualified leads and sales appointments: Qualified leads are often identified by call duration, specific inquiries, or high-interest actions like scheduling an appointment–and represent the most likely to yield conversions. Key channels producing the highest number of qualified leads include Google Ads (47%), organic search (23%), and Google My Business (15%). Additionally, for businesses seeking to convert leads into tangible sales opportunities, the primary channels include Google Ads (36%), Google My Business (32%) and organic search (18%).

• Connecting keywords with customer intent: Using the right keywords ensures your ads reach the right audience and should reflect their search behavior. While top keywords are often specific across industries, common trends have emerged including “near me” searches (such as “plumbers near me”), industry-specific searching (“personal injury lawyer”) and niche phrases (e.g., “bridge financing” in financial services and “land for sale” in real estate).

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“Equipped with these insights, small businesses can unlock more growth by focusing marketing efforts on the channels they know optimize opportunities – from generating new leads to sales – while catering to the unique needs of their industry,” said Emily Popson, Vice President, Growth Marketing at CallRail. “Now is the time to re-evaluate marketing efforts and assess where they stack up so you can refine your strategy. One thing is clear across industries, insights into conversations have an invaluable role in powering success for small businesses.”

CallRail’s Call Tracking and Conversation Intelligence^® remain key to unlocking growth with actionable conversation insights by providing clarity on which channels drive the most qualified leads, appointments and sales, empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions that optimize performance.