What is Call Tracking and How Does It Work?
Let’s face it – you cannot be there to answer your client all through the day. Even if you have an answering machine set up, your client probably won’t leave a message if they cannot get through to you the first time. So, what do you do to stop losing clients?
Different businesses use different methods to measure success. While some use page views as a measurement, others use organic visits and goal conversions. While there’s nothing wrong with any of these methods, it doesn’t take into consideration the leads converted through phone calls. Not every business scores clients through online marketing.
That’s where call tracking comes into the picture. Combined with search engine optimization, it is an essential tool to boost your company’s marketing campaign. Let’s find out how call tracking works and what the benefits are.
Call tracking is a detailed process in which a company finds out how callers found their business. Marketing and sales teams use this information to calculate the success of their campaigns to optimize future projects.
When did call tracking service start?
Call tracking has been around much longer than you can imagine. I am sure you have heard this phrase from companies: ‘How did you hear about us?’ Your parents and grandparents heard it too when they were young. There weren’t phones available back then, so it was called ‘customer tracking.’ Fast forward to 2019 and call tracking has evolved a lot. There are a number of different telephone call tracking softwares you can choose from to manage your company’s statistics and analytics.
Every company has at least one telephone number, which is mentioned on the website, Google AdWords campaigns, magazines, billboard ads, and/or banners. A customer sees your ad on Google and dials your number. The customer didn’t click on the ad, but still called you. If you aren’t tracking this number,, or where they found your business, you would think that the Google Adwords campaign didn’t work.
But it did!
You wouldn’t know if you only read Google Analytics, which tells only half the story. By using call tracking, you can create a list of different sources telephone callers used to find your company. It helps you find out how different social media, offline, and online campaigns that you are using performed.
Who should use call tracking data?
Call tracking works for every industry from automotive, to fashion, just like any other analytics method would. Different companies use call tracking for different purposes. For example, small businesses or startups use it to improve local SEO results, while big businesses or enterprises use it to reach sales and marketing goals.
However, if your business is completely offline and the only way you get to clients is through word-of-mouth, call tracking is not the right analytics method for you.
Most businesses use a call tracking software to gather data on their customers. Nowadays, companies tend to have at least three to four official contact numbers, so customers don’t have to wait for a long time to speak with the customer care team.
Here’s an example of how call tracking works
XYZ fashion brand is running three online campaigns simultaneously — online pay per click campaign, advertisement in the metro, and an advertisement in a newspaper. Every time a customer is asked how they found about XYZ, the customer care executive can make a note of it in the call tracking software.
At the end of the day, the manager can take a look at how the three marketing campaigns performed. It also assists you in tracking return on investment for each campaign. Let’s say, the advertisement in the metro didn’t work well. Next time when wants to run a campaign, the manager won’t use that method, but could continue using the other two.
This is a very important question, and the the answer is yes. A telephone call tracker will help you save money. Let’s find out how!
A Proven Case Study
Receptional, a marketing firm, helped a company named Howard Hughes to boost their conversion rates and find the most used source of traffic. The firm helped Mediahawk to identify the type of marketing that was bringing in most leads. In only a month, they found that the company received 98 percent of their traffic from their website. On the other hand, the six newspaper ads they were running only generated one percent of the traffic.
The call tracking survey helped Mediahawk cut down on unnecessary expenses and focus on SEO campaigns to boost their website’s rank on Google search.
Despite its amazing benefits, many companies across multiple sectors are ignoring the call tracking method.
Does call tracking affect SEO?
The answer is no. If anything, it will help your SEO strategy. Many people stay away from call tracking because they think it might interfere with their SEO strategy and decrease their inbound leads. The call tracking numbers will only help you set up more practical advertising and marketing campaigns that will bring in more customers and take your business to the next level.
Saving money is just one of the many benefits of call tracking marketing. Before we talk more in detail, let’s find out three more benefits of telephone call tracking:
1. Find Keywords that work best
You can find out the keywords that work for your business depending on the success of the multiple pay per click campaigns you run.
2. Focus on landing pages that bring the most traffic
Some landing pages are more successful than others. You can compare the two varieties and improve the ones that lack traffic. It will not only help you to bring more traffic, but will also make your website look professional and complete.
3. Digital advertising campaigns
Use a different phone number for every digital advertising campaign you run to see which ads perform the best. It will also help you improve the way your customer care team talks to your inbound leads.
Start call tracking today and watch your business grow. Call tracking optimizes your budget and directs resources towards the most successful campaigns. It also boosts productivity in the workplace, as your employees will focus only on phone call methods that work.