Posts Tagged ‘call tracking’

Phone Call Tracking – Can Small to Medium Sized Businesses Afford It?

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Local small to medium sized businesses can’t afford not to do it! In a tough economy, paying a little extra for call tracking is a must to save money and make more of it.

How Does Phone Call Tracking Help Businesses Save and Make More Money?

A rule of thumb for marketing is: if you can’t measure it, don’t do it. Call tracking allows business owners to calculate a return-on-investment (ROI) for EVERY form of advertising they are paying for – even the internet! This is done by ordering toll-free or local unique tracking phone numbers and placing them in any traditional print advertising and by placing a dynamically changing number on their website. Every time any ad or form of internet marketing delivers a phone call, the call is recorded, traced back and can be seen in real-time detailed reports showing call volume. This allows business owners to know exactly how much money was delivered by each ad and form of internet marketing specifically. With this information, a true ROI can be captured. After ROIs are calculated, smart business owners then allocate marketing dollars into the best forms of advertising.

Aside from allocating money to what is actually driving relevant leads and canceling poor performing advertising, business owners need to do everything they can to close each lead that was paid for. This is called call-back-closing (CBC). If money has been spent to make the phone ring, then why not do everything to close that call? With call tracking/recording, business owners can call price shoppers back to see how their experience has been and then get another shot to close. Most callers will not object to having you call them back if you ask during the initial call, in fact, they will most likely appreciate the call back, because it shows these customers that businesses actually care about finding them what they need. In most cases, close ratios go up dramatically when customers are called back.

There are so many other benefits phone call tracking provides and this article lists only two of them, which are:

  • calculating a true ROI
  • CBC

Phone call tracking is not just a great tool for businesses, it’s a necessary and yet affordable tool to survive unprofitable advertising, find great advertising and save leads. Call tracking takes the guessing out of marketing. Are you tracking your advertising?

By www.OozleMedia.com

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Posted in call tracking | 6 Comments »

Does Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Work for Service Based Companies?

Monday, October 12th, 2009

Does Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Work for Service Based Companies?

It depends on who is doing the PPC and how it is tracked.

If paid search is meant to drive conversions (phone calls, online form fill outs and online chats) and business owners do not have the ability to track if clicks turn into actual leads, then PPC should not be performed.  If service based business owners cannot measure their paid search advertising, they should not gamble their marketing dollars in hopes for a positive return-on-investment (ROI).  A general rule of thumb for advertising should be that if you cannot measure it, do not do it.

If you are a business owner or a PPC manager, then you might be asking yourself the following three questions:

  1. How can PPC be traced to conversions?
  2. Who can track PPC to conversions?
  3. How can an ROI be calculated for paid search?

How Can PPC be Traced to Conversions?
Dynamic-number-insertion (DNI) is how clicks can be traced into conversions.  Using JavaScript allows tracking phone numbers to be changed on a website so that each visitor has a unique local or toll free number displayed on the site.  If there were ten visitors on a site that is tracking paid search using DNI, then each visitor will have a different number displayed on the site.  This is done so that each click can be traced to the search engine or referral site, and more importantly, that the exact keyword or keyword phrase can be known.  Knowing which keywords or keyword phrases convert is crucial for PPC managers.  If PPC companies do not know what keywords drive leads for service based businesses, then these companies should be fired.  Business owners need to hold themselves (if they are doing PPC in-house) or PPC “expert” companies doing their paid search accountable by asking or figuring out how to trace clicks to conversions!

Who Can Track PPC to Conversions?
Smart PPC management companies with the right tools can trace clicks to conversions.  These companies also give business owners access to the analytics to know how many clicks turned into conversions, what keywords are driving the leads, and how much was spent in clicks.  This knowledge is necessary for business owners to have if they want to calculate an ROI for paid search.  Oozle Media offers its clients a way to track their PPC and every other form of advertising (phone books, mailers, etc.) down to the penny for a true ROI.

How is an ROI Calculated for Paid Search?
A true ROI can be calculated from paid search only if the phone calls generated are recorded.  Chats and online form fill outs give the customers’ name, and these names can be traced to invoices; thus, dollar amounts.  If the calls are recorded, business owners can listen in and get a name which leads to accounts receivables.  There are countless other crucial reasons to having each phone call recorded.  See call recording case studies on why business owners should be listening to every inbound and outbound call.

Pay-per-click does work for the service based industry looking for leads online; however, PPC should only be done if clicks can be tracked using the right tools.  There is a large shift of money going from traditional print advertising (phonebooks) to online advertising (typically through search engines).  In most cases, a better ROI is achieved through online efforts over traditional methods.  If you are a business owner, or PPC manager, please, please pay for DNI services so you can have a true ROI for your paid search.

Written by: Chris Linford, Director of Pay-Per-Click, Oozle Media

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Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments »