Why Call Tracking is Crucial for Marketing

Why Marketing Decisions Are Difficult

Earlier this year I went paintballing with my son and a couple of his friends, I had the bruises for two weeks as proof! My big problem is that the protective face masks we hired, the mask misted up within 5 minutes, and I couldn't see clearly. Everything was a hazy blur! I couldn't see the enemy, I couldn't identify my teammates and ultimately I was shot by my teammate. It turns out I wasn't the only one who couldn't see clearly.

When companies sit down to do their marketing budgets, they want to make good marketing decisions, but the data is hazy and misleading.

Let's consider the main items under consideration:

1. How much do we have to spend in Dollars?
2. Where should we spend it?
3. What worked for us last year?

Allocating your marketing dollars based on past performance should be simple, but if you are looking at hazy data and missing big chunks of information, decisions become guesses. Like looking through a misted up face mask.

Let's look at what marketing data many companies look at:

1. Analytics data: Website visitors, page views, time on page, bounce rate
2. Leads Generated: How many leads generated.

Website visitors by source and the number of leads being generated have become a measurement mainstay of effective inbound marketing today.

What's Missing?

1. Sales Revenue generated in dollars.
2. What marketing generated what leads, quotes and sales.
3. How many leads came in through phone calls. Without call tracking, call generated leads are lost.

 90% of website visitors use phone calls or web forms to make initial contact.

Our data shows that anywhere from 30% to as much as 75% of website visitors use the phone to make contact with a company. That's an incredible amount of missing information from your marketing reports.

Let's take a look at actual data from 3 companies and how their leads and sales are split between contact methods.

Company #1 - Evaluating Agency Results

This particular company was ready to end their contract with their existing marketing agency due to lack of results. They were evaluating performance on E-commerce transactions. The big problem here is that 75% of their leads were generated through telephone calls, which was not being tracked. It turned out that only 10% of the total marketing value came through their E-commerce store.

The client's decision was so much easier after seeing this data. They renewed their marketing contract and are now happier clients after seeing the full marketing picture. Without call tracking, this company would not be a client.

Company #2 - Evaluating Adwords Results

Client 2 invested in an Adwords campaign to determine its value as a marketing channel. After the first month of the Adwords campaign the results were average, nothing special.  The campaign was more than breaking even, but compared with Organic search, results were weak.

Their agency recommended call tracking to get a complete picture of results.  It was now easy to see that prior to call tracking they only saw 50% of the leads. With tracking calls, they effectively doubled the leads attributed to the campaign.

This company has gone on to track these leads to quote and sales value, and without call tracking the Adwords marketing value would be half of what it is now.

Company #3 - Evaluating Sales by Contact Method

The number of leads and calls helps see what marketing is generating the total number of leads. This company wanted to go a step further and see what source and contact method resulted in actual bottom line sales. Previously, they had only tracked web forms from their website. Look at the data below, you'll notice that if that if you ignore call tracking, you only see 18% of all sales generated from the website. Without call tracking, this company would have not seen 72% of actual sales generated.

Conclusion

Place yourself in the shoes of the three companies above and imagine what marketing choices the three companies above would have made without the call tracking data.

• Company 1 was about to fire their agency! Even though they were doing a great job, but they weren't tracking 75% of the results.
• Company 2 would have canned the Adwords campaign due to borderline results. By simply tracking calls, they doubled the number of leads. Making marketing decision more obvious.
• Company 3 would have only seen 18% of sales generated from their website without call tracking. That would have meant cutting website spend and reduced growth.

We have used data from 3 actual companies, and these results are typical for many companies. Based on data from WhatConverts and other call tracking providers we see that on average 50% to 60% of contact happens on the phone. Even if you have an E-commerce store, a large percentage of business is taking place outside the shopping cart.

It's for these reasons that call tracking is crucial for making better marketing decisions.

That's Why We Built WhatConverts

Call tracking is the centerpiece of the WhatConverts solution. However, we go beyond phone call tracking to track all marketing through phone calls, web forms, web chat and e-commerce transactions.

Our lead tracking and reporting platform helps agencies and companies see their full marketing value.

Now companies can see what marketing converts to leads, quotes and sales. Find out for yourself, get started now or request a demo