Marchex Finds Travel Industry Headed For ‘Explosive Growth’ With Mobile Calls

The travel industry faces a huge opportunity to capitalize on phone calls as more consumers call to book trips directly from their smartphones, according to a data analysis released today by Marchex, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHX).

Marchex, a mobile advertising company focused on calls, set out to understand the behaviors of mobile consumers booking travel over the phone. Using technology that scans for key phrases, researchers analyzed more than 15,000 phone calls placed to hotel properties and national call centers from mobile and desktop ad campaigns.

The data found:

• Mobile callers convert into customers at a higher rate than desktop users.
• Consumers are in “purchase mode” on the phone and have an urgent intent to book.
• Consumers most often call because of special requests having to do with, for instance, an event or room location. These requests require talking to someone.

The study pointed out that the travel industry, which now trails others in monetizing mobile calls, is poised for “explosive growth” in this sector.

“The travel industry might be the largest stakeholder for mobile this year,” said Eric Taylor, senior analyst at the Marchex Institute, the research arm of Marchex. “The data could not be any clearer: Phone calls will play an integral role in 2013 for travel companies looking to harness the mobile market. In a sense, what’s old is new again.”

Vice President of the Marchex Institute, John Busby, will be speaking about this data Thursday at the Smart Travel Analytics Show at the New Yorker Hotel in New York City.

To download the entire study, please go to www.marchex.com/mobile_travel_performance.

About Marchex:

Marchex, Inc. delivers customer calls to businesses and analyzes those calls so companies can get the most out of their mobile advertising.

Marchex supports its customers through a unique technology platform that has three primary components: (1)  Call Analytics, which powers all of our advertising solutions, and allows partners to leverage data and insights that accurately measure the performance of mobile, online and offline call advertising; (2)  Digital Call Marketplace, which annually connects millions of consumer calls to our advertisers from a range of mobile and online sources on a Pay For Call basis; and (3)  Local Leads, a white-labeled, full-service digital advertising solution for small business resellers that drives quality phone calls and other leads to their small business advertisers.

Marchex is based in Seattle. To learn more, please visit www.marchex.com.

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