Early bird catches the worm for business cold calling

The UK’s Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) might hold no fear for rogue marketers but legitimate firms have increasingly shied away from corporate cold calling even though the likes of Salesforce still find it highly effective, yet, as with most marketing, timing is everything.

So says a new report based on 187,684 weekday calls placed by MightyCall, based on anonymised phone call records, designed to find out exactly when customers are most likely to answer.

After reviewing the total data of 251,256 calls, the firm selected only 187,684 valid calls (cold call hours on weekdays). In this final dataset, only 20.8% of the calls were classified as “successful” because they lasted for at least 30 seconds and the system showed a “connected” result.

But a clear pattern in the success rate has emerged.

And, sadly for call centre operatives, this means an early start, with the first hour at work (8am-9am) seeing the highest success rate, at 26.8%. At this time, the report maintains decision-makers are most active and responsive, even though many others will still be seeking solace in their first cuppa. The chances of success decrease after noon, possibly because business people are dealing with more tasks and feeling less receptive.

Meanwhile, Mondays have the highest success rate, 24%; Tuesdays come in second with 22.2%. This could be because people are more available on Mondays and Tuesdays, and do not yet have many follow-up emails to answer.

From Wednesday to Friday, the likelihood of success dropped. At 10am on Wednesday, for instance, the success rate was the lowest at only 17.0%. It seems that being in the middle of the week leads to more distractions, more meetings, or less attentiveness.

10am on Tuesday has an interesting pattern, where it experiences a higher success rate (26.2%) compared to the rest of the day. This may be because there is more space in the week for strategy talks, as contacts have settled in and reviewed their priorities, the report says.

Although there is a good start, there is a clear drop in success by mid-morning on Wednesdays, when the rate at 10am drops to just 17.0%. This drop in productivity has been put down to more meetings, tiredness on Wednesday, or focusing on doing tasks instead of taking external calls.

The report concludes: “It is clear from the results that the best time to call is in the early part of the week and early in the morning. In particular, Monday mornings are the most productive slot for businesses to reach out to their clients. Don’t miss out on this golden opportunity.”