Visibility

Tracking a phone lead back to the ad source that drove the call may seem like a simple way to evaluate search or online ad performance, but this process represents only one piece of the full measurement puzzle. Today’s interactive agencies and online publishers must delve beneath the surface to provide full transparency and ROI for their digital ad programs.

A true call measurement program goes beyond call counts and discovers what drove the call, caller actions prior to their call, which keyword, distribution partner or creative achieved the highest traction, and whether the call led to a purchase. With the help of call measurement tools, companies can proactively capture this intelligence throughout the full call lifecycle—from pre-call metrics to real-time call data and post-call analytics. These key details arm agencies and publishers with the data required to make optimal advertising decisions that will ultimately yield more quality leads for their clients.

Pre-Call Metrics: What Drove the Calls?

When a call comes into a business, learning what prompted the person to pick up the phone and identifying their actions leading up to the call can produce relevant insights. For example, did they find your company through a specific ad or search engine? Did they visit the driving directions page or browse online inventory before calling? Call measurement utilizes unique local or toll-free phone numbers—placed within any direct response ad—to capture this data. And, if a potential customer clicks on your website through an online ad or SEM campaign, the call tracking numbers associated with the original media source will dynamically populate throughout the website (including landing pages) once the user clicks on the website link in the ad, revealing the true lead source once a call is placed. This is especially important for proper lead attribution, as consumers often engage with multiple research sources prior to placing a call. By zeroing in on where online leads are generated and where sales are initiated,
companies can make the most of their media spend by focusing their ad budgets on the avenues that are truly producing leads.

Call Tracking Analytics: Get to Know Your Callers

While the phone conversation is vital for nurturing a lead into a customer who intends to make a purchase, it is also a deep resource of demographic data. Ranging from name and address to phone number, gender and income range, call tracking tools collect this valuable information from every inbound call – including unanswered calls. They also track the number of calls (unique leads) during a given period of time and average call duration, automatically blocking telemarketer calls from tainting the data. Companies can use this information in aggregate to track which media channels generated quality leads and which demographic segment or geographic area responded best to campaigns. Additionally, companies can measure which categories, keywords, and franchise locations were highest performing in generating calls.

Post-Call Results: Did the Caller Make a Purchase?

Each call that comes into a business represents a conversion opportunity. Do you know whether your callers are planning to make a purchase following each call or which keywords are resounding most with them? Companies that apply call measurement tools with voice recognition and speech-to-text technologies can capture which topics were discussed, caller sentiment, which words were spoken most often and the overall conversion rate. Post-call data offers insights into which campaigns, ad copy, keyword buys and distribution sources ultimately resulted in a sale—or where each of these can be optimally tweaked for better results. Companies can also easily see which locations had the highest conversion rates. Another benefit of tracking post-call data is the ability to examine how franchisees or operators are handling calls from a customer service perspective. Call measurement data can help determine whether better training is needed if consumers aren’t receiving the level of service or complete information they need during initial phone calls.

At the end of the day, companies need a comprehensive way to gauge how well their digital advertising programs are driving valued phone leads, which demographic or geographic segments are responding, and whether they are succeeding in delivering calls and converting consumers. Call measurement takes the guesswork out of these questions and can help companies make informed online advertising decisions that drive more quality leads and boost ad ROI.