Mongoose Metrics Resources Blog

How To Create Email Alerts From Phone Call Tracking Numbers

Jeff Tirey — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:41:39 +0000

This how-to article will show you how to create your own custom email alerts that triggers when a Mongoose Metrics phone number is dialed. The email alert can contain all the call details from the phone call including incoming caller phone number and call time duration. To implement this feature you’ll need access to a web server that can send email through a scripting language processed on a web page. Our example will make use of PHP’s mail function.

Understanding Mongoose Metrics Dynamic Variable Insertion
With all Mongoose Metrics phone call tracking numbers you can elect to have a URL visited every time the tracking number is dialed. However, an advanced version of this feature exists which enables you to dynamically append to your elected URL variables which will be populated real-time with the phone call details.

As an example, a URL with the parameter syntax of :
http://www.mongoosemetrics.com?incoming_caller=CALLER_PHONE

would construct the URL if dialed by the number 216.502.2750:
http://www.mongoosemetrics.com/incoming_caller=2165022750

The above example makes use of the Mongoose Metrics dynamic variable CALLER_PHONE which acts as a place holder in the URL string. When the tracking number is dialed and the call is completed, the Mongoose Metrics phone server will see this place holder variable in your URL string and replace it with the actual data from the live call.

Here are some of the dynamic variables available:

CALLER_PHONE - The incoming caller’s phone number.
CALL_DURATION - The total billable length of the call.
CALL_DATE - Date of the call.
MONGOOSE_NUMBER - Trackable phone number which was called by caller.
CALL_DESTINATION - Destination number that trackable number points to.

Step One - Construct Your Tracking URL

From the ‘Trackable Number’ tab in our Mongoose Metrics account, click on the ‘configure’ link to the right of your tracking number.
Next, construct your URL which will be visited every time your tracking phone number is dialed. To send to your email alert meaningful information about the call, use some of the above dynamic call variables in your URL string. Here’s an example URL string which would be placed after the domain name portion of your URL: /?phone_number=CALLER_PHONE&call_time=CALL_DURATION

When the tracking number is dialed, Mongoose Metrics will construct the URL string and visit the URL. The phone server will replace CALLER_PHONE and CALL_DURATION with the actual data from the phone call. In this way you have now passed from the phone call the call detail information and sent it to a web server for further handing.

Step Two - Creating An Email Script

Our example will use PHP’s mail function. To review, we now will have a web page visited every time a tracking number is dialed and the web page will be visited by the Mongoose Metrics phone server with a URL string that’s populated with the phone call details. You next have to grab the data found in the URL string and insert this into your email alert message. With PHP this is fairly straight-forward. Here’s how:

On the web page that the Mongoose Metrics phone server will visit place this code snippet above your tag. This code example will look for the URL parameters phone_number and call_duration. If it finds these parameters in the URL string, it will grab their values and send them off in an email.

$phone_number = '-1'; if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['phone_number'])) { $phone_number = $HTTP_GET_VARS['phone_number']; } $call_duration = '-1'; if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['call_duration'])) { $call_duration = $HTTP_GET_VARS['call_duration']; } ?>

Next you need to paste anywhere in the web page code so long as it’s below the above snippet the code that actually sends out the email. Here’s some example code to get the job done. It may be adapted to your needs of course.

if ($phone_number <> '-1') { $to = 'me@mydomain.com'; $subject = ' '. $phone_number .' | ' . $call_duration .' - Phone Call Alert'; $message = ''; $headers = 'From: alerts@mydomain.com' . "\r\n" . 'Reply-To: noreply@mydomain.com' . "\r\n" . 'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion(); mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers); } ?>

The above code example will send an email with a subject line only. In the subject line will be the incoming caller’s phone number and call time duration.

Adaptations And Uses

The above information gives you the basic picture and setup. From this you can now fire off email alerts whenever your tracking number is dialed. Keep in mind that since this implementation requires you to develop your own processing code to construct the email, the variations on what you can do are endless. Here are some additional examples of how to further adapt this method:

Send the email if the call duration is over or under a certain call duration length
Send the email to different recipients based upon the area code of the incoming caller
Send the email if a specific tracking number is dialed
Send the email if it’s called from a specific keyword or campaign
Send the email based upon the time of the call
Instead of an email, why not insert the data into the server’s database for additional processing or advanced metrics. This could include associating the incoming caller’s phone number with a web sales or lead generation conversion or archiving the data as apart of a longer sales cycle.

Ok, we have given you some example of what you can do with this method, but why send email alerts from trackable phone numbers in the first place? Only you can decide if this implementation provides value to your online marketing campaigns. However, here are some examples of how Mongoose Metrics customers can make good use of this method.

Missing Calls. Phone call conversions from paid search campaigns can be quite valuable depending upon your market. We can all see missed calls with our existing phone systems already and Mongoose Metrics call detail reports will show you complete call logs. But lets face it, in a sea of phone calls and missed phone calls sometimes you (or your clients) can still miss the message and not return the call as quickly as possible. If you’re on the go or on the phone a great deal, missing phone calls is a part of life and email alerts can provide a tremendous amount of urgency and clarity in deciding who needs to be called back first.
Sales Management. When phone call leads are valuable. Looking at call detail reports at the end of the day or at the end of the week sometimes isn’t fast enough. Email alerts can be constructed for sales managers so that they can easily see what’s going on with phone call leads and have a quick measurement of call volume and phone call time durations.
Client Notification. We are swamped with data and reports. In many business environments it’s just not realistic to expect clients to log into reports and invest time digesting the data. Yet clients still want to know what’s going on. If a simple subject line email makes the difference between communicating the right information the right way, it can make all the difference in the world.
Flexibility. At the heart of Mongoose Metrics philosophy is delivering a phone call tracking service that’s flexible and can deliver phone call tracking data however and where ever you need it to go. Sending email alerts with phone call details is another example of our commitment to provide information that is adaptable to your way of business.

Yahoo! IndexTools Phone Call Tracking Setup Instructions

Jeff Tirey — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:31:23 +0000

This article provides instructions to guide you through implementing your Mongoose Metrics tracking numbers to integrate with Yahoo! IndexTools web analytics package. When completed, this implementation will allow you to track offline phone calls and see the phone call report from within your existing Yahoo! IndexTools account.

Create a Mongoose Metrics account. There’s a demo code on the sign-up page which enables you to evaluate our phone call tracking with web analytics integration service risk fee. Please note, to activate your demo account you must place a valid credit card on file but your card will not be billed.
In Mongoose Metrics admin, provision a tracking number. The provisioning process only takes a few minutes. When your number is provisioned you must next map the tracking phone number to a destination phone number. The destination number is the number you want to ring when the tracking number is dialed.
In IndexTools admin, from the left menu under ‘Account Settings’ click on the ‘Set Up Campaign Tracking’ link.
Next on the campaign management page, scroll down just a bit and look for the ‘Add New Campaign’ drop-down menu.
It’s your choice what you select, but since this is a phone call campaign a good suggestion is to choose ‘Other Campaigns’ from the drop down menu.
Complete the ‘Add New Campaign’ form. You’ll need to give the campaign a name and assign a cost option. If you’re unsure what to enter regarding cost, select ‘free campaign/other cost option’. Otherwise select the cost option and enter the cost value.
IndexTools gives you an amazing amount of flexibility when it comes to how you want to track your campaign traffic when it arrives at your site. Scroll down on the ‘Add new Campaign’ form and you’ll need to define the campaign tracking method under the ‘Campaign Settings’ section of the form. Exactly how you’ll want to set-up this option is up to you and the needs of your campaign. In this example, we’ll set-up the campaign to track by URL parameter (a URL parameter is variable name and value passed in the appendage of a link such as ?phone_number=8001234567). From the drop down menu choose ‘URL Parameter Equals’ option and in the text box to the right, as one possible example, enter: phone_number=800123456 In the above example, the campaign tracking parameter variable name is ‘phone_number’ and the value is ‘8001234567′. This can be whatever you choose so long as this URL parameter is found in the inbound link to your campaign. As an example of this, if you’re setting up a campaign to track a banner ad or paid search, you’ll need to use the URL parameter you entered here in the destination link. We chose to use the example ‘phone_number=8001234567′ because if you wish to dynamically publish tracking phone numbers with cookies, the above example will integrate well with our example scripts. See how to publish tracking numbers to cookies for more information.When done, click on the ‘Add’ button.
Back in your Mongoose Metrics account, enter the entire URL to your campaign including the URL parameter you just entered in IndexTools campaign setup. You enter the URL in your Mongoose Metrics account in the ‘Web Analytics’ set-up which can be found on your phone call tracking setup page.

That’s it! When submitted you now have an active phone call tracking campaign using IndexTools. As an overview, when the tracking phone number is dialed, the Mongoose Metrics phone server will visit the URL you designated. In the URL is the campaign tracking code which will insert the phone call event into your IndexTools web analytics reports. Ensure that the URL you designate Mongoose Metrics to visit has your IndexTools on-page js tracking snippet. If you already set-up your IndexTools account, then this step is most likely complete.

Triton Barn Systems Increased PPC Driven Phone Conversions By 180%

Jeff Tirey — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:26:59 +0000

Business Background
Triton Barn Systems manufactures modular horse stall systems and horse exercisers. They are an extremely active advertiser with a marketing presence in email marketing, banner advertising, paid search, trade shows, trade magazine ads and direct mail.

Paid Search Advertising Challenge

Triton Barn Systems’ product price points and complexity lent itself well to phone conversions yet due to their widespread advertising campaigns, the portion of inbound phone call leads driven by paid search advertising were largely unknown. Without knowing exactly how many inbound phone call leads were generated from paid search it was difficult for Triton Barn System’s Marketing Director, Curtis Gardner, to make further spend increases in their paid search campaigns.

The Solution Was Phone Tracking Numbers For Paid Search Visitors

In an attempt to better determine the exact call volume driven from paid search, Triton Barn Systems made several changes to their ppc campaigns. First, Triton Barn Systems implemented a cookie based trackable phone number publishing method where any site visitors arriving through paid search had a tracking number passed in the destination link of the ad. The tracking number was set to a cookie and then published throughout the site replacing Triton Barn System’s default sales office phone number. In this way paid search visitors were tracked through the Mongoose Metrics tracking number while other site traffic which arrived through direct traffic, organic search and referrals saw the default sales office number. Next, Triton Barn Systems created a new goal in Google Analytics to represent phone calls driven by paid search and then configured within their Mongoose Metrics account to have the goal’s URL visited every time the tracking number was dialed.

Their Phone Call Tracking Method Worked As Followed:

Visitor arrives through paid search (ppc)

Phone tracking number is passed in destination link of the ppc ad

Phone tracking number is set to cookie and published through-out website

When visitor dials tracking number, Mongoose Metrics visits goal URL

Offline phone call conversion data is fed back into paid search campaign

The Results - Dial It Up! Triton Barn Systems Increased Paid Search Spend by over 180%

With phone calls tracked from paid search, Triton Barn Systems now discovered the exact call volume driven from the paid search campaigns and the specific keywords which converted to phone calls. Triton Barn Systems increased their spend because they were under-estimating their inbound phone call leads which originated through paid search. The offline phone calls had a very acceptable cost per acquisition which averages lower than other marketing channels. This lead Triton Barn System Marketing Director to increase the company’s spend on their paid search campaigns in order to generate more inbound sales call leads to the sales office.

Curtis Gardner of Triton Barn Systems says, “Before using phone call tracking we didn’t realize just how many phone calls came from online search advertising. Now that we know, we’ve expanded our keyword bidding.”

This case study demonstrates how with more information about offline phone call conversions, search campaign managers are armed with key insights regarding the full extent of conversions and which keyword phrases lend themselves well to offline phone calls.

How to A/B Split Test With Tracking Phone Numbers

Jeff Tirey — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:43:27 +0000

Tim Coleman over at ConvertOffline.com provides excellent step-by-step instructions on how to conduct Google Analytics A/B split testings where you need to measure offline phone call conversions. His method allows marketers to create and test multiple campaign landing pages and be able to have a measurement of which landing page results in more phone call conversions.

How To Set-up Phone Call Tracking With Google Analytics

Jeff Tirey — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:01:25 +0000

This page provides step by step instructions as well as common questions regarding how to integrate Mongoose Metrics’ Phone Call Tracking service with Google Analytics.

Set-Up Instructions

Create a Mongoose Metrics account. There is a demo code on the sign-up page. Use the code to fully test the service risk free. With all demo accounts you will not be charged, however you must place your credit card on file with our service.
Provision a Mongoose Metrics tracking phone number. After provisioning the number you must do two things:a) Map the tracking number to a destination number. The destination number is the phone number that will ring when the tracking number is dialed.b) Next, within the ‘Trackable Phone Number’ section of your Mongoose Metrics account click on the ‘web analytics’ link next to your tracking number. This will take you to the web analytics set-up page. Once there, enter the URL which the Mongoose Metrics’s phone server will visit once the tracking phone number is dialed. We suggest you use the Google Analytics URL Builder tool in order to properly tag the URL. When the URL is properly tagged with a campaign, keyword, medium and source the call event will appear in the ‘Campaign’ section of your Google Analytics reports.
Ensure that the URL you have designated the Mongoose Metrics phone server to visit has your Google Analytics js snippet on the web page. If you have already set-up Google Analytics this step should be complete.

That’s it! When the tracking phone number is dialed, the Mongoose Metrics phone server will issue an automated browser visit your specified URL. This will represent the call activity back to your Google Analytics reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the phone call event represented in my Google Analytics reports?
A phone call is expressed as a unique visitors with one page view. By using the Google URL Builder to help define the medium of the campaign as, ‘phone’ you can infer that one unique visitor is equal to one phone call. The image below taken from a Google Analytics report demonstrates how the phone call event will appear in your account when defining the medium as ‘phone’ in the link to your tracking page.

Where do I view Mongoose Metrics phone call activity within my Google Analytics reports?
We suggest using the Google Analytics URL Builder in order to properly tag the tracking URL of your hidden web page. In the tracking URL define campaign medium as possibly ‘phone’ and use campaign name to represent the name of your marketing campaign where the tracking number is placed. To view offline phone call activity you can click on ‘Campaigns’ in the left menu of Google Analytics under the ‘Traffic Sources’ section. From there, you’ll see the campaign of the offline tracking phone number if you tagged the link using the Google URL Builder.

How are calls which are not answered handled?
If the tracking phone number is dialed and connected to the destination number, our phone call server will place a visit to your hidden tracking page. This will include calls that go unanswered.

I’m using paid search, how can I track in Google Analytics the keyword that delivered the offline phone call?
This can be accomplished by passing the tracking number in the destination link of your ad and from there publishing the tracking number to the landing page. You will need to provision a separate tracking number for each keyword, ad group or campaign you wish to track. Click here to see detailed set-up instructions.

Dynamically Publish Tracking Phone Numbers With Cookies

Jeff Tirey — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:04:54 +0000

This article explains how to publish a Mongoose Metrics tracking phone number on landing pages and websites where the tracking phone number is passed in the destination link of a paid search ad and set to cookie. This method is ideal for advertisers who want to drive traffic through ppc/paid search and have a measurement of which keywords in the paid search campaign resulted in offline phone call conversions.

Tracking Phone Number Publishing Example Scenario

Searcher clicks on paid search ad.
In the destination URL of the ad is the tracking phone number.
When the searcher arrives at the landing page/website through the destination link, the tracking phone number is set to a cookie on the searcher’s computer.
From the set cookie, the tracking number is published on the landing page and if needed throughout the entire website.
Since the tracking number is set to a cookie on the searcher’s computer, should the searcher return to the website at a later date, the tracking number will re-appear.
If the visitor does not arrive at the site through a paid search destination link that contains the tracking number, the website’s default phone number appears in its place.
With all Mongoose Metrics tracking phone numbers, when the phone number is dialed, the phone call event will be injected into your analytics package of choice.

The above scenario demonstrates how paid search campaign managers can use Mongoose Metrics phone call tracking numbers in their campaigns and gain key insights into which keywords convert to offline phone calls.

Tracking Phone Number Implementation Instructions

This solution is entirely Javascript based and will work on any browser that is Javascript enabled and will accept cookies.

Step 1. This step has two parts. First, paste the below on-page js snippet of code on the landing page of your campaign. This should be the same page that your destination link containing your tracking phone number links to. This code will set the tracking number found in the URL to a cookie on searcher’s machine.

Second, you must paste the same code in place of any phone numbers on your site. Paste the code in the body of your webpage where-ever you wish for the phone number to appear. The js snippet will either publish the default phone number or the phone call tracking number depending on if the set cookie is found.

Step 2. Download the file MM_PhoneTracking.js by right clicking and saving this link.

Step. 3. On line 24 of MM_PhoneTracking.js you’ll need to replace the demo number with the default number of your website. The default number is the phone number you want dialed when the visitor did not arrive at your site through your campaign.

Step 4. Post MM_PhoneTracking.js to the root directory of your site. If you want to post the file elsewhere that’s fine but be sure to edit the on-page js snippet which references the path.

Step 5. That’s it! To set the tracking number to cookie you must arrive at any page that contains the on-page js snippet and also have the tracking number in the URL. The on-page snippet is used to both set the tracking number to cookie and/or display the tracking number so paste it on the entry page of your campaign and anywhere you want the phone number to appear.

The syntax of the url paramter is:
tracking_number=8001234567

An example link is:
http://www.mongoosemetrics.com/?tracking_number=8001234567

Additional Implementation Notes

Changing phone number format.
Both the default and tracking number must be stored and passed without formatting. You can change how the phone numbers will appear on the web page beginning on line 46 of the MM_PhoneTracking.js file.

Changing How Long The Cookie Is Stored
By default the cookie is set to save on the visitors machine indefinitely. If you need to change how long the cookie is kept before expiring you may do so on line 12 of MM_PhoneTracking.js

Example - Caller Identification For Political Campaigns

Jeff Tirey — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 14:00:26 +0000

Political Organizations are heavy marketers during campaign time. Specifically state or national party apparatus can provide their districts with the tools to effectively track inbound phone calls to judge the effectiveness of particular strategies.An example service is one where organizations publish numbers for citizens to learn more about the candidate. These numbers are 400 Mongoose Metrics numbers mapped back to the Organization’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Through the Mongoose Metrics system, the Organization learns which calls to action are most effective in a particular market. Adding in the Caller Identification information allows the political group to generate a personalized mailing and calling list of interested parties which should be canvassed before the election.

Political Action Committees (PACs) or 527 groups can also use Mongoose Metrics to track their effectiveness in driving contributions and action to the party of their choice.

Sign up now for a $10 Free Trial of the Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking Service

Example - Phone Directory Provider

Jeff Tirey — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:58:27 +0000

An internet phone directory provider aggregates phone numbers for specific products and services correlated with cities. For example, Dry Cleaning in Elmhurst Illinois. When people search on Google for Dry Cleaning in Elmhurst, the first link that is returned is the phone directory provider. When the link is clicked, the visitor sees all of the providers of that service in Elmhurst.The phone directory provider (PDP) allows each vendor in the listing to purchase phone leads for a set rate. The PDP then supplies a Mongoose Metrics phone number and maps it to the vendor. The PDP lists the Mongoose Metrics phone number for the vendor business in the directory and collects a pay-per-call advertising fee for each call that is made.

The PDP has access to sophisticated reports and is able to directly import billing information into their system via Excel.

Sign up now for a $10 Free Trial of the Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking Service

Example - SEO Call Tracking/SEO Pay Per Call

Jeff Tirey — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:57:54 +0000

This example illustrates how Mongoose Metrics can be used as a new vehicle for monetizing Internet leads.

In any industry which search engine optimization (SEO) tools or search engine marketing (SEM) tools can develop leads, the Mongoose Metrics system can be layered on top of existing lead monetization to turn some web-based leads into phone leads. The goal of Mongoose Metrics is to provide a vehicle to convert existing leads into more valuable phone calls.

In many industries, phone leads are preferable and more valuable than internet leads. Industries in which short decision time is a critical factor or where the product is often shopped around to multiple vendors benefit greatly by phone leads because they increase close percentages. These industries are generally more traditional, non internet-centric businesses.

If a SEO is currently selling internet leads via email to these businesses, he or she should expect a 10-20x upsell on any phone leads delivered.

Some examples of SEO concentrations which could benefit greatly from the Mongoose Metrics Call Converter SEO tool would be Mortgage SEO, Legal SEO, Home Improvement or Repair (Plumbing SEO, Landscaping SEO, Fencing SEO, Siding SEO, Roofing SEO, Flooring SEO), Mattress SEO, Car Repair SEO and Auto Repair SEO, as well as Heating and Cooling / HVAC companies.

Sign up now for a $10 Free Trial of the Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking Service

Example - Advertising Agency

Jeff Tirey — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:14:44 +0000

An advertising agency uses Mongoose Metrics’s reports and tools to demonstrate campaign effectiveness, advertising return on investment (ROI), and marketing ROI to their clients through call tracking.

An advertising agency with multiple middle-market clients is being pushed to demonstrate that they deserve a substantial portion of their clients’ marketing budgets. On the next quarter’s campaigns, the agency offers Mongoose Metrics Call Analyzer with Caller Identification as a value-add.

For one specific client, the agency recommends a combination of radio, print, television, and internet advertising. The advertising agency obtains 10 Mongoose Metrics numbers corresponding to each piece of creative and media. Using these phone numbers for their client, the advertising agency is able to demonstrate to the customer CMO or VP of Marketing, clear marketing metrics and marketing analysis showing the results generated from particular creative and media combinations. This enables the client CMO to evaluate the campaign ROI through analytics and make better informed decisions on targeted marketing spending. This accountability for marketing spend also improves the relationship between agency and client.

Additionally, the agency used the Caller Identification feature which allows them to produce a report for their client on a daily basis showing the contact information for each of the callers on the Mongoose Metrics numbers. The client is then able to follow up with additional touches in order to cement the new relationship.

Through the Mongoose Metrics management portal, the agency is able to create and manage hundreds of campaigns across multiple clients.

Sign up now for a $10 Free Trial of the Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking Service