Quick review: phone calls matter! There is a larger percentage of SMBs rating telephone leads as good or excellent than any other lead type, according to BIA/Kelsey. Thus, it is imperative for marketers to track different marketing channels to properly gauge overall performance and ROI. Makes sense, right?
Acknowledging the importance of call tracking and call management technology within that marketing mix, however, is only step one. Next, you must learn how to properly select, implement and analyze voice-based marketing measurements to optimize all campaigns and gain a more complete picture of lead and revenue generation. The key to success is to ask the right questions.
Do I Need Call Tracking Technology?
Phone calls are far from a dead medium for marketing and customer interaction. In 2012, U.S. businesses spent $68 billion on local advertising to generate phone calls alone, accounting for 47% of all local advertising. That figure shows no signs of slowing down, either.
Therefore, your company should consider the role phone calls play in everyday marketing activities. Call tracking technology helps answer some basic questions to satisfy the demands of the C-suite as well as fuel more efficient campaigns in the future. Ask yourself questions such as:
- Is our company missing potential sales calls?
- Are our marketing dollars being spent in the most effective places for optimal, high-quality lead generation?
- What markets are we most successful in?
- Which marketing activities are underperforming?
The data from call tracking technology helps companies address important business challenges and make wiser decisions supported by statistical evidence. With real-time reporting and post-call analysis, companies can monitor trends, adjust campaigns quickly, and determine ROI efficiently.
What Call Tracking Metrics Are Most Important?
It is no secret that CEOs, CMOs, and CFOs are demanding more accurate data reporting from all departments to ensure decision making is data-driven and accountable. But executives do not want every piece of data to be scrutinized equally. Departments must understand which metrics are most relevant to their goals and strategies to gauge performance and identify trends.
For marketers, there are a wide variety of metrics that can be collected and optimized with the right marketing technology. When selecting phone metrics consider a few key concerns, including:
- Do we need total number of phone leads or detailed, keyword-level call tracking?
- Do we want to customize lead distribution?
- Will we integrate our statistics with other analytics sources such as Google Analytics or Google Adwords?
- Will the data volumes be analyzed in-house or exported to a third party?
Call tracking technology can be easily customized to accommodate a variety of campaign types and provide more in-depth insight to decision makers. The information can be applied to track performance of PPC ads, conduct A/B testing, identify lead-generating keywords, and even measure call length when compared to sales outcomes. Furthermore, voice-based marketing automation solutions should be easily integrated with analytics solutions such as Google Analytics so reports include data from all major channels.
What Do I Do With the Metrics?
You have gathered all your information and integrated the data with analytics technology. Now what? While marketing and sales departments may be interested in how metrics illustrate trends in customer behavior or preferences, C-suite executives are typically focused on the bottom line: revenue.
This means looking at what campaigns and activities are driving leads and which leads are converting to sales. In short, conversion rates cut to the chase for a busy CEO making budgetary decisions. Once conversions are addressed, companies can collect valuable consumer insight and behavior trends through call data analytics that can be used to design more efficient campaigns in the future. Call tracking can help answer a variety of post-call questions such as:
- Which campaign tactics are driving lead conversion?
- How much revenue as generated through phone-based sales?
- What trends are generating positive customer responses, broken down by demographic?
- How effective are sales teams at creating a satisfactory customer experience?
When all the call measurement pieces are in place, marketers can identify the goals of each campaign, track valuable data and make real-time adjustments, and analyze the results to improve future campaigns and report on performance to the executive suite. To achieve all these endpoints, marketers must figure out what the C-suite and internal team need, and what features and functionality of call tracking and measurement technology work within this strategy.
To learn more about specific options and features of voice-based marketing automation, check out our Buyer’s Guide to Call Tracking Software for Marketers.