why-do-you-need-call-tracking-for-your-business

Having your phone ring with a fresh new lead is very exciting. However, not knowing how you attracted that lead doesn’t help your business track what is working to generate leads. Most businesses struggle to properly associate a caller to an ad source as a critical decision-driver behind knowing which of its marketing and advertising efforts are working. How does a business decide where to spend more, less, or nothing at all?

With an increase in the number of smartphone users, fewer website forms are being filled out. More calls are being made because of the convenience of the one-click-to-call functions on cell phones and tablets. Other than tracking call sources by manually asking every caller where they found your number, and then putting that into a spreadsheet or by using old fashion chicken scratch, it is nearly impossible to track leads and conversions properly!

Couple that with time investments, consistency issues, staffing limitations, awkwardness and busy periods, manual methods are irregular at best and difficult to find out from a caller how they found your company. And without this important calling data, it’s not only difficult to know what strategies are working, but it’s nearly impossible to know what was searched and what landing pages are being used to generate phone call leads.

UNTIL NOW!

There are many places your business’s phone number will appear, including Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, dozens of Internet directories, throughout social media, your website, Google AdWords, and even in print ads and brochures.

So how are you currently tracking inbound calls? How do you know which strategies are getting you the most calls and which ones are not converting well? How do you decide where to spend less money on certain ads or places like your website and where to spend less?

If you’re not currently using call tracking, your business is missing out. Call-tracking services provide business owners with the call metrics they need and solve the problems of the past.

What is Call Tracking?

Call tracking is a technology-based method to associate a phone calls to a source that allowed the call to happen in the first place. Call tracking allows you to determine where your calls are coming from. You allocate a series of local phone numbers to each source you wish to track. That number then appears on that source and dynamically on your website when a customer visits because of that particular source. When someone calls that assigned number, the call-tracking software will log a variety of important call metrics. You can then access call reports, and in some cases, have this call data integrated into your CRM system (customer relationship management).

Call-tracking technology continues to evolve and now offers different levels of service that range from the basic to the ultra-advanced in both offerings and in price, which go beyond the scope of this particular article. So be sure to do more research online before you commit to a particular service.

How Can Call Tracking Help Your Business?

Now that you know what call tracking is and how it works, you are ready to understand the call metrics that you have access to. Here are some benefits of using call tracking:

  • Access detailed call-tracking reports (date, time, duration of call, etc.) to assess the best lead sources
  • Determine what sources, ads and campaigns are giving you the best ROI.
  • Assess the call volume that was generated by XYZ service provider, and make some simple ROI calculations. We get sales pitches all the time — ask for a 90-day trial, and then and only then should you be willing to sign that one-year contract!
  • Optionally record phone calls to help train staff and improve customer service and sales.

That’s the power of tracking inbound calls. Track, analyze, and modify your marketing strategies and ad spend while increasing leads. Without call tracking, you are making decisions strictly by gut and intuition. Now support those decisions with proper data. Or, you can always use chicken scratch.

In Summary…

Call tracking is a necessary weapon in your marketing arsenal. Call tracking gives you the opportunity to improve your marketing strategy by providing information that allows you to make better invest with ad money and to maximize ROI. It will also help you better understand your prospective clients and optimize future marketing campaigns accordingly while saving you money and make ad decisions with a laser focus.

If you have questions or would like to learn more, please contact us today at (317) 805-4933.