Conversion tracking is the most important thing that any company can do to measure its online marketing efforts. Conversion tracking starts by installing site analytics, (typically Google Analytics, a free program), and adding some extra code to measure form completions. With this method, every time someone fills out a form—a contact form, a quote request, or any other lead-generating mechanism—that action can be tracked back to its original source. This allows for some simple math to track ROI, and determine the makeup of a company's future online marketing spend.
For most companies, conversion tracking stops there. "We can measure our forms, so we're done."
This attitude is missing an entire segment of conversions: phone calls.
Some companies may be built such that every transaction can happen on the web, but most have some telephonic sales presence as well. How can you accurately measure your results if you're ignoring half of your conversions? This is where call tracking comes into play.
The early days of call tracking were fairly basic; every incoming call from the website was counted to a ticker, and at the end of the month, you would have a single number. "We got 55 calls from the website last month, and 41 calls from the website the month before." Better than nothing—but not useful for measuring CPA.
With modern call tracking, we have been given much more power over our data. Now, every incoming phone call is treated identically to form submissions, and we can track it back to its original keyword or referral source. What's more, these calls can be graded in real-time by salespeople, or recorded and played back by supervisors looking to measure the success of the phone answerers. We can finally get a true picture of the value of online marketing, no matter what channel our customers are using to reach us.
Does your conversion funnel have a missing link? Give us a call to discuss how call tracking might benefit your online marketing strategy.
