Understanding Key Trends From Ruby's Latest Report

By Cayden Wemple.  

Knowing what’s trending with phone calls in today’s business world is vital to growing your business and keeping customers happy.  

Ruby’s 2023 call trends report features 5+ years' worth of insights based on thousands of real-world conversations with today's small business customers. In it, they explore five key trends to help businesses meet rising expectations and get out ahead of disruptions in their industry. Here's a quick glimpse at what your business can learn from over 62 million customer calls:

Phone calls are bringing in more leads for businesses 

Communication in the business world has transformed. There was a notable 9.6% increase in calls comprising leads observed between 2019 and 2022. Consumers have access to various tools like websites and social media to research businesses before reaching out, resulting in more informed and ready-to-engage conversations. This shift emphasizes the need for effective lead engagement strategies in today's competitive marketplace. 

Robocalls are on the rise 

It is estimated that robocalls cost U.S. businesses $3 billion per year and that the frequency of robocalls has gone up 13.4% from 2021-2022. Although robocall blocking is increasing in popularity, it’s still only estimated that 25% of businesses use this technology. Although robocallers are pesky, you should still avoid letting your phone go to voicemail. 

While it may save you a few moments, it ultimately leads to the loss of valuable customers over time since not every phone call from an unknown number will be a robocall. 

Challenging calls have (slightly) increased 

Since 2018, there has been a noticeable surge in frustrated callers. Between 2018 and 2022, Ruby has witnessed an almost 2% rise of aggitated callers, with a peak of 1.08% of total calls in 2021. Although “frustrated callers” only represent an average of less than 1% of all callers, it’s still important to have well-trained and empathetic professionals on the other side of the phone.  

Read the full report on call trends here.