This post was sponsored by CallRail. The opinions expressed in this article are the sponsor’s own.

The pandemic has caused uncertainty and lockdowns that have created ongoing hardship for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

The smaller the company, the more likely owners and managers were to report negative impacts of the pandemic – with 60% of small businesses saying they’ve been “strongly affected” versus 43% of large businesses.

This impact was also illustrated by the decline in call volume among CallRail customers.

CallRail provides tracking and analytics for phone calls and web forms, serves SMBs in education, healthcare, automotive, legal, financial, home services, real estate, software and technology, marketing and advertising, and travel and hospitality.

During the lockdown, CallRail data showed phone calls decreased because many businesses had to close temporarily or pause operations to implement safety measures.

However, as SMBs started reopening in late spring and early summer, we saw call volume and durations rise – revealing that consumers were interested in doing business again.

We noted this finding in our report, 100M Phone Calls Show How SMBs Are Adapting in a Pandemic.

Customer engagement is a positive sign, but businesses should also be proactive in making their comebacks because previous recessions took years to recover, and small businesses were hit hardest.

The recession caused by the pandemic was unforeseeable, and so is its outcome.

However, we believe call data can offer some useful insights for SMBs trying to recover and thrive post-lockdown.

Here are some takeaways we’re seeing from the data.

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