5 Reasons You Need Call Tracking Metrics in 2020

Marketers spend way too much time trying to answer one simple question; What marketing converts? Of course, that simple question is actually an aggregate of more detailed questions such as:

Are my PPC ads driving leads?

Which one of my landing pages convinces people to get in touch?

Is my business showing up in organic search, and if so, how many leads am I getting from that?

You can’t figure out what marketing works until you know what marketing converts, and you won’t know what marketing converts until you’re able to see every conversion (including phone calls.)

The key to optimizing your marketing efforts is understanding where your conversions come from, but, according to an eMarketer study, only 10 percent of marketers say that they’re capable of associating all their conversion events with marketing channels.

That means 90 percent of marketers don't have a clue how to track each and every conversion or accurately measure marketing ROI. Wouldn't it be nice to gain a competitive advantage over 90 percent of businesses? That's one reason to implement call tracking; here are five more reasons:

1 Phone Calls Convert Better

If you want to find out what marketing drives conversions, you’ll have to track conversions — each and every one. Form fills count as conversions. Chats count too. The most important conversions, however, come in the form of phone calls.

Calls represent the most valuable type of conversion; the kind that’s likely to result in a qualified lead. Calls end up converting 10x more often than web conversions such as forms and chats.

One study showed that people who call companies converted 30 percent faster and spend 28 percent more than people who contacted the companies through other means.

Calls are more likely to result in qualified leads than form fills and chats because calls require more effort on the part of the consumer. However, many businesses fail to track this type of conversion because it happens offline and isn't automatically tracked with traditional analytics platforms like Google Analytics

Here's data from Google's click-to-call research report that reveals just how often calls are made with purchase intent.

2 The mobile movement is driving more phone calls

Despite the fact that digital communication methods are now available on all devices, old-school calls are actually on the rise. Calls to US businesses from search ads and display ads have actually grown 110 percent over the past 5 years.

As people use their smartphones to perform more searches, they’re also using those smartphones to get in touch with businesses. When they do, they’re often likely to become customers; according to Google, mobile searchers are 40 percent more likely to call a business than desktop searchers, and 51 percent more likely to actually make a purchase.

3 Phone call conversions are essential in certain industries

Some industries rely on calls for a massive portion of their conversions. In the healthcare industry, for example, 88 percent of appointments are scheduled via phone call.

An analysis of the WhatConverts platform reveals more industries that use call tracking metrics to log the high percentage of conversions that occur via phone call. Top industries on WhatConverts include Legal, Assisted Living, Personal Care, and local home care services.

That last category is especially relevant. As Google shifts to a more localized approach to search results, call tracking becomes more important for local businesses. Consumers search for the businesses around them, then use Google’s click-to-call feature to make calls and convert.

Here's another chart from Google's research report that reveals call-dependent industries.

Call tracking is essential in these industries because it’s often the primary method of contact. It's the missing piece for marketers wondering how to measure marketing effectiveness.  If you’re not tracking every conversion as it relates to your digital marketing efforts, you’re hardly tracking anything at all.

4 Call tracking leads to enhanced marketing reporting

Call tracking software should give you the full marketing picture for each of your incoming calls, including the data behind the call such as:

• Source
• Medium
• Campaign
• Content
• Keyword
• Lead Page
• Landing Page
• User Based Data (IP Address, Browser, Operating System and Device)

Using this information, you’ll be able to build detailed reports that reveal not just the number of conversions, but the lead capture data behind each individual conversion.

When measuring the ROI of specific marketing channels and campaigns, it helps to see the individual lead tracking details to see how many leads were qualified or quotable. Call tracking gives you the ability to not only quantify incoming phone call leads, but also produce reports that show where the leads came from, how long each call lasted and even the keywords that led to the phone call conversion.

5 Call tracking helps build a more complete marketing picture

Call tracking — when added to form fill tracking, chats, and other conversions — gives you a complete picture of how your marketing channels are performing.

Consider Google Ads. Once you’ve integrated your call tracking metrics with AdWords in Google Analytics, you’ll be able to use the conversion data to get the full picture of which keywords, ad groups and campaigns are driving your incoming leads. Armed with this data, you can optimize your ads to the best, most targeted advertising and spend to drive quality traffic to your business.

Ready to start tracking calls and see a more complete picture when it comes to your marketing efforts? In that case, it’s time to explore the various call tracking platforms.

At WhatConverts, we believe a call tracking platform should do four things:

1. Capture calls (and maintain great call quality.)
2. Capture marketing data. Only quality, reliable marketing data will reveal if your marketing efforts are paying off.
3. Provide marketing/client reporting. An often overlooked fact about call data is that it’s not very useful unless it comes with deeper insights.
4. Make it simple. It just needs to work, without additional steps.

Implementing call tracking software is just the first step on the journey towards finding clarity in your marketing mix. The sooner you can achieve that clarity, the sooner you’ll be able to make adjustments that make your marketing that much more effective.

Discover how WhatConverts can track calls and bring clarity to chaotic marketing