| Phone Call Conversion Tracking—The Tools Are Here, the Time Is Now |
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| Written by Brad Reynolds |
| Tuesday, 05 January 2010 10:04 |
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About four years ago I asked a general manager of a Columbus Ohio auto dealership about the dealership’s online paid search marketing. The GM printed out a report for me showing their monthly paid search clicks that totaled about 5,000 monthly clicks or about $3,000 in ad spend. The GM was no dummy. He expressed frustration that he didn’t know what he was getting from the 5,000 monthly clicks. He didn’t know what the visitors did on his site and, most importantly, he didn’t know how many called the dealership. Four years later and in today’s uncertain economy, it is doubtful that unmeasured paid search expenses totaling $36,000 a year can continue to be confidently paid without measuring campaign performance. Fortunately, the need to measure the offline performance of online spending has now been met with new call tracking tools.
The new landscape of phone call tracking
Traditional call tracking services have been around for over ten years. Yet only recently has call tracking moved beyond the traditional service where a tracking number is placed in a campaign ad and calls are reported from a simple detail report. In the past, there was a disconnect between paid search spending and the calls and sales that resulted. The Columbus GM I spoke to was acting on faith that his $3000 paid search budget was working because no measurement tools were available.
Today, this gap has been bridged. Over the past two years, the call tracking industry has worked to develop tools that integrate their phone systems with popular online paid search services, such as Google AdWords. Integration is key, because now the data can be related directly to the keyword or ad that drove the call. Additionally, data can be integrated into popular reporting environments used by auto dealership marketers. These include web analytics packages, bid management software, and CRMs. With integration into reporting and CRM environments the offline conversion data can be compared against other marketing channels.
What does integration bring?
Integration brings measurement and measurement brings clarity surrounding your online paid search performance and future spending decisions. Basic questions that all GMs and internet marketing managers have such as, “Which keywords drove calls?” and “How many cars were sold as a result of my online paid search spending?” can finally be answered. A specific example would be a post call IVR feature where the dealership can log the call outcome and that data can be tied to the specific keyword or spending that drove the call.
With the advancements in call tracking technology and the industry’s integration into third party systems, auto dealers finally have the tools to tie together a complete picture surrounding their online paid search spending and the resulting offline call performance. With a questionable economy and extensive scrutiny around marketing budgets, having clarity surrounding your marketing performance equates to better spending decisions and ultimately higher ROI on marketing dollars.
Brad Reynolds is the president and CEO Mongoose Metrics. Brad drives Mongoose Metrics' product and technology development. In addition to founding multiple technology companies he has served as a consultant to Apple, KPN/Qwest, ICG/Netcom, and Edial. To learn more about Call Tracking, please visit www.mongoosemetrics.com.
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