google call tracking « Mongoose Metrics

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HOW TO: View Call Tracking Data Inside Google Adwords

Mongoose Metrics customers have the unique opportunity to view phone call tracking data alongside Google Adwords PPC data within the Google Adwords dashboard. No other call tracking provider offers this feature.

This document outlines HOW TO view Mongoose Metrics call tracking data within Google Adwords.

Once you have integrated your call tracking data you are ready to begin (contact your sales representative or our dedicated support department if you need assistance).

1. Verify you are receiving Mongoose Metrics call tracking data within Google Adwords.

To view your data, log into your Adwords account and click on the “Reporting and Tools” tab and select “Conversions”

2. Verify that Adwords is showing Mongoose Metrics conversion data.

To do this, look for your conversion event. Normally this is titled “phone calls” although the title is up to you.

If everything is working properly then the column “Conversions” will display data — as long as calls have been completed through the Mongoose Metrics system.

3. Check your account to verify that calls have taken place.

Once you verify the integration is working correctly, you can view the conversions within your Google Adwords account. Keep in mind that when you look at data inside of the Adwords interface that Mongoose call tracking conversion data will combine with your other standard conversion data. When you look at the conversion column, remember that the data is a sum of all conversion events.

4. Segment conversion events to an Excel spreadsheet.

If you need to segment the conversion event you can do a data export from Adwords into Excel. To do so, go to the report you would like to generate and click on the “Download Report” button.

Then, click on “Add Segment” and select the “Conversion Action Name” option.

Chose the “Create” button and download the report.

5. Download the report and view the data.

Your report should look like this:

This report shows which keyword triggered a particular conversion event. The name of your conversion event is represented in column A.

If you do not see your conversion events, double check that you are exporting the correct columns. Do so by going back to the Adwords interface and click the “Columns Button” and select “Customize Columns.”

Make sure the following columns are selected:

By following these steps you will gain a clear picture of which keywords are driving calls. By understanding high and low-performing keywords you can further optimize your PPC spending.

For assistance with integrating your Mongoose Metrics phone call tracking data with Google Adwords, please contact your sales representative.

Call Tracking / PPC / Search Marketing — No Comments
4
May 11

Google Call Metrics Pricing: What PPC Advertisers Need to Know

Five months after introducing Call Metrics, Google has started charging for calls placed to these tracking numbers. According to Greg Sterling, in a recent Screenwerk blog post:

“It must be the case that AdWords Call Metrics is wildly successful and lots of marketers are using it. Otherwise I don’t think that Google would so quickly be imposing fees.”

Sterling offers details on how Google’s pricing model works:

High-end mobile device click-to-call = Standard ad click rate

On smartphones, such as iPhones, Androids and Blackberrys, phone numbers in Google search results show up as click-to-call links, where the searcher can simply click on the phone number and the smartphone will automatically place the call. In this case, Google charges the same amount as it would if someone clicked on your ad to visit your web page.

Laptop or desktop computer = $1 per completed call

For those searchers that are using a laptop or desktop computer, Google charges a flat $1 fee for every completed, or answered, call to a Call Metrics tracking number.

Sterling asks, “How does this rate card compare to other call tracking vendors?” The answer is, it doesn’t.

Google is charging on a cost-per-action basis. This differs from most call tracking vendors, which charge on a per number, per minute basis.

The issue with the cost-per-action model is that Google is essentially charging advertisers under the assumption that all calls are leads, which may not always be the case. For example, a searcher may simply be calling for directions or hours of operation.

When call tracking solutions offer cost-per-action models, there are typically metrics in place — defined by the client, such as call length — to alert the software when a call should be considered a conversion, and thus charged accordingly.

Why Use Google Call Metrics?

As we wrote back in March, Google Call Metrics is a great way to evaluate your call tracking needs, and this continues to be true. However, with Google charging for these incoming calls, it is more important to closely monitor your campaign performance to ensure that you are maximizing ad budget. It is also important to understand when a more robust call tracking solution may be necessary.

Following are two items to closely monitor and evaluate during your Call Metrics campaign:

What types of calls are coming in?

Pay close attention to the types of calls resulting from your PPC campaigns. To do this, you need to set up a way to isolate and notate the type of calls that come in via Call Metrics. One way to do this is to assign an internal phone number so that it only receives calls forwarded from Call Metrics. Next, instruct your internal team to note if calls to this line are general inquires or result in new leads.

If there is an abundance of calls simply asking for directions, hours of operation, if so-and-so is working, or wrong numbers, reconsider Call Metrics.

Each of these calls, which likely won’t result in a lead, is eating up your PPC budget and limiting your campaign’s ability to reach more qualified audiences.

How many calls are coming in?

Consistent call volume is a strong indication that your target audiences are more inclined to pick up the phone rather than complete an online form. This likely extends beyond PPC to other marketing initiatives, such as organic search, offline advertising and email newsletters.

If this is the case, you may want to consider integrating a more robust call tracking solution to effectively track offline conversions that result from all marketing activities. Compare call tracking vendors to see which solution is a fit for your needs.

A complete lead conversion picture provided by the integration of web analytics and call tracking solutions enable you effectively evaluate campaign performance, evolve marketing activities and reallocate budgets to maximize lead quality, volume and overall ROI.

Are you using Call Metrics? What do you think of their new pricing?

Call Tracking / PPC — No Comments
14
Dec 10

Google Call Tracking Results and Analysis from a Live Campaign

A few weeks ago, I noticed that phone numbers were appearing in our Google Adwords Text Ads. This was surprising because our pay-per-click management company took the initiative for this experiment. Great job guys! We have previously posted on Google’s launch of Google Call Tracking and a comparison between Google Call Tracking and Mongoose Metrics and are very excited to see Google enter the competitive landscape.

Additionally I was excited to have some real world data from Google to compare against our Mongoose Metrics system in an effort to understand how this tool can be used by customers to optimize and increase their ad spend. We view the Google tool as a complement to the Mongoose Metrics infrastructure and understand that there will be situations where Google Call Tracking is the best fit for our customers. Our goal is to gather enough information to talk intelligently and steer the customer in the direction which best fits their needs.

Conclusions:

No cost (currently) means its definitely worth an experiment.
Text ads do drive phone calls.
Google Call Tracking data is summarized by campaign and day, no individual call logs or recordings.
Unsure whether calls from the Ads are sales related or support related.

Would be nice to see:

Access to per-call logs and recordings (preferably via API).
Access to keyword-level performance reports.
No charge permanently.

When I asked our PPC management firm for the call related data behind this campaign, they sent me over the below spreadsheet and noted that “

Due to the limitations of the Google Call Metrics program, we can provide only limited data describing the day calls were produced, the campaign that produced them, and the average call time for calls from that campaign on that day“

We receive summary information by campaign for all of the calls which are triggered. This is because Google currently allocates a phone number per campaign. Because we can only receive summary data, understanding how to tie this information into the distinct calls our organization received is impossible; however, knowing that calls are actually triggered out of text ads is a surprise piece of information. My guess is that these are likely support related calls, but without discrete detail I can’t easily support this conclusion. I definitely advocate the program if it helps people reach us quicker (even if it is for support versus sales) however, I would not be willing to pay for support related calls.

Call Tracking / PPC / Search Marketing / Social Media — No Comments
10
Dec 10

Call Tracking Goes Mainstream with Google, Promoted Tweets & Mongoose Metrics

2010 was a big year for call tracking. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

By far, the biggest advancement in 2010 was Google’s entry into the call tracking space with their Nov. 2 announcement of Google Adwords Call Analytics. The basic concept of the Google Adwords Call Analytics reporting platform works much the same way as many existing call tracking services. In Google’s offering, a limited set of data points are logged and recorded within the Adwords account dashboard. Of course, Google’s call tracking product tracks only one source: Google Adwords. More sophisticated solutions, including Mongoose Metrics, track phone calls from other search engines, organic traffic, social media, email and traditional advertising sources.

“We see Google’s entry into call tracking as an inflection point for the entire industry. Essentially, Google has validated call tracking’s promise of delivering the missing piece in the online marketing analytics puzzle,” says Bradley E. Reynolds, chief executive officer for Mongoose Metrics.

2010 also saw the adoption of speech analytics technologies by many call tracking vendors, including Mongoose Metrics. Mongoose Metrics launched Conversation Conversion Dynamics, a speech recognition technology to assess real-time ROI. CCD is an overlay feature on top of call tracking which records every move web-to-phone visitors take to reveal patterns of actions and behaviors.

Additionally, Mongoose Metrics introduced a number of features to enhance the call tracking experience for customers including a reverse proxy server, API and PCI compliance. The company also began providing service to Canada and the United Kingdom.

Integrating call tracking data with bid management providers, web analytics companies and CRM software packages also became de rigueur in 2010 especially for highly technological companies such as Mongoose Metrics. In 2010 Mongoose Metrics partnered with a number of leading web analytics and bid management powerhouses including Kenshoo, Marin, Acquisio, Unilytics and SearchIgnite. “By partnering with the leaders in bid management and web analytics we’ve been able to share the power of call tracking data with more sophisticated marketing professionals than ever before,” Reynolds says.

And, finally, to top off 2010, Twitter chose Mongoose Metrics (@mongoosemetrics) as one of only 20 beta testers in the world for its newly launched Promoted Tweets beta advertising platform. Promoted Tweets launched on Nov. 1 and since then Mongoose has significantly increased conversions, followers and Klout.

Analytics / Call Tracking / Examples / PPC / Search Marketing — No Comments
29
Nov 10

Google Adwords Call Analytics Explained & Compared w/ Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking

Tracking phone calls just got simpler for millions of Google Adwords users who want to understand how their PPC campaigns perform for delivering phone calls.

With Google’s Nov. 2 announcement about Google Adwords Call Analytics, the call tracking industry has been elevated alongside traditional web analytics providers as another trusted resource in the fast-growing field of marketing analytics.

“If you’re new to call tracking, using Google’s call tracking is a good place to start,” says Mongoose Metrics chief executive officer, Bradley Reynolds. But the technology only goes so far.

Of course, it only tracks one marketing source: Google Adwords, where more robust call tracking solutions offer insight into ALL your traffic sources including organic, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, display advertising, email marketing as well as traditional print and broadcast advertising.

The basic concept of the Google Adwords Call Analytics reporting platform works much the same way as many existing call tracking services. Google injects a unique call tracking phone number into the advertisement (in this case a PPC ad) and routes the resulting call (via VOIP) to the business. In Google’s offering, a limited set of data points are logged and recorded within the Adwords account dashboard.

Here’s a screenshot from Greg Sterling’s ScreenWerk blog post, “Free Call Tracking Comes to Adwords, PPCall Can’t Be Far Behind.”

To further amplify the concept, Surojit Chatterjee, senior product manager for Adwords, explains, “When a user calls the number in your ad, the call is automatically routed to your business, and AdWords notes that this call took place. Then, when you look at your AdWords reports, you’ll see the number of calls generated by each campaign, call duration, and in the near future, caller area code. You’ll still only pay for clicks on your ads, but we intend to charge for call metrics in the future.”

While it’s free for the time being, the pundits speculate that the service will eventually morph into a pay-per-call platform. Additionally, the only data points Google Call Metrics provide are somewhat limited and include only time of call, call duration and area codes in the aggregate.

Marketers who require a more sophisticated solution to understanding which marketing sources drive phone calls often turn to call tracking providers such as Mongoose Metrics. The Mongoose suite of products provides visibility into session-level, granular data about caller behavior from click to close.

Here’s how Google Adwords Call Metrics stacks up next to Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking:

For more information about how call tracking can improve ROI by up to 30 percent, schedule a meeting, download one of our many whitepapers or call 877.495.4440.

Follow us on Twitter @mongoosemetrics for the freshest links to the best sources of information about PPC, Web Analytics, Call Tracking, SEO, Social Media, Local & Mobile Search.

Features, Tips, & Announcements — No Comments
22
Jul 10

“Call Tracking Simplified” White Paper for Marketers

If you need to learn about call tracking for your online marketing efforts and don’t know where to begin, we’ve got the solution. Mongoose Metrics’ seven-page white paper “Call Tracking Simplified” breaks down the basics to help marketers understand how call tracking reveals which advertising sources make the phone ring. If you’re new to SEO or a veteran online marketer, “Call Tracking Simplified” provides a comprehensive overview of call tracking. You’ll find a summary, background/history, the specifics of how the technology works as well as three case studies detailing how successful businesses use call tracking to understand their complete conversion metrics.

“If you are only using web analytics to see how visitors interact with your brand, you’re only seeing half the picture. How can you know what marketing sources — whether they are mobile, PPC, organic, affiliate or traditional offline advertising — are converting if you don’t know what’s driving phone calls?” asks Mongoose Metrics CEO Bradley E. Reynolds.” Call Tracking Simplified” shows the importance of determining which keywords drive calls as well as how to integrate call tracking data with third party web analytics providers, CRM software vendors and bid management purveyors. Download Call Tracking Simplified.

Features, Tips, & Announcements — No Comments
21
May 10

Mongoose Metrics Call Tracking Solutions Added to Google Analytics Application Gallery

Call Tracking? There’s an App for That at the Google Analytics Application Gallery.

Today we announced our inclusion in the Google Analytics App Store as one of only 39 applications which include resources from campaign and content management to e-commerce, email marketing, mobile solutions and search optimization. From Google Analytics’ blog: “The App Gallery makes it easy for Google Analytics customers to find third party solutions which extend Google Analytics in new and useful ways.”

The GA App Gallery launched on May 5, 2010 and despite our recent inclusion, Mongoose Metrics was the first call tracking solutions provider to integrate our customers’ call tracking data into Google Analytics in 2007, allowing them to view phone call conversions right next to clicks for a full picture of the entire marketing funnel.

From our CEO, Bradley Reynolds, “When you’re able to quantify the offline conversions resulting from your online marketing initiatives you have powerful data to take immediate action. Our clients generally find a 20 to 30 percent improvement in their ROI when they implement call tracking. We also appreciate our long partnership with Google and feel that both parties have provided combined-value to customers trying to understand and quantify conversions.”

More from the GA blog: “The gallery contains applications that extend Google Analytics in new and exciting ways. They are solutions that help analysts, marketers, IT teams and executives get more out of Google Analytics.

Mongoose MetricsConversion & Call Tracking Blog