How You Can Use Call Tracking Software for Your Business

This article was contributed by Samir Sampat, a Marketing and Events Associate with Smith.ai. Smith.ai’s 24/7 virtual receptionists and live chat agents capture and convert leads by phone, website chat, texts and Facebook. You can follow Smith.ai on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Call tracking is a wonderful tool that can be used to help monitor outreach campaigns and gather useful information about your lead sources. With call tracking software, marketers can gather data from phone calls that will provide details on the motivations of the call. The data will not only tell you where the call originated from but what the results of the call were. This information can be used by businesses to determine whether to increase or decrease marketing spend on certain channels. 

In short, call tracking software allows businesses to track incoming leads by providing data regarding which ads, websites, landing pages, keywords, or other marketing efforts drove the call. 

Why businesses need call tracking software

Modern call tracking solutions aren’t only about making sure that your marketing is successful. They can use conversational analytics to determine exactly what the result was (a proposal, a purchase, an appointment, etc.) and then turn that information into future marketing efforts to ensure high-value prospects are the ones receiving attention. 

More importantly, businesses that aren’t utilizing call tracking software may find it difficult, if not impossible, to prove their marketing ROI related to sales calls. If you’re unsure where calls are coming from and which ads are generating the most leads, you’ll be unable to maximize your marketing spend. 

While some companies still ask the age-old question, “How did you hear about us?” to find out the lead source, a lot of callers might not remember their first real interaction, leaving you to find a more effective way to identify the lead source. That’s where modern call tracking software comes in handy.  

Call tracking will offer the chance to:

  • Attribute calls to specific marketing campaigns
  • Improve customer service and support
  • Help understand what keywords resonate with your audience 
  • Measure offline and online performance of marketing campaigns

This all leads to smarter marketing and better campaigns for all types of businesses.

Features of call tracking software

Several different features can be found in modern call tracking software platforms. Call attribution through tracking platforms will help marketers see which sources are generating the most business, as well as providing the most qualified leads. Let’s dive into some features that you’ll find when using these platforms. 

Dynamic number insertion

This is the process of giving each online source or marketing campaign its own unique phone number. Then, when visitors make a call to the business from that source, the unique number will be used as an indicator to identify which campaign they originated from. 

Visitor-level tracking

This dynamic tracking feature allows you to see the full journey that a lead takes from the time they come to your website until they leave. You can track each step in the journey, make connections as needed, and take note of which campaigns performed the best. 

Source-level tracking

This provides a unique phone number for each different marketing source so you’re able to tell which source they came from. This is best for offline marketing, such as print ads or TV campaigns, but it will help ensure that you know exactly where traffic is coming in from so you’re able to make improvements. 

Call attribution reporting

This report provides valuable insight into the interactions and marketing sources that are creating calls and generating traffic. This is a more detailed report that will provide you with information on where calls come from, and which campaigns are leading to the most calls, and so on. 

Other tracking metrics 

In addition to these primary metrics and tracking features, you’ll also find call tracking software metrics including: 

  • Google Ads call tracking
  • Multi-touch CPL (Cost-per-Lead) reports
  • Conversation and call recording

This essentially makes it easier for businesses to market smarter and work more efficiently than before. There are plenty of ways you can engage these tracking metrics, but it starts with choosing the right platform for your business. 

How to pick a platform

So, now that you know how you can benefit from call tracking software, it’s important to take time to find the right solutions. There are plenty of providers that offer call tracking to help businesses measure their outreach and marketing campaigns. However, they aren’t all created equally. Take it upon yourself to research each software platform and find the one that best suits your business. 

Typically, the best available software will be the one that provides the features and reports you need to be successful. It will integrate seamlessly with all of your tools and make it easier for you to improve your marketing efforts. The best platforms will also have features like:

  • Dynamic number generation
  • Third-party software integrations
  • Customization and scalability
  • Reliability and uptime
  • Transcriptions, recordings, and other call tracking features

Select a platform that integrates with Google Analytics and other metrics or reporting tools that you use. This will help keep your business streamlined and within one central location. If you’re looking for a tool that will help call attribution to certain marketing efforts or data, make sure you can get the kind of data with the platform you pick.  

Insight leads to improved marketing

With call tracking software, you can glean valuable insights and information from the calls that your business is getting. From knowing where the number is generated to see which campaigns aren’t producing results, you’ll be able to keep your marketing efforts moving forward and that will increase your leads.

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