Value of voice communication: 7 stats you need to know

Highlights: 

• 7 must-see voice communication stats
• What to look for in a cloud phone system
• Success story spotlight
• Level up your voice communication with RingCentral

As the digital age grows, communication channels such as email, texts, and instant messaging have also grown. With the rise in new communication channels, it may seem like phone calls are a thing of the past, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Voice communication is alive and well, and if anything, now is the time to rethink your phone solution. 

Let’s look at the numbers:

• 77% of people believe a phone call is the most effective way to get an answer quickly.
• 65% of people prefer to contact a business by phone.

77% and 65% are strong numbers that are hard to ignore. In this blog post, we’ll dive deeper into the value of voice communication and reveal seven key stats from our recent survey and other sources. We’ll also share top tips on what to look for in a complete cloud phone system to help grow your business. 

👀  Want to learn more about the value of voice communication? Get our Power of voice communication at work report. 

7 must-see voice communication stats

Voice communication has been and will continue to be a staple in your business’s overall communication strategy. Here are voice communication stats you need to know:

Takeaway: The best moments of any conversation are not the words, but the reactions you share. Listening to another person over voice communication intensifies your connection and puts you both on an equal level. A phone system can only boost the connectivity of your team.

Takeaway: With more work being done remotely, people are spending more time at home and less time with others, leading to feelings of loneliness and solitude. Having a complete phone system on hand so staff members can contact each other and speak through voice communication can eliminate these feelings and contribute to a happier, more engaged staff.

Takeaway: Not everyone can go back into the office right now, so what’s the next best thing? Voice and video calls. A majority of people said it themselves: “Voice or video calls are as good as in-person for work-related tasks.”

Takeaway: Speaking directly to an employee, customer, or vendor over the phone or through video allows you to hear their voice—video calls allow you to put a face to the voice. With these communication methods, you get a sense of what other people are feeling through their tones and expressions and can connect on a deeper level.

Takeaway: Voice calls through an app, like RingCentral, can help you bring your phone system up to date with modern times. A phone system doesn’t mean you need a physical deskphone anymore—it’s possible to have phone calls, video calls, and team messaging in a single app so you can stay connected with multiple people anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

Takeaway: A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that voice communication produces much stronger social bonds than other forms of interaction. To create a collaborative environment for your team, it’s essential to keep voice communications top of mind.

Takeaway: This powerful stat shows us that in addition to creating a better employee experience, enabling voice communication channels with your customers improves the customer experience and leads to greater customer satisfaction and retention.

📊 Access more stats in our Power of voice communication at work report. 

Ready to rock voice communication with a complete cloud phone system? Here’s what to look for

For your business to survive, you must take voice communication seriously. That’s why investing in voice communication can be one of the smartest moves you make. If you’re looking to install a complete cloud phone system, here are a few things you’ll want to look out for:

• Ability to connect with your favorite business apps. Getting your hands on an open platform is the best way to go. The ability to integrate with your most-used apps (like Microsoft 365, Google Cloud, Salesforce, you name it) have become necessary for almost every business, and a phone system that can tightly connect to all of them is going to make life easier for everyone. Think about it—no more jumping from app to app. As an added bonus, look for a system that allows you to use customized apps designed specifically for your workflows.
• Anywhere, anytime mobility. Today, work is being done from all corners of the globe. Having a truly mobile system allows you to accomplish tasks and communicate with others no matter where you are. Get a phone system that works on any device so you can seamlessly switch between your phone, tablet, or laptop. Start taking your entire business phone system with you wherever you go!
• Grows with your business. Having a flexible phone system that can grow with your business is necessary—you want a long-term solution, not just a short-term bandaid. As your business expands, you want a phone system that can expand with it. For starters, look for a phone system that can scale phone lines, users, devices, up or down in a matter of clicks.
• Stellar industry reputation. Just picking any phone system isn’t the best strategy. Some phone systems may not provide you with the features and capabilities you need to run your everyday operations in the most efficient way. You’ll want to choose an industry-leading vendor that has solid reviews, awards, and critical acclaim supporting it. It should be easy to use, but powerful enough to grow and adapt to fit your company’s changing needs.
• An all-in-one solution. It’s important to employ a phone system that can cater to all your business communications needs via one app. Whether it’s making phone calls, sending faxes, SMS, team messages, or engaging in video conferences, you’ll want a system that has all these abilities built in. Some solutions out there even make it possible to add a contact center for a truly all-in-one solution that can cater to both your business and customer communication needs.
• Enterprise-level capabilities with small business sensibilities. Don’t assume you’ll only need one or two communication functions. Relying too much on the basics can prevent your business from getting bigger. Having a phone system with enterprise-grade capabilities can improve your confidence and remove any concerns you might have about your company’s communications future.

Still not convinced about voice communication? Look at this success story

Founded in 2010, Axial boasts 98 employees and is the network for professionals who run, advise, finance, and acquire private companies. The company initially used a dated phone system that didn’t provide the tools or flexibility employees needed to do their jobs. The company was also stuck buying additional bandwidth to get the level of service it needed to aid its clients.

The Sales team alone spent 80% of their time on phones, so when the old system wasn’t cutting it, executives made a switch. They turned to RingCentral MVP™, which gave employees access to several new features including:

• Additional flexibility with desktop and mobile apps
• Call flipping from desk phones to cell phones
• Individual conference bridges
• Electronic faxing
• Salesforce integration

In addition, employees are no longer stuck searching for individual phone numbers. Instead, employees efficiently communicate by using the corporate extension directory. As Axial’s team and business grew, RingCentral grew right alongside them to meet the firm’s ever-changing needs.

Level up your voice communication with RingCentral

RingCentral helped Axial get to where it is today, and it can help your business too. RingCentral is your best choice for a full and complete cloud phone system. With our award-winning solution, RingCentral MVP, you’ll be able to simplify all your communications into a single app that includes phone calls, video conferencing, fax, SMS, chat, and contact center.

As your business grows, you can simplify workflows and grow intelligently with an open platform that integrates with 250+ apps (including the ones you use most, like Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and Google Cloud) and 6,000+ custom apps. 

There’s a reason why RingCentral is used by more than 350,000 small businesses and recognized as a leader in the industry. We’ve helped small and medium businesses improve across multiple key areas, including:

• 68% boost in employee mobility
• 52% increase in ROI
• 47% increase in customer satisfaction
• 30% decrease in time to build integrations
• 24% decrease in time to access information

With bulletproof reliability (like 99.999% uptime that keeps your business connected during outages and disasters) and enterprise-grade security, RingCentral has proven itself to be a trusted cloud phone system for any business type and size. Double down on voice communication with RingCentral by your side. Learn more by visiting the RingCentral for small business page.

Originally published Feb 07, 2022, updated Dec 04, 2023