In today’s mobile-dominated world, many businesses have finally begun to understand the importance of tracking phone calls, as well as which sources are driving these calls into their organization. Recent studies and statistics (such as the fact that 6% to 8% of mobile users are more likely to click on PPC ads that contain phone numbers; or the fact that inbound calls are worth 500% to 1000% more in revenue than a web form lead) have effectively illustrated the importance of implementing call tracking. But despite the fact that it is used extensively by businesses of all sizes, call tracking still remains a technology that prompts a lot of questions by potential users. Especially when there are several vendors with varying levels of sophistication.
As a sales manager at DialogTech, I spend a lot of my day educating potential clients on the value that call tracking will bring to their organization. In case you’re looking for some education too, here are the top questions I answer on a daily basis:
What Is Dynamic Number Insertion and How Do I Implement It?
Dynamic number insertion (DNI) enables online and mobile marketers to display unique phone numbers on a website based on the referring keyword, pay-per-click ad, search engine, or online or mobile banner ad in order to track which traffic sources generate phone calls and sales leads for their business.
As for how it’s implemented, there are two steps to implementation:
- Define in DialogTech which marketing sources you are looking to track and what existing phone number we will be replacing
- Implement a single piece of JavaScript code via a tag management solution or on the backend of your website
Will Call Tracking Hurt My SEO Ranking?
Marketers are smart to be concerned with this, but the answer is a resounding nope. DialogTech ensures that search engines are able to only index your main business number to ensure NAP consistency. Your SEO is safe.
How Will Call Tracking Benefit My Agency/Clients?
In several different ways, actually. Here are just a few to list. With call tracking, you can:
- Optimize ad campaigns by gaining insight into which campaigns are driving call conversions
- Manage bid-spend via increase conversions from adding call conversion metrics
- Gain insight into if the keywords you consider to be the most valuable are the ones driving calls into your organization
Are People Actually Calling These Tracking Numbers?
A resounding, emphatic, unambiguous yes. Google reported last year that 61% of buyers said that it is extremely important to be able to call a business during each phase of decision-making, and 31% report frequently calling a business when specifically looking to make a purchase or transaction. Everything else aside, phone calls driven to businesses from search neared 40 billion in 2014, and is projected to exceed 70 billion by 2018. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.
What about My Branded Number?
Another smart question. For many businesses, your phone number is part of your brand. But luckily, with DialogTech’s dynamic number insertion, your main number will still be displayed for any web visitor source that you are not attempting to track. For example, if you have tracking enabled for any and all web referral sources, then only direct visitors (the people who are already familiar with your business and navigate there directly) will see your main business phone number. But if you, for some reason, only want to track visitors from PPC, then those visitors will be shown a dynamic number and all other visitors will be shown your branded number.
What other questions do you have about call tracking? Ask them in the comments and I can answer them for you there. Or, if you just want to know more about call tracking in general, download our free eBook, The Buyer’s Guide to Call Tracking Software for Marketers.