Call Tracking Software – A Key Element For Successful Advertising Campaigns

Advertising costs represent such a significant item on the list of business expenses so it is easy to understand why firms are keen to find out which media yields the best results. 

Perhaps you have noticed advertisements in magazines where the same firm uses a different contact name or a slight variation in the postal address? The rationale is that this enables the company to compare the number of responses sent to each name and address. In this manner, they can verify which of these advertising channels brings them the most customer inquiries and sales. Call tracking services are based on exactly the same idea. Their end objective is to ensure that the business gets the most value out of its advertising budget. It achieves this goal by analyzing the number of incoming calls and website activity.

The Role of Call Tracking Software

While variations in address and contact names can help companies to check which adverts generate the most customer emails, call tracking software enables companies to analyze from which advertising channels they get the most calls. For example, if a business assigns a special phone number to each advertising campaign the call tracking software shows them the number of calls they get from each campaign. 

Statistics from the USA show that the number of calls to businesses from social media and other paid advertisements almost doubled between 2014 and 2018. This is just one indication of how important it is to keep close track of from where all those customer inquiries come and to see which numbers bring in relatively few calls because no firm likes to throw away part of its advertising budget.

Key Advantages of Call Tracking Software

Now that we have explained the role of call tracking software in general terms, it is appropriate to go into more specific details about how it helps marketing and sales achieve their goals. 

1. Fills in a Gap in Google Analytics

Some might wonder why they need to use call tracking software — why can’t they get all the online customer data they want via Google Analytics. They forget that this useful online analytical tool only registers customer clicks. If the customer does not click on the advertisement but calls the business, Google Analytics does not know their action. 

Since information on the source of calls is so important in marketing terms, businesses seek to obtain the data in several ways. One of the most popular methods involves dynamic number insertion (DNI). Programmers use Javascript to configure a website to vary the phone number. The website displays it according to the path along which the customer reaches it. For example, those who find the site in a Google search see a different phone number than those who reach the website through a click on a paid advertisement. Once data becomes available for calls from these various sources, the call tracking software clearly indicates which advertisements bring in the most callers. 

Assigning different phone numbers to advertisements is an effective way to distinguish between callers who respond to online or offline advertising campaigns. It also makes it possible to find out which customer calls come via an online ad or from smartphones. In these ways, the sales department easily determines which media bring in the most callers. If few callers respond to a particular billboard or a social media ad, the firm can decide to remove their patronage and expand advertising activity in areas where the public response is much more encouraging.

2. Revealing the Patterns behind Customer Call Activity

While discovering the routes of calls is a key call tracking function, it is only one of a number of ways in which these apps provide marketing teams with vital information. For example, call tracking can dissect the data to uncover any time patterns in the calls that the business receives. If most calls come in at a certain time, it might make sense to concentrate the advertising campaign during this time slot. 

Call tracking also uncovers information on average call length. If calls continue for more than a certain amount of time, it could show that the sales representatives are not performing so effectively, or maybe the information the website provides needs improvement. From all of these details of call activity, businesses learn how they can improve their return on their investment in advertising (ROI). 

Monitoring calls also reveal useful information about the business’s customer base. Firms are very keen to obtain a clear picture of their customer base. For example, call tracking software produces information about caller demographics. If a large percentage of callers are below or above a particular age, it makes commercial sense to target advertising towards this age group. It would cost a great deal to obtain this information by commissioning a market survey. The data from actual customer interactions is also far more accurate than the best marketing surveys can claim to achieve.

3. Assessing the Ultimate Sales Success Indicator

The fact that so many callers respond to the business’s advertisements certainly indicates that their advertising campaign is going in the right direction, but the most important indicator to examine is the number of calls that lead to sales; businesses call this statistic the conversion rate. If thousands of calls come in but a relatively small percentage result in sales, it does not look like the representatives are doing such a great job. Conversion rate data is another key metrics call track delivers. Armed with this information, firms can assess and suitably reward those sales teams who perform the best. They can also easily recognize areas where customer handling must be improved and start investigating the best way to do this.

4. Improving the Effectiveness of SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a vital concern for all businesses with an online presence. In simple terms, this is the science of anticipating browser search behavior. The SEO expert works out which words the typical searcher is likely to enter into the search engine when they are interested in buying a particular product or service. 

To maximize the number of potential visitors to their websites, firms introduce a range of keywords into their advertising. Since searchers might enter a number of alternative words or expressions when looking for a product, an SEO campaign must consider this.

Call tracking reveals which keywords drive the most traffic to the company’s website. The SEO experts take note of this information to rewrite advertisements, blog posts, and other online advertising materials to include the most popular of these keywords. This should lead to the company website gaining a higher place in online searches and this, in turn, produces more hits on the site, and hopefully, a better sales conversion rate.  

5. How Call Recording helps Improve Customer Service

When you call a government institution or business, it is now quite common to hear a message informing the caller that their call is being recorded for staff training or other legitimate purposes. Firms are obliged to issue these warnings since recording a call without the caller’s agreement is an infringement on their privacy. Some callers are concerned that their calls are being recorded, but once they appreciate how these recordings are used they will probably view the matter differently. In addition to their role in training staff, these call recordings are very useful when any disputes arise over the commitments entered between buyer and seller.

The ability to record calls is another call tracking feature that companies find very valuable. New employees in the sales department gain a great deal from listening to recordings of customer interactions with veteran sales staff. This learning process helps the firm improve the customer’s calling experience and this also boosts conversion rates. Recordings can reveal both the types of query responses that aggravate customers and drive them away and the sales techniques that prove most successful in concluding the call with a sale.   

6. Helps to make sure Customer Calls get a Quick Response

A decline in customer’s patience over delays in replying to their calls is a serious matter. Nobody can afford to be reticent about not responding to missed customer calls as quickly as possible. Another good reason for using call tracking is that the software can send the firm an email notification to let them know after a call has been recorded. These notifications help companies reduce the time it takes to respond to missed calls. They also increase the likelihood that a member of staff will listen to the call recording soon after the call concludes. A quick response to a customer interested in making a purchase improves the prospects of closing the sale. It is also possible that contacting an angry client sooner rather than later will help to pacify their anger and prevent them from taking their custom elsewhere.

7. Different Types of Call Tracking

Telecom experts categorize call tracking software in several ways. One possible division draws a distinction according to the type of advertisement the software tracks. As the name suggests, static call tracking monitors the number of calls that come in from numbers that remain unchanged such as those printed on billboards or on business cards. It is possible to give each of these media a dedicated number so you can easily discover where exactly the callers saw the phone number. 

DNI tracking monitors the number of calls to dynamic website numbers that change when accessed by different paths. The trigger for the change in the number displayed might be the keyword entered, the advertising media used a special campaign or some other variable. The ready availability of virtual phone numbers at cheap prices makes this very precise call tracking much more affordable. It is possible to use and track multiple virtual phone numbers at a reasonable cost.

One popular variety of call tracking is the session-based tracking linked to PPC (Pay per Click) statistics. PPC advertisements are the kind of ads that display alongside search results. For instance, a company selling designer watches pays for their PPC advertisements to appear when a person searches for the keyword “luxury watches.” The theory says that searches for this keyword are more likely to click on the company advert when it appears alongside the search results. The business checks the average number of clicks on this advert each hour. Armed with this information, they arrange for a different phone number to appear this same number of times in the hour. Session-based call tracking monitors this hourly progression of phone numbers.

8. Getting the Most Value out of your Call Tracking Software

To get the maximum value from call tracking software it is necessary to integrate it with the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This provides the sales representatives with all the tools they need to understand the call tracking data properly. For example, the CRM presents a complete record of the tracked customer, including their previous interactions with the business. In addition to past calls, the representative that handles the call is well-informed about the caller’s location, which product interests them, and the medium they prefer to use. The more the representative knows about the caller, the better they can meet his or her requirements and close the deal. 

CRM and call tracking integration also enhance the caller experience through customized call handling. The company assigns a separate number to each advertisement so that callers are greeted by an appropriate Interactive Voice Response (IVR). Callers who respond to an advertisement for product X get one IVR while callers for product Y gets another IVR. This intelligent response shows each customer that the business is really interested in their inquiry and so they are more likely to make a purchase.

9. Choosing the Best Call Tracking Software

An online search provides you a result of a large number of firms offering call tracking software so the potential customer feels spoilt for choice. Obviously, the advertised application must offer the capability to create separate IVR menus and all the other useful features the business expects call tracking to deliver. It should also ideally enable the company to integrate the call tracking software with their CRM system. 

Another important point to consider is how easy it is to set up and operate the system. After all, the idea is to make it as simple as possible for the sales representatives to use so a complex app will defeat this objective.

As well as examining if the call tracking system features meet the business’s particular requirements, it is also highly recommended to investigate how the provider treats its clients. Issues that ought to be verified include the level of support available if technical problems occur, and how easy it is to contact the provider. For example, ask what backup procedures they have in place. If no “safety net” is in place the firm risks a loss of caller data and even calls not being properly connected until the problem is resolved. The ability to obtain professional assistance 24/7 is a great benefit in such emergency situations, and even at other times the availability of timely support counts for a great deal. Provider services that attract a rising number of clients are usually a sound choice from these perspectives, but it is still worthwhile to share notes with other call tracking users and review comments on industry forums.

If the call tracking offering appears to have all the desired elements, and the service provider has proper backup facilities and an efficient help desk, the cost issue should be the next deciding point. Where systems seem to be of broadly equal value the least expensive one is a logical choice. No company trying to save on their advertising budget wants to spend any more than they have to get their tracking software.

From all of these perspectives, the combination of call tracking software with a superior internet phone system is by far the better choice. Zadarma Call Tracking is an excellent example of a system specially designed for simplicity and enabling a seamless unification of call tracking with the most popular CRM systems. It supports both dynamic and static call tracking and provides users with all the data they need to accurately analyze customer call activity. This system is completely free to deploy. The use of virtual phone numbers costing just a couple of dollars each month also ensures it is inexpensive to run.   

10. Call Tracking Software is no Luxury

Businesses recognize the increasingly competitive nature of today’s trading environment. People have become used to getting instant results from the click of a mouse or a press on a key. They seem to have come to expect comparable quick responses from the businesses they patronize. In these circumstances, marketing professionals are keen to distinguish their company’s offering from competitors. This means that they can no longer afford to treat call tracking software as a luxury. Businesses that make the most effective use of their advertising budgets and learn to correctly interpret customer actions to gain a distinct competitive advantage. Which firm can afford to forgo this opportunity?

Nikunj Dudhat

A digital marketing and content curator at SoftwareSuggest, a software recommendation platform. I am passionate about Digital Marketing, and all things digital. Also interested in technology and innovation. In my spare time, enjoy playing cricket, and Badminton.