For most organizations, the primary channel of communication with consumers is still the telephone.
Information! A third of all transactions are preceded by at least one phone call.
But even the most flexible online analytics systems are not able to evaluate the conversion of such an interaction, and without reliable data, a specialist cannot conduct a full-fledged analysis.
Call tracking in contextual advertising allows you to solve the described problem and get information about the traffic source. Often this tool is compared with Google Analytics in the field of telephone communication. It supplements ad performance data with call statistics.
Information captured through call tracking should be regularly analyzed and taken into account when planning an advertising campaign strategy. This helps to increase returns, optimize the work of the sales department and reduce the budget.
How does Calltracking work?
Calltracking allows you to understand where the user got information about the company. If the source is a search engine, then the site owner will be able to upload data about its name, as well as the address of the login page and other characteristics. If the visitor is interested in the advertisement, then the system will save all the parameters of the source: keyword, region, the advertisement itself and the campaign within which it was shown.
Information! The call tracking mechanism is quite simple and is a program code installed on the site that captures the statistics of calls made by customers.
The real phone number of the company on the site page is replaced by a virtual one, to which the buyer makes a call. A call through a virtual PBX is addressed to a real phone number, and after it is completed, all data is recorded in the system database.
A separate phone number is assigned to each traffic source to separate flows and understand which channel works best.
There are three types of call tracking. Each of them has its own specifics.
Static
A unique phone number is fixed for each channel. The system registers calls and collects data on where the buyer came from. The information is detailed only to the cut by traffic sources. Using such a tool, it is impossible to get an extended report.
Static call tracking can be used not only to analyze the effectiveness of online advertising, but also offline activities.
Dynamic
A unique phone number is automatically generated for each user. The system captures a large amount of statistical data: the source of the transition, the characteristics of the visitor’s behavior on the page, keywords, etc. This makes it possible to conduct a serious analysis of the productivity of various tools and channels for attracting traffic.
Dynamic call tracking is only applied when running an online advertising campaign.
Combined
This technology allows you to combine static and dynamic call tracking and is used in cases where detailed statistics are needed for only a few channels. For example, you can set up static call tracking for offline advertising, and dynamic call tracking for an online campaign.
Why is call tracking so important in contextual advertising?
Specialists often do not have enough data to evaluate the usefulness of a particular campaign. Calculating the conversion of online transactions is quite simple, but it is difficult to associate a specific traffic source with a specific order made by phone.
Important! Attempts to optimize a campaign using incomplete data are rarely successful. More often, they end up with rate cuts or no channels at all, even if they actually generated a significant increase in calls via telephone.
Using Calltracking in contextual advertising, a specialist can track the sources of calls and key queries with the highest conversion. This will allow him to make the right decision regarding the restructuring of the campaign and the reallocation of the budget.
In what areas is it necessary to track calls from contextual advertising?
Some businesses cannot do without phone calls. Often these are areas in which the client makes a decision only after some time, having clarified all the details of the transaction during the conversation. For such areas, tracking calls from contextual advertising is possible only using call tracking:
Real estate. Intense competition here is the reason for the high cost of attracting a buyer. In real estate, it’s important to evaluate the conversion of each call, but no one lays out money for an apartment right away. Prior to the conclusion of the transaction, the client makes several phone calls;
Sale of cars. Before a purchase, the average check for which is quite large, the consumer makes several calls, specifying the package and insurance conditions, as well as signing up for a test drive;
Medicine. In this delicate area, customers do not trust correspondence, do not want to fill out online forms and wait for the manager to get in touch;
Service industry. Enrolling in a beauty salon, calling a mother to repair household appliances or plumbing require clarification of many details. The client often wants to immediately determine the time of the visit and make sure the company is reliable. Consumers in the service industry are more likely to call than place orders online;
Education. The number of students in the group, the requirements for the initial level of qualification, specialization – these are just a few of the questions that are often asked by those who want to enroll in courses. And it is most convenient in this case to interact by phone;
Realization of industrial goods and complex products with a large list of characteristics. It is more convenient to discuss specific parameters that require clarification by phone, rather than in online correspondence.
But there are also activities for which setting up call tracking is not necessary. For example, when billboards on city streets or word of mouth are the main channels for attracting traffic.
Also, additional add-ons are not needed if the vast majority of transactions are made without a preliminary call. This applies to bakeries, shoe repair shops, online shops for consumer goods or products.
What are the benefits of analyzing calls from contextual advertising?
The main task of call tracking is to evaluate the usefulness of an advertising source. It allows you to make an informed decision about abandoning inefficient channels, reallocating the budget in favor of more productive campaigns.
In addition, call tracking allows you to:
Increase campaign performance
Having identified the most effective keywords that receive the most calls, you can increase your bids for them, which will reduce the cost of a lead. By tracking irrelevant traffic and lowering bids for relevant queries, you can save your advertising budget.
Assess the contribution of different traffic sources to the conversion
Almost never a potential customer makes a call for an order immediately after the first visit to the site. Previously, it can hit the target page several times from different sources. And all of them require accounting and analysis, for which Google Analytics has a report on multi-channel funnels that allows you to evaluate the entire consumer journey: from the initial interaction to the transaction.
Classify leads
Analysis of calls from contextual advertising and the path of the consumer through the sales funnel is another advantage of call tracking. If out of a hundred site visitors who clicked on an ad, half call and only every twentieth buys a product, then it is necessary to analyze the marketing strategy for the presence of thin spots.
Information! Losses of customers often happen at the stage of showing an ad – most of the audience does not like it or does not give an understanding of what the advertiser’s offer is. There are also those who immediately leave the page of the site due to the discrepancy between the real offer and the expectations created by advertising.
Some buyers do not complete the transaction after the call. In this case, you need to listen to the recording of the conversation in order to identify the problem: high cost, unsuitable conditions, or unprofessional sales managers.
Reduce lead cost
Call tracking is also useful for testing the effectiveness of different keywords in order to reduce the cost per click.
An example is the redistribution of the main part of the budget from high-frequency queries to low-frequency queries for an online store. After all, customers who request specific product models are more likely to make a purchase than those who are looking for general information.
Advice! By excluding expensive and useless keywords from the campaign, the company can reduce the budget for advertising in Google Adwords several times while increasing the number of incoming calls.
Improve AC and sales strategy
Call tracking allows you to identify weak spots in an advertising campaign and fix them:
It is necessary to check ads for relevance and evaluate if something can be improved;
You should run a retargeting campaign for those visitors who have not made a purchase to motivate them to close the deal ;
It is recommended that you regularly work through objections by listening to recordings of conversations. The most common reasons for abandoning a purchase are high cost and lack of free shipping.
Recording telephone conversations makes it possible to discipline sales managers who represent the company at the purchase stage. They must have full information and be able to answer any questions of a potential client.
Optimize call center performance
For each area, there are peak hours during which demand increases significantly. It is useful to have an idea about this, since for this period you can increase rates and climb up in the issue. But for managers on the phone, this is the most difficult watch. Clients are not ready to wait for an operator’s response and will most likely turn to a competing company.
Important! Using call tracking statistical reports, you can identify the gaps with the greatest influx and prepare for a high load.
What to look for when choosing a service for call tracking?
There is no clear rule for choosing the optimal call tracking service. After analyzing your own needs, you should compare according to the following parameters:
Cost. Each service has a list of tariffs and possible functionality;
Tools. Testing should be done to determine the most suitable service;
The presence of a dynamic model. For data analytics on advertising channels, this mechanism is necessary;
Geography. Not all services offer wide geographic coverage;
Easy to operate and integrate. The advantage should be given to those services that a marketer or manager can set up without additional help;
Record of conversations. This function is required to evaluate the work of sales managers and conversation scenarios;
Ability to integrate with Google Analytics. An additional advantage may be the ability to connect to a CRM system.
Using these criteria, you can compare popular call tracking systems.
