What is call tracking software?

Call tracking software is an ideal solution for any company wishing to track the success of marketing campaigns that drive phone calls to their business. The primary goal of any call tracking solution should be to give its customers 100% marketing attribution on inbound call activity.   

Companies that provide call tracking solutions for businesses are referred to as a ‘Software-as-a-Service’ (SaaS) business.

There are many ways to market your business, both online and offline, and the majority of them will require investment. So it is important to be able to track how many leads each marketing campaign generates and the value of those leads, making return on investment (ROI) visible. 

Call tracking software assigns phone numbers to different online and offline marketing channels (Single Fixed Numbers) or unique tracking numbers to each visitor of your website (Dynamic Numbers). This information enables you to easily identify how the person calling your business found you.

All inbound calls are recorded, providing additional information to allow you to understand more about the customer's journey, how effective your marketing efforts are and how improvements can be made to the customer experience.

Inbound Call Tracking

Call tracking works by analysing data provided by the software.

Inbound call tracking software can provide you with both call metrics and call origins.

Call metrics are details of the call, such as time and day of the call, how long the customer spent ringing, on the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and on the actual call. It will also provide details of calls that were missed.

Call origins are details of where the customer is, the source and medium used, what keywords they used and what they clicked on. If the call was offline you will be able to see where they obtained your number from e.g. a print advertisement.

When analysing call tracking data, you will use a combination of both call metrics and origins to produce a detailed picture of the client’s journey, which is logged before they pick up the phone.

Why is it important?

Call tracking software is key for any business wanting to grow.

When you receive a phone call, it isn’t always clear how that customer came to pick up the phone and call your company. You might be able to get some information by asking them but call tracking software will give you complete clarity on the attribution of that call and more.

Call tracking software enables you to see the success of your marketing campaigns, those that are working and which ones are not, so you can see which campaigns have a better return on investment. This will assist you in making your business the best it can be. By investing in the best types of campaigns for your business, receiving quality calls that are always answered and ensuring callers are put through to the most suitable person. It enhances your marketing analytics too, giving insight into how and where the call originated from.

You may be considering a new channel of marketing, radio for example, which can be very expensive, but the return on investment can be high, with call tracking software you can quickly see how successful this is.

Call tracking data can be integrated with Google Analytics, triggering events that can be analyzed further in your Google Analytics views.

What are the benefits?

There are a vast amount of benefits to using call tracking software, here are just some of them.

• You can clearly see which campaigns are producing good leads, which convert.
• It enables you to measure the success of offline marketing such as adverts, van signage, flyers.
• It helps you to allocate Pay Per Click (PPC) spend more efficiently, investing funds in successful campaigns.
• You can obtain new keywords and any negative words, crucial for any PPC campaign.
• You can make improvements to your IVR, to ensure callers are put through to the most suited person the first time.
• You can ensure phone calls aren’t missed by capturing information to call back.
• Sales and Marketing can listen to calls and implement ways to improve the customer  experience.
• You can see when busy periods are with phone calls, ensuring you have sufficient staff to cover.
• You can identify frequently asked questions and ensure the information is available on your website, in order to minimise unnecessary phone calls. 
• You can identify if there is any confusing information on your website which is directing the wrong users to call you.
• The recording of calls can be used for training purposes and appraisals.

Attribution

When setting up any marketing campaign it is important to be able to attribute any calls to that campaign, whether it is online or offline. 

An important and popular marketing channel widely used by marketeers is Paid Search, often referred to as PPC. Paid Search is a really effective digital marketing channel to drive new business to a website. And if the phone is a preferred method of engagement for your customers, it’s crucial to be able to track any calls the ads generate. If a potential customer  finds your ad and clicks on it, they will be taken to your website where your phone number is displayed. When they call you, you will have no way of knowing that the call was generated from that ad. With call tracking software implemented on your site, you will be able to easily identify the PPC ad that generated the phone call in question.

Most call tracking solution providers will give their customers campaign level tracking. Others will provide additional useful marketing data such as keyword, match type, landing page URL and the Ad Group.

Single Fixed Numbers

Single fixed numbers allow you to allocate a unique number to a marketing or advertising channel and platform. When purchasing a fixed number, you will have the ability to assign a name and to allocate a source. There are a huge number of ways to market a business e.g. business cards, radio adverts, advertisements, social media, local brochures, PPC campaigns and company vehicle signage. When your business receives a call, you are clearly able to identify the source that the person used to find your business.

Dynamic Call Tracking

Dynamic call tracking is a way of allocating a unique tracking number to each visitor (dynamic number insertion). Javascript changes the original telephone number to an assigned tracking number. The assigned tracking number will be taken from a pool of numbers and will only ever be used for that unique visitor. Instead of your company's main telephone number, a different number will be displayed. All calls will be put through to your main destination number. When the call comes in you will then be able to track exactly where the call came from. 

Managing Destination Numbers

If business owners are ill or on holiday, the call tracking software allows them to remotely reroute their number to somebody else, to ensure their calls will be answered. It also allows you to set up calls to be rerouted if they are not answered after a certain period of time. This can be to one person or a team of people. This will prevent calls from being missed.

Recording Calls

Call tracking software provides the ability to record phone calls, which in itself has a number of benefits.

• The calls can be used to train new staff
• The recordings can be used to play back to sales team employees for appraisals or to look at ways of improving customer service.
• Having a recording of the call can protect you, in the event of a dispute or in extreme circumstances, as evidence in legal proceedings.
• You have a backup of the details taken on the calls, so you can refer back to them if any details are taken down incorrectly.

GDPR Compliance

In any instance where a third party supplier holds customer data on your behalf, the data is still ultimately your responsibility. 

You would need to obtain the following from your call tracking software provider, what customer data they hold on your behalf, how they process the data, what internal and external security processes do they have in place and how long they hold the data for. 

You would then need to ensure your privacy statement is updated to include all of this information. Depending on the service provider, you may be able to link back to their Privacy Policy too, providing further clarification to the user.

Which companies should use call tracking?

Call tracking software can benefit any company in any industry who needs more visibility on what the driving force is behind every phone call they receive. 

Some companies that receive a huge benefit from using call tracking software include, travel companies, financial institutions, automotive business, utility companies, publishing houses, charities, insurance companies, florists and many many more.