For marketers thinking about investing in a call tracking solution, identifying and evaluating potential providers can be a daunting task. There are dozens of options to choose from, all of which offer unique features and functionality, varying levels of service and support, and a variety of plans and pricing.
To better prepare you to narrow down provider options and discuss your needs with solution representatives, following are five steps to consider before starting the search for a call tracking solution:
1. Analyze if call tracking is right for you
Closely consider how much phone lead volume you get on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Call tracking solutions are ideal for organizations that receive hundreds of calls every week from a variety of sources, have multiple marketing campaigns running simultaneously, and currently have little insight into drivers.
2. Audit existing and future campaign call-tracking needs
Work with marketing and sales to understand exactly what type of campaigns are active. Depending on the organization, you may simultaneously be managing a search engine marketing campaign, PPC ads, online advertising, print ads, radio spots, TV commercials, email newsletters and/or partnership programs.
Once all campaigns have been audited, identify which lend themselves to phone conversions. For example, which include a phone number as a call to action, or which historically have generated phone calls. Start a list and detail how phone conversions fit into each.
Also, talk to C-level executives, sales managers and marketing colleagues to learn about planned campaign initiatives. You’ll want to make sure a call tracking-solution lends itself to satisfying future needs as well.
3. Review reporting needs and internal capabilities.
Once all campaign-tracking needs have been identified, discuss internally what type of reporting data will help to improve campaign performance. Call tracking program elements can include:
- Log time: Time of the day a call took place.
- Keyword: Search query that drove the caller to your website.
- Session: Full details of a user’s digital footprint
- Traffic Source: What website traffic source generated a phone lead.
- Caller ID: Who is calling and from what number.
- Call Length: How long the call took place.
- Call Recording: Audio recording of call conversation.
- IP Address
- Geo-Location: Country, state and city of the caller.
- PPC Campaign and Ad Group: Integration into Google AdWords campaign to better understand PPC conversions.
- Creative/Ad Type: Details on what marketing or advertising initiative generated the phone lead.
- Last Web Page Visit: What web page the lead was on just before calling.
Also, review your internal capabilities. You’ll need at least one internal champion in the sales or marketing department to take the time to learn the solution and understand how to interpret the data. This individual will be charged with managing and processing data, and then interpreting the findings.
4. Put together a budget
Now that you’ve got a pretty good idea about the scope of the call tracking solution you’ll need, it’s time to put together a budget range. As a guide, the cost associated with a call tracking solution should be a small fraction of total marketing spend or revenue.
Most solutions will charge by the usage minute and/or by phone line. When you reach out to a provider, if possible, have ready an estimated number of phone lines needed (i.e. one for each website traffic source, one for each PPC ad, one for all online banner ads, etc.) and the average length of a new-lead phone conversation. This will help you get a more accurate quote.
5. Identify vendors
CallTrackingBlog.com has a fairly comprehensive call-tracking provider overview of eight possible solutions (disclaimer: Mongoose Metrics is listed). It compares solutions across eight categories, such as Web Analytics Integration, CRM Integration, Speech Analysis and API, and provides a link to reviews and news about each.
You may also want to reference your analytic program’s help section. In some cases it may list the call tracking solutions with which it integrates. For example, Google Analytics offers a list of its call tracking solution partners (again, Mongoose is listed here).
Next Steps
Now you’re ready to reach out to a few solution providers. Have all the information you’ve collected at the ready, as representatives will ask you a variety of questions that will help them better understand your needs.
Have you recently evaluated call tracking solution providers? What tips or comments do you have? Please share in the comments below.
Tags: Call Tracking, phone call tracking
