Call Tracking as a tool for analyzing and improving ROMI

Why should they track these calls? Clients call themselves and let them call.
It turns out that if you look closely, you can select the main channels to attract customers:

• contextual advertising
• SEO promotion
• Work with partners
• Exhibitions
• Sites - aggregators
• Thematic Portals

In fact, there are more channels, but this is not important for us

Each channel has its own costs and the number of orders (calls) is not always directly proportional to orders. It may be that SEO brings 20% of site traffic and 2% of orders. The logical conclusion is to abandon SEO (if the goal of SEO is just direct sales).

In addition to tracking performance in the context and within advertising channels, you can track the effectiveness of site changes. For example, when redesigned, the number of calls increased on all channels. So the redesign is good. If on the contrary - you need to return the old design.
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Below you will read what types of call tracking are and what type is better to use.

Dynamic tracking

The site for each visitor substitutes a new phone number. At the number we bind the caller to visit the site.

Pros:

• Managers may not be aware that tracking exists.
• Savings on employee work.

Minuses:

• The cost of buying or renting rooms.
• Unable to use brand number.
• The client can record a phone number and call it in a week (month).
• Not applicable to offline channels (banners, flyers, exhibitions ...).

Process:

1. The client enters the site, the site gives him a phone number from free.
2. Customer calls by phone number.
3. The PBX informs the site after the end of the call: the date and duration of the call, whether the customer’s phone number, phone number, or call number were picked up.
4. The site sends to google analytics the session ID, the duration of the call, whether the phone is picked up.

As a result, we add the following step to the existing chain of user actions (entered a request, saw an ad, clicked on an ad, hit the site): called.

Having data in the context of the sessions, we can see the quality of traffic in the context of channels, advertising campaigns, ad groups, keywords.



This will greatly help in improving advertising campaigns, especially for search and contextual advertising. And it can also help to abandon the promotion of ineffective keywords in organic delivery. For example, there may be a lot of traffic on high-frequency words, and there are few calls.

Options for organizing dynamic call tracking

On their own:

1. Need a PBX that can give the site information about calls.
2. It is necessary to buy several additional telephone numbers (an average of 2 numbers per 100 visitors per day +1). But you need to take into account attendance peaks. For by peaks, we take the maximum number of users simultaneously on the site and multiply by 2. Therefore, the exact number of numbers can only be calculated experimentally.
3. Website developers, PBX, marketer need to agree on a joint adjustment of the system.

The advantage of self-tuning: your phones, the monthly fee only for phones, the system is controlled independently.

Disadvantages: one-time costs more, the numbers need to buy.

With one of the many services:

1. Select service.
2. Integrate with the site and analytical system.
3. To teach the marketer to use.

Advantages: already running, fast starting

Disadvantages: numbers rented (the client can write down the number), lack of flexibility, for example, the call duration does not give everything, the service for your needs will not always be adjusted, the monthly payments are more expensive, you may need to pay for forwarding calls by the minute.

Static call tracking

It differs from dynamic in that telephone numbers are assigned not to client sessions, but to advertising channels or campaigns. Much easier to set up. Allows you to determine the price of customers by channel, but do not look inside. Perfect for offline channels, such as the distribution of leaflets near the subway, a thematic exhibition, advertising in a magazine.

The implementation is similar as with the dynamic possible independently or with the help of the service.
The number of numbers is equal to the number of channels that need to be monitored.

Process:

1. The client enters the site, the site gives him a phone number depending on the channel. In the case of offline - the phone number of the channel is listed directly on the media.
2. The client calls the phone number, the PBX tells google analytics on which channel the client called, as well as additional information (call duration, date, time, whether they picked up the phone).

Call Tracking with Promotional Codes

You can say this is a “hack”, which allows you to save on the purchase of telephone numbers due to the additional gestures of managers and customers.

Pros:

• Cheaper.
• One brand number.
• Promotional code can be used both online and offline.
• PBX can not have.

Minuses:

• The manager is forced to ask the client “client code”, “discount code” ... This is not always ethical.
• Customer must say promotional code.
• The manager must find the promo code and click the “rang” button in front of him.

Process:

1. The client enters the site, the site gives him a promo code number.
2. The client calls, during the conversation informs the manager a promo code. For online stores, a promotional code is simply a prefix with a hyphen to the product code, which is easy to ask the customer.
3. The manager enters a promotional code in a special system.
4. The system sends a session ID to google analytics.

Further, in principle, the same as with dynamic tracking, but there are nuances in linking the parameters of the call (duration, did you pick up the phone ...) with a specific call.

Mixed version

It is possible of course to combine the options. But for the combination of services, I have not met.
Combination example:

• For offline channels we use separate numbers (static tracking)
• For contextual advertising - each visitor has his own number (dynamic call tracking)
• For SEO - ask for promotional codes

Of course, it is not as easy to set up such an implementation as each individual view, but with a lot of site traffic, you can save on numbers.

What to do to implement?

First, decide if you need a call tracking. If you spend $ 100 - $ 200 per month on advertising, you may not need to track calls. If more - I advise you to implement at least static call tracking. Each channel, which is more than $ 100 per month - your phone number. Price call tracking should not be more than 20% of the cost of advertising. If much less - uniquely implement!

To implement - tell the person responsible for marketing in your company about this possibility, if he does not already know. Ask for an implementation plan. Calculate costs. Check with the developers of the site, they may offer an already proven solution. There are also services that allow for sane money to start using call tracking.

I will be glad to hear your opinion on the article.



The next level of analytics is order accounting. It would be interesting to you to read about the principles of integration with the CRM system and what advantages does it give?
The original article on the website of the IT4U web studio