Posts Tagged: PPC call tracking

Analytics / Call Tracking / CRM / Integration / Mobile Marketing / Offline Advertising / PPC / Sales / Search Marketing / SEO — No Comments
7
Oct 11

Exploding Growth of Mobile Search Makes Call Tracking Essential for the Automotive Industry

Visitors to mobile auto sites grew 463% over the course of one year. The demand for mobile phone conversion solutions is critical. With the rise of mobile internet becoming the leading platform of web browsing, dealers must address this channel now or risk losing revenue.

Mobile Call Tracking Drives Conversion for Dealers

With one in seven searches happening via mobile, automotive retailers can’t afford to ignore the growing demand for mobile conversion solutions. A comScore study reported 21% of users access auto content almost every day and 48% access the content one to three times a month. Combining call tracking features with mobile conversion optimization enables marketers to engage mobile visitors, drive mobile sales conversions and help create competitive advantage. Consider the example scenario below:

Jane is looking to purchase a new car. She opens Google on her mobile browser and searches for “Used Ford Escape Dallas, Texas” This search takes her to a number of results, showing many options of used Ford vehicles being offered at various dealers in the Dallas region. She clicks on a prominent search result for John Ford Auto.

We know she is in the Options stage of the Buying Process, and we only have 9 seconds to get her attention. Using Mongoose’s Mobile Call Track technology, John Ford Auto pushes a special mobile alert to Jane 5 seconds into her visit that says, “We have your SUV, touch to call us now.” Jane clicks the mobile alert and her mobile phone populates with the number for John Ford Auto. The dealership gets the sale and Jane drives away in her Ford Escape. John Ford Auto knows that they won the sale thanks to Mongoose technology – because the conversion and phone call are recorded for easy tracking.

The Mongoose Metrics’ Mobile Call Track solution for automotive offers several powerful  features for customers that are serious about making mobile a part of their automotive marketing strategy:

  • Right Time, Right Place action triggers, which rescue visitors before they abandon your mobile website.
  • Increase & Measure Conversions – Auto dealers realize an immediate lift in mobile conversions of up to 30%– with ROI potential to increase overtime from 45 – 100%.
  • Seamless integration – Integrate with web analytics, bid management and CRM software for easy, consistent reporting.

With a growing number of searches being conducted via mobile phones, having statistics to understand the behavior of your customers is critical. The power to increase mobile conversions is yours. Are you equipped to drive more sales from your mobile site? Start now by contacting us today!

Analytics / Call Tracking / CRM / Mobile Marketing / Offline Advertising / PPC / Search Marketing — No Comments
29
Sep 11

The Forgotten PPC Metric: Phone Call Conversions

Pay per click (PPC) advertising is used to drive traffic to your brand’s website, and is typically measured using online analytics. However, the most successful PPC campaigns are those that can capture and associate any form of lead conversion with a specific campaign, ad, keyword and landing page.

The missing, and often forgotten, piece to this lead conversion picture is the phone call. To effectively capture these offline conversions and tie them to your PPC campaigns, you need to integrate a call tracking solution.

PPC 360° — Tracking a Complete View

When you combine phone calls with online form completions, you can gather valuable insight into campaign performance that will help you evaluate your PPC campaign and maximize returns. Specifically, you can use this information to evolve:

  • Keyword Selection: With call tracking and web analytics, you can identify the keywords that are driving lead conversions. Use this information to understand what terms drive the highest quality traffic, and then build out your campaigns using these terms, and direct synonyms, to increase conversions. At the same time, cut back on, or eliminate, the keywords that don’t result in conversions.
  • Bid Management: With the top lead-producing keywords identified, you can better manage how much you are willing to bid on each for top placement. If you know a keyword drives conversions, you can use ROI to justify spending more money per click. At the same time, you can reduce spend on keywords that are not driving adequate lead volume.
  • PPC Advertising Budget: With call tracking and web analytics showing you all lead conversions, you can make informed decisions on whether you are receiving an acceptable ROI on your PPC investment, and compare its return to other marketing and advertising initiatives. Depending on PPC rate of return, you may consider allocating more budget toward your campaign, or conversely, shift budgets away from PPC advertising to other, more effective marketing campaigns.
  • Landing Page Design and CTAs: The most successful PPC campaigns have a clear call to action, for example make a purchase, fill out a lead form, download content or call for additional information. Evaluate landing page design and CTA performance based on both online and offline conversion data. What may look like the best CTA in online analytics may not prove the best when you account for phone calls. Understand how your audiences prefer to communicate and what resonates with them, and then prompt them to take action based on their preferences as to improve conversion rates.

How to Integrate Call Tracking into Your PPC Campaign

The reason for integrating call tracking into PPC advertising is clear: it provides a full picture of campaign performance, helping you make informed investments.

Here are four quick steps to get started with call tracking for PPC.

  • First, work with a call tracking provider for initial setup.
  • Add call tracking numbers throughout your website, either by manually placing them on individual landing pages or integrating a call tracking Javascript snippet into your website’s HTML code.
  • Next, integrate call tracking into your PPC advertisements. Google offers a phone number ad extension, or you can also integrate numbers into ad copy or within the imagery of display ads.
  • Finally, assess complete ad performance and conversion rate by feeding your call-tracking data into web analytics and PPC platforms. Depending on the call tracking solution used, this data can be automatically piped into your PPC account dashboard.

With call tracking integrated into your PPC campaigns, you can have a complete view of conversions, even when a lead picks up the phone to call. Analyze your campaigns; test new keywords, ads, bid strategies and landing pages; then evolve based on conversion data, and start the process again.

What successes have you had using call tracking for PPC?

 

Features, Tips, & Announcements — No Comments
31
Aug 11

Call Tracking 101: How to Integrate Call Tracking Into Your Marketing Campaigns

Marketing in the past relied heavily on the “spray and pray” mentality—if you could get your message in front of enough people, at least a few would be compelled to take action. With limiting reporting available to directly tie tactics to results, many campaigns were simply shots in the dark.

Today’s marketer has the technology available to report on prospect interactions and conversions from specific marketing activities, and use that data to evolve campaigns based on results.

What is call tracking?Most marketers now use web analytics to understand how leads interact with their brand online, but what happens when a prospect picks up the phone?

With more users browsing the web via mobile devices, companies are likely to receive more offline customer calls and conversions. And let’s not forget that some people simply prefer to call, especially when dealing with local businesses. With a call tracking solution, you can find out what marketing activities prompt these offline conversions.

Two Ways to Implement Call Tracking

There are two simple ways to incorporate call tracking into your marketing analytics: one-to-one and Javascript integrations. Following are details about both methods, including how they work and best practices.

One-to-One Integration

The Basics: The idea behind one-to-one integration is to assign unique call tracking numbers to specific marketing tactics, campaigns or activities. For example, if you are running a series of print advertisements across several publications, assign a unique call tracking number to each publication, and then integrate the number into the corresponding ads. As a call comes in, you’ll know which publication prompted the call.

How It Works: It’s automated. As calls are logged, your call tracking solution will record the conversion, associate it with the proper marketing activity, and keep this data on file for your team to review and analyze.

When To Use It: One-to-one integration is ideal for marketing activities that take place off your website, often more traditional tactics. Think of campaigns that engage leads when they are offline, such as:

  • Billboard and Print Advertisements
  • Television and Radio Advertisements or Placements
  • Mobile Messaging Campaigns
  • Promotional Fliers
  • Guerrilla Marketing Tactics

Javascript Integration

The Basics: A Javascript snippet, provided by your call tracking platform, is code integrated throughout your website, similar to analytics tracking code, that provides detailed reporting of visitor activity that leads to a phone call.

How It Works: This Javascript snippet captures site visitor information and displays a unique phone number to each visitor on your website. The number follows the user from page to page via a cookie that is automatically installed on his or her browser. Even if a visitor leaves the website, as long as the cookie hasn’t been cleared, he or she will see their same phone number upon return.

When a user picks up the phone to call, the call tracking solution associates the call with the corresponding visitor information gathered online. This information—including source, landing page and last page visited—is recorded and stored for your team to review and analyze.

When To Use It: Javascript integration is ideal for campaigns that drive audiences to your website, and those that require higher level of tracking detail. Because the code captures each lead’s historical data, and doesn’t have to be tied to specific campaigns, reports can give insight into the overall effectiveness of your marketing activities as a whole. Use Javascript integration to measure the results of the following marketing tactics, and more:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Pay Per Click (PPC)
  • Online Advertisements
  • Link-Building Campaigns

Using data and reports from call tracking, you can determine which marketing campaigns, activities and messages resonate with your audience and generate more leads. When tied to a CRM, you can also determine the sales value and ROI of your efforts. With this information, you can make smarter decisions on how to invest your time and budgets.

What questions do you have about call tracking?

 

 

Call Tracking / Features, Tips, & Announcements / PPC — No Comments
19
May 11

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”

Call Tracking in Google Adwords

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.

Phone Call Conversions in Google Adwords

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.

PPC Call Tracking for Google Adwords

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

Set up call tracking conversion data in Google Adwords. Chose the “Create” button and download the report.

Google Adwords Call Tracking Report

5. Download the report and view the data.

Your report should look like this:

Call Tracking Adwords Report

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.”

How to view phone call conversion data in Google Adwords

Make sure the following columns are selected:

Phone Calls in Google Adwords

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

Google Call Metrics Ad ExtensionsFive 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?

PPC / Search Marketing — No Comments
27
Apr 11

How Keyword Data Can Improve Campaign Performance

Keyword Date Improves Campaign PerformanceKeyword selection plays a significant part in all digital marketing campaigns. In the beginning, you may target keywords based on relevance, estimated search volume, competition and estimated cost per click.

However, as the campaign progresses, keyword traffic and conversion data can provide highly actionable information that can be used to better target messaging, increase keyword traffic quality and improve lead conversions.

Identify Quality Keywords

To identify quality keywords, first integrate a web analytics platform and call tracking solution into your campaign. Together, these tools can capture:

• Traffic source information (i.e. search engines, keywords)

• Visitor website activity (i.e. pages/visit, bounce rate, time on site, pageviews)

• Online conversions (i.e. online form completions)

• Offline conversions (i.e. phone calls)

Using this information, attempt to answer the following keyword-related questions to determine quality:

• What keywords drive traffic?

• What keywords continue to drive more traffic? — This may signify an improvement in rankings.

• How are targeted keywords used in long-tail searches?

o Is the way audiences use these terms relevant to you?

• What keywords drive site interaction, indicating relevancy to visitors?

o Look for a low bounce rate, and high time on site, pages per visit and pageviews.

• What keywords drive visitors that complete online forms?

• What keywords drive visitors that call?

The answers to these questions will help narrow down the best keywords to target with your marketing activities.

It is important to note, prior to making any campaign keyword adjustments; make sure you have enough data to arrive at an accurate conclusion.

Where to Use Targeted Keywords

Brand Messaging and Content

Look at what keywords seem to resonate with online visitors and integrate them into your brand messaging and website content. Feature these keywords in taglines, marketing messages, headlines, page copy and website navigation options to show visitors that you speak their language.

Search Engine Optimization Efforts

Reevaluate the terms you’re targeting with your optimization efforts. Focus on keywords that strike a good balance between strong traffic volume and good conversion rate. Next, integrate these terms in specific locations throughout your web pages, including page titles, URLs, meta descriptions, headlines, body content, image alt text and link anchor text.

The following link is a great beginners guide to SEO from SEOmoz.com, with more details on keyword integration.

PPC Campaigns

Effective use of a PPC campaign budget is predicated on selecting and bidding on the keywords that will drive highly qualified traffic.

Make sure your campaigns are targeting keywords that have proven to convert into leads. You may also consider increasing the amount you’re willing to bid for these terms because you know they are more likely to convert.

Website Calls to Action

Make sure to integrate quality keywords into your call to action text, for example, “Call Today To Learn More About [KEYWORD].” Similar to brand messaging, your calls to action need to resonate with audiences before they will take action.

Also, remember that leads don’t just convert via online forms. Make sure to offer both a lead form and tracking phone number to give them the option.

How are you using keyword analytic data to improve your marketing campaigns?

Call Tracking / PPC — No Comments
19
Apr 11

How Call Tracking Works with PPC Advertising

The following is an excerpt from a blog post on the Wordstream Internet Marketing Blog:

Call tracking involves more than simply recording the number of calls received. It’s part of a sophisticated marketing methodology that gives marketers accurate, real-time campaign effectiveness figures.

Call tracking allocates a distinct phone number, local or toll-free, for each unique source you want to track. Reports can be as general as calls from all search engines or as specific as calls from one unique paid search term.

When a visitor arrives on your site, the software conducts a search to determine which phone number is associated with the visitor’s origin. That phone number is then dynamically added throughout the site and cookied within their browser, so even if they return at a later time, they will continue to see the same number until the cookie is deleted.

As soon as a visitor makes a call to this tracking number, the program logs call time, PPC campaign information, available ID information, geographic location and the last web page visited, among other things.

New opportunities to improve PPC performance

A complete lead picture shows how each campaign, ad group, ad and keyword is performing, helping advertisers more effectively identify best- and worst-performing elements to efficiently shift budgets and update or delete under-performers.

In addition, call tracking can help you better understand aspects of campaign performance that web analytics alone cannot:

* Preferred method of communication — Depending on the industry, audience and product or service, leads may be more inclined to call than fill out a form. This is true for local businesses, where, according to TMP Directional/15 Miles and comScore, audiences prefer to call a business (38%) or visit a physical location (36%) than complete a web form (9%). Understanding your audience’s preferred communication method is key to adjusting calls to action on PPC landing pages, and other marketing initiatives, to improve conversion rates.

* Landing pages — If your landing page is designed to generate web form submissions, but instead drives more calls, it may be an indication that the page content is confusing, the main call to action is not obvious or the web form is too involved. Making adjustments and tracking the number and type of conversions over time can help maximize performance.

* Call recording — Most call tracking solutions offer the option to record phone conversations. From a PPC campaign perspective, these recordings can be used to better understand the type of questions leads are consistently asking, so you can adjust the content on your landing pages accordingly.

Lead volume generated by your PPC campaign is often the most important metric for evaluating success. By simply tracking online conversions through web analytics, you may be missing a significant portion of lead data.

To most effectively improve campaign performance and maximize ROI, you need to track both online and offline conversions, which requires the integration of both web analytics and call tracking.

How do you track offline conversions?

Features, Tips, & Announcements — No Comments
7
May 10

The Mongoose Metrics White Paper Library is Now Open!

Check us out — Impress your friends with all your knowledge about how call tracking improves ROI by 30 to 40 percent.  Our comprehensive white paper library launches today offering nine free white papers about a variety of call tracking topics. 

Hot Topics Currently Available for Download: