Using Phone Call Tracking to Maximise Profits from Pay Per Click Campaigns
PPC Call Tracking is a method of identifying what happens when a visitor on your website picks up the phone and dials the number on your website. Historically they drop off the face of the analytical planet leaving you very much in the dark.
To learn more about PPC call tracking visit http://www.calltracks.com
However this all changes with PPC call tracking. Ask anyone running a PPC campaign how many clicks or online conversions they are getting from their website and they will probably have a good idea. Ask which is your best performing keyword they will probably be able to tell you. Ask how many calls their PPC efforts generated or do you find that the phone sales generated by PPC have a higher profit margin they will probably have in most cases little or no idea.
The phone is very over looked when it comes to a measurement, which is surprising when stats like these, are readily available online.
– 65% of businesses consider calls their highest quality lead source (Source: BIA/Kelsey, 2010)
– 61% of local mobile searches result in a phone call (Source: Google, 2011)
– 52% of all mobile ads result in a phone call (Source: xAd, 2012)
– 59% of online shoppers call to ask about products (Source: Oracle, 2011)
-43% of all search conversions happen over the phone (Source: BIA/Kelsey, 2010)
Simply by adding conversions generated by phone calls to your analytics package such as Google Analytics, a bigger, more accurate picture of spend vs. revenue stream emerges. The information provided from phone calls together with the CTR and completed goals within your PPC campaign is known as ‘big data’ meaning a lot of information can be seen in one place, potentially making a big difference to how you run your PPC campaign.
Smarter Bidding
It is only with a ‘big data’ view can this information be accessed. Once you have this information, you can look at how much you are bidding for certain keywords and assess whether or not it is worth the price you are paying.
Once you tie the online conversions and the phone conversions together, you can really see the true cost per enquiry, which in some cases means conversion rate will be significantly cheaper than before. This means you can bid more aggressively on terms that previously offered expensive conversion costs.
True cost per enquiry and smarter bidding are two of the virtues of call tracking; let’s take a look at another.
Keywords
When you begin your PPC campaign, you assign keywords with a view of spreading a large net. Over time the net shrinks as it is clear which keywords are providing a good CTR, and which ones do not. Call tracking will provide the same information for phone calls.
To put it simply; keywords that generate phone calls to your business will be identified.
Call tracking works by dynamically changing the phone numbers displayed on your website and places unique tracking numbers within offline marketing channels. The numbers are later cross referenced to the marketing channel so the source of the phone call can be identified. The better call tracking software will also record other data including which site pages a caller viewed before, during, and after a call was made to your business, call duration, and if it is a really good call tracking solution; whether or not the call led to a sale.
Sales conversions and insights
You can identify whether or not a specific keyword is selling a certain type of product, what ads need to be improved to generate more sales, which marketing channels are generating enquires but not conversions, are banner ad placements resulting in more sales of one type of product, and which ads are generating few enquires but resulting in high value sales.
Simply by adding to the ‘big data’ picture by including the data held in your CRM systems, you will see data unlike you have seen before, including full customer and product purchase information, what product was bought and how much profit made on the sale. This data is all linked back to visitor, keyword or offline marketing source.
One business we spoke to sold televisions and related products online. Before they used PPC call tracking they estimated that 10% of phone enquires came in from PPC, and the rest came from other marketing activities including traditional channels and SEO efforts.
After implementing PPC call tracking, they found that the PPC phone calls accounted for 17% of incoming business and that the more profitable products were selling via phone calls generated by PPC adverts.
They modified the PPC ads that were not resulting in phone call driven sales, and increased the marketing budget on the ads that sold products by phone. Subsequently profits and ROI increased considerably.
Looking at the study from a sales perspective, it makes sense that the more complex and expensive a product is, the more likely a customer will call a business to ask questions before a purchase.
By looking at your phone call data you will be able to make informed decisions to whether or not a high cost per enquiry is worth paying for. For example, one ad placement might be generating few calls, but sells expensive products, while another may have a high bid price but is worth paying for because of the better profit margins on the products sold. If you’re making lots of profit and generating a decent ROI plus know exactly what is generating it. Then it really is a no brainer to decide where you’re going to spend your budget.
Phone call tracking that does not accurately link to sales, leaves a massive information gap in your insight into your PPC campaign and informed decisions to improve your profits cannot be made, it would be like ignoring online sales and bidding based on the number of clicks your getting.
Bringing it together
In short, using phone call tracking will give you insights into your PPC campaign which were not possible before.
You will simply make more money through smarter bidding, modifying underperforming marketing channels, and emphasising the segments of your PPC campaign which make you money.
To learn more about PPC call tracking visit http://www.calltracks.com
