As a marketer, you strive to make interactions and conversions as measurable as possible. For example, a lot of valuable things are often measured on the website. From completed contact form to whitepaper download and from newsletter subscription to direct sales. But what if your ads, landing pages and email campaigns include phone numbers? If so, chances are you currently can't find leads that come in by phone. While phone leads (depending on the industry) often carry a higher (purchase) urgency compared to leads that choose to fill out a form or send an email. You don't get recognition for these contact moments and conversions because no clear connections can be made.

Call tracking in the basics

In basic terms, call tracking is very simple to explain. Call tracking vendors use different phone numbers to correlate incoming calls to specific sources. Marketers use this data to map phone responses to marketing campaigns, so they know how many interactions and conversions these campaigns have generated.

Modern call tracking has two forms. Both forms are covered within this blog. To give practical examples, the example below applies further.

''Qasper is an entrepreneur who spends money on online marketing. He chooses Google Ads and print marketing in the form of brochures to generate more leads for his business. Qasper wants to know if his investment is profitable enough and decides to deploy call tracking.''

Dynamic call tracking

The most widely used and advanced form of call tracking is called dynamic call tracking. We explain the technique for you below:

First, a piece of code is installed on your website (can be done via Google Tag manager) that is linked to your own pool phone numbers

When visitors land on your website, each visitor will see a different phone number (these numbers are automatically replaced by our intelligent script on every page of your website).

Once a visitor decides to call, they are immediately transferred to your organization's landline number.

Finally, we link session data of each visitor to the called phone number and display this contact moment within Google Analytics, Google Ads and other systems. This allows you to trace the search, surfing and calling behavior of your website visitors.

Marketing and dynamic call tracking

Do you remember Qasper the entrepreneur? His marketer uses dynamic call tracking to measure the search, surfing, and calling behavior of (potential) customers. He receives the following data in addition to the fact that the call took place:

• The source of the visitor (dynamically obsolete: Google organic, Direct, Google Ads, LinkedIn, etc)
• Paid keywords & campaigns (Integration Google Ads and Microsoft Advertisement - coming soon)
• Visitor's session data-Referrer-Active page of call-Day/time of call (heatmap for budget optimization)-Device

offsite call tracking

The simplest way of call tracking is explained below:

First, a static/fixed tracking number is assigned to a campaign (e.g., brochure).

Once a potential customer decides to call this number, they are immediately transferred to your organization's landline number.

Finally, the call is recorded as a conversion within our dashboard, Google Analytics, Google Ads and other systems.

Marketing and offsite call tracking

Qasper's marketer uses offsite call tracking to measure the telephone response to his Google Ads call extensions and brochures. As a user, you get insight into the following call data:

• Phone number
• Source of conversation (Manually assigned by marketer e.g.: 2020 Brochure)
• Status call (Successful or missed)
• Call recording
• Date/Time
• Call duration

The above call data comes standard with dynamic call tracking. Both techniques are through our plug and play integration, easily integrated within 10 minutes.

Summary

By applying both forms of call tracking, you as a marketer make a ''deep dive'' into the channel the phone, so to speak. You uncover previously hidden conversions and dive into the customer journey of a lead. You gain insight into essential touchpoints such as, which ads, marketing channels, campaigns, emails, keywords and landing pages convert best. This allows you to make targeted decisions when it comes to budget allocations and provides you with the tools to calculate a complete and reliable ROI.

Curious about the possibilities? Then give us a call! We would love to think with you.