Posts Tagged: tracking

Call Tracking / Features, Tips, & Announcements / Social Media — No Comments
17
Oct 12

Use Source Level Call Tracking to gain insight into your Facebook Advertising Conversions

Recently, the largest social media platform, Facebook, launched a new advertising initiative called Facebook Exchange as way to combat investor skepticism of its ability to become profitable. Since Facebook launched its IPO in May, many investors have been concerned regarding Facebook’s ability to monetize the value of its billion users.

Facebook Exchange taps into the power of retargeting, a technique that so many of the search engine powerhouses have already discovered. Retargeting allows companies to track a user’s visit and behavior using cookies, and as a result they are able to dish up targeted ads when the user is browsing the web, and now also when they are surfing Facebook.

The goal of the retargeted ad is simply to get users to click back onto the retail site that they visited earlier before, in effect, creating a new opportunity for the retailer to convert the visitor into a customer. The benefit of retargeting for Facebook is the increase in advertising revenue, which by some accounts has surged nearly 58% in the last year.

Most marketers are aware of how to track online conversions, but what about the offline conversions?

In many cases an offline conversion, via a phone call, is the result of an online advertisement click. The question comes into play as to how advertisers are able to associate the offline conversion to the online advertising source. And, why, in the instance of Facebook Exchange advertising is it valuable to track these conversions?

Because of the rising cost of online advertising, especially with Facebook, associating an offline conversion to the online source is essential. By implementing a source level call tracking phone number, all Facebook users who click on the retargeted ad will in effect see the same phone number on the website.

Source level call tracking allows marketers to attribute the offline conversion customer to the online advertising source.   Essentially, marketers can provision a call tracking phone number for any one of their online ad sources including Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, etc.  With this information, advertisers are able to see the aggregate number of calls from each online source and as a result can optimize their online advertising budgets towards the best performing campaigns.

For more information regarding out Source level call tracking or questions on how call tracking may work best for you contact our team!

Features, Tips, & Announcements / PPC / SEM / SEO — 1 Comment
3
Jul 12

How to Efficiently Drive Online Traffic and Effectively Measure Offline Phone Conversions

In today’s multi-channel world, people are searching online, visiting stores to test out the products, returning to the Internet to compare prices and then completing the purchases either online, in the store or over the phone.

With so much competition on the web, it can be a race to the top of the search engine lists page. Search engine optimization is important for businesses to rank organically over time, but what if you’re looking for immediate results? Generating a substantial amount of traffic through a search engine marketing (SEM), sometimes referred to as cost-per-click or pay-per-click, campaign may costs thousands of dollars in order to increase sales and in the end it may be clear as to how many thousands of potential consumers saw and clicked on the ad, but unclear as to how many of those potential customers followed through and converted offline via a phone call. Marketers must be prepared to measure the offline conversions in order to justify the spending. When marketers simply measure clicks alone, they don’t have a complete picture of the conversion value.

By utilizing SEM as well as a source or keyword level call tracking service, businesses will be able to efficiently drive online traffic and effectively measure the campaign that drove the call along with the sale that happened as a result.

Our new white paper, Your Guide to Driving Online Traffic and Measuring Offline Phone Conversions, was written in collaboration with Elite SEM, a New York based digital marketing agency. In this whitepaper we review how to leverage online advertising to its fullest by generating quality SEM and measuring offline phone conversion with the latest advances in phone call tracking.

For questions regarding this whitepaper please contact Pamela McGowan.

 

Features, Tips, & Announcements — 1 Comment
29
May 12

The State of Automotive Internet Marketing

In our recent research data series, The State of Automotive Marketing, we set out to evaluate and address some of the challenges that automotive dealers face today in connecting with customers and potential customers via social media. With the results from this series our goal is to help automotive marketers better understand and leverage best practices as part of the overall marketing mix. We want you to have the confidence when forming your plan and justifying marketing spend.

How did we retrieve the raw data?

Using Jigsaw.com’s API we were able to retrieve the company information of 17,669 automotive dealerships.  We then crawled the domains of each dealership website and downloaded the homepage source code. By downloading all source code we were able to analyze which social media platforms were the preferred choice and how they are being utilized. Taking it one step further: With our retrieved data we were able to use Facebook’s Open Graph API and Twitter’s API to measure dealership engagement ratios.

 

What did we find in our research?

  • Facebook has the largest presence of the auto industry with 6,628 dealers (38%)
    • Marketing among dealers is concentrated on the east coast, Midwest and west coast
    • Most dealers have between 5-222 fans
    • Most dealers have < 0.58% engagement
  • Twitter has the second-largest presence of auto dealers with 4,164 (24%)
    • Twitter marketing is also concentrated on the East coast, Midwest and West coast
    • The average dealership Twitter account had between 3-144 followers
    • Over time, the average follower count tends to stagnate
  • YouTube showed the third largest presence with 4,066 (23%)
  • In terms of Google+, 1,344 (8%) of dealers have a Google+ page.
  • Only 270 (2%) of dealerships had a LinkedIn company page.
  • Facebook and Twitter are commonly used together with 3,940 (22%) of dealers utilizing both networks to market.

While many dealerships are taking advantage of various social media platforms the question becomes; Are marketing efforts effective and what is the process for measuring effectiveness? In our upcoming blog post we will review engagement ratios in comparison to “like” or “follower” counts.

For further details about the research or to receive a copy of the presentation contact Pamela.mcgowan@mongoosemetrics.com. For more information visit the research series page of our website.

 

Analytics / Features, Tips, & Announcements / PPC / Search Marketing / SEO / Social Media — 3 Comments
28
Oct 11

Understanding Google’s New Search Default Restrictions

Google has found a way to start tightening the rope around search, and more specifically, SEO. According to Brad Reynolds, CEO at Mongoose, “Google is changing the face of web analytics by encrypting search results.” As a result of this change, anyone who logs into their Google account (i.e. Google+, Gmail) and then conducts a search via Google will no longer have referrer data sent along with it. That referrer data reveals what search terms were used in order to find a particular business or website. Paid ads, however, will not be affected by this change.

Who does this impact?

In a blog post, Google says less than 10% of searches will be affected by this change. Additionally, in a Search Engine Land Article, Matt Cutts a Google Software Engineer estimates the affected traffic to be 1-2% of search volume.  Aggregate query data will continue to be available and include visits from users who are not signed into a Google account. This change only concerns organic search results while the user is logged into a Google account. It does not impact direct traffic, PPC traffic or affiliated traffic.

How does this affect the user experience?

In the Search Engine Land article: Google to Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default with SSL Search, Danny Sullivan does a great job of describing the setbacks from this change. This encryption prevents sophisticated keyword-based targeting from being used. It is almost as if we’re taking a step backwards in the progression of custom and personalized information. Instead of creating a better user experience, this is essentially making the consumer work harder. Take for example someone searching for a specific product, but since referrer data isn’t passed along to the company, the user lands on a basic web page. Now the user has to navigate through the website in order to find their particular product – essentially making the entire process more time consuming for the user. As a marketer, having the capability to track and analyze specific keyword information will become harder to obtain.

Why the change?

There is much speculation and controversy around why this change has been made. The majority of comments we have seen believe it is a way for Google to make more money and gain competitive advantage. Google mentions there is a growing importance of protecting the privacy of personalized search results. In an effort to protect users and their privacy, Google feels this is reason enough.

There are two additional facts we find to be confusing. First, Google will continue to offer this data to their paid advertisers, which seems inconsistent with the goal of protecting user privacy. Second, Google will continue to gather this organic search result information without passing it on, thus giving them exclusive intelligence related to search results. Some say this will hurt small businesses that cannot afford to pay for online marketing services, while others mention that this is a step in the right direction towards protecting the privacy of the consumer. The debate will be ongoing as more people become aware of this change in the marketing and SEO world.

With change, there is naturally going to be resistance. Like many changes, there will be pros and cons. At the moment, Mongoose is more interested in the long-term effects. Specifically, we’re curious to know how this will impact the way we search and if this will become a standard across all search engines. Will referrer data one day disappear for good – paid or not? Again, going back to Search Engine Land’s article, Sullivan claims that the future is clear:

“Referrer data is going away from search engines, and likely from other web sites, too. It’s somewhat amazing that we’ve had it last this long, and it will be painful to see that specific, valuable data disappear.”

Let’s say he’s right and this data disappears from search engines, what does this mean for social? Most users are searching via social already; perhaps this is an attempt by Google to gain traction in the social space as well. Although Google+ is not the most popular network in the social world, this might be the first step towards making that a reality. For now, Facebook and Twitter continue to own the social search arena. Users trust their friends’ feedback, comments and likes, which is something you don’t have in search engines. However, with Google, you do have the +1 option – but you need to be on Google+ for that function.

Your thoughts?

What do you think about what Google is doing? Are you for or against this change? Please leave any comments and suggestions below.

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!

Features, Tips, & Announcements — No Comments
5
Jun 09

AccuTrack Session – Ease of Use for PPC Managers

This post provides an overview of Mongoose Metrics’ AccuTrack Session keyword level phone call tracking product. In particular it will describe how a key benefit of AccuTrack Session is its ease of use.

Our customers want a phone call tracking platform that is easy to setup and easy to manage.  This is especially true for online marketers who manage PPC campaigns.  Marketers want a product that does not require a great deal of acclimation or extensive maintenance.  Low maintenance is of particular importance as its common for PPC campaigns to make experimental changes in keywords and bidding.  The last thing our customers want is to make changes in their PPC campaign only to be saddled with further maintenance burdens within Mongoose Metrics.

AccuTrack Session keyword level phone call tracking was designed to meet these needs.  AccuTrack Session, is our new keyword level phone call tracking product designed to track phone call conversions from both PPC and organic search campaigns.  AccuTrack Session uses ans an innovative pricing model where the customer only pays for the publishing of the phone number.  The Session Publishing Cost (SPC) pricing model allows our customers to easily understand what their campaign’s PPC call tracking costs will be by looking at their monthly paid click volume.  There are no minute usage charges with AccuTrack Session nor are there monthly charges for holding the tracking phone numbers.

Easy To Understand Campaign Cost

Keyword level phone call tracking often requires the need for many phone numbers and there are uncertainties around phone call minute usage.  Often an analysis of the campaign’s traffic volume, major keywords and call usage is required before a keyword level phone call tracking campaign can begin. In addition there is often the need for client communication and budget approval.  With AccuTrack Session the decision process is simplified.  To predict cost, only an estimate of the campaign’s monthly click volume is neecessary.  Since there are no minute usage charges, a huge uncertainty regarding minute usage cost is removed from the decision making process.  This means faster decisions and greater efficiency when launching a keyword level phone call tracking campaign.

Easy Setup

Setup requires only basic HTML skills.  It is a one-time setup and no further changes on the campaign website are required.  Once setup, AccuTrack Session publishes the tracking number to the campaign page. This removes the need for customers to manage and publish tracking numbers.  In addition, there is no need to upload your campaign’s keywords to AccuTrack Session .

Automatic Tracking Number Management

AccuTrack Session automates the provisioning of tracking numbers to the customer’s campaign.  Tracking numbers provisioned are private numbers used exclusively for the customer’s campaign. These numbers are not shared across different campaigns or customers.  The benefit with automatic tracking number provisioning is that as the customer makes changes to their campaign there is no need to return to Mongoose Metrics to provision more numbers.  Tracking numbers can be either local or toll-free.

Automatic Postback Reporting to Web Analytics Package

When a phone call comes in through an AccuTrack Session campaign, the call is automatically reported back to the customer’s web analytics account.  The reporting includes the keyword that drove the call in addition to call details such as the incoming caller’s phone number and call duration.  For example, Google Analytics users can then see the phone calls reported in the Campaign section of Google Analytics and by filtering to the dimension of ‘keyword’ they can then see what keywords drove phone calls.

Like all Mongoose Metrics’ products, AccuTrack delivers reliable data into the customers preferred web analytics package in a simple and easy to use system.

Features, Tips, & Announcements — No Comments
11
Mar 08

Google Analytics/Google Audio Ads and Phone Call Tracking

Summary: This post explains how Google Analytics users can leverage the Google Audio Ads integration to not support both online ROI and offline phone call ROI via Mongoose Metrics phone call tracking technology.

Google Analytics announced integration with Google Audio Ads this week. The integration allows Google Analytics users who run Google Audio Ads campaigns to see a special overlay report that shows both the radio ad broadcast schedule and website visitors. The report allows the Google Analytics user to clearly see the correlation between spot broadcasts and site visits and conversions. As rich as the overlay report is, a simple solution exists that allows Google Audio Ads advertisers to track phone calls driven from their radio spot campaigns.

Using Mongoose Metrics With Google Audio Ads

As a brief walk through, a Mongoose Metrics trackable phone number can be used in radio spots as the call to action phone number and also in the web campaign’s landing page.  When the number is dialed, the phone call event will be logged back to Google Analytics within the campaign section.

In this way, Google Audio Ads advertisers can create radio campaigns that can target both web based conversions and offline phone call conversions.