If there’s one thing 2023 taught us, it’s that being a marketer ain’t a walk in the park…
Tech’s racing ahead, and the battle for your ideal customer? It’s like scaling a mountain—expensive and time-consuming.
So, here’s the deal: It’s 2024 and now you know that you can’t afford to let a single lead slip through your fingers.
While you likely recognize the importance of including offline conversions or phone-converted leads to your marketing attribution tactics, the real struggle lies in leveraging call tracking to its fullest potential.
We’ve got your back. Wondering how the experts do it?
We got a list of top call tracking tips from 20+1 marketing gurus worldwide.
Introduction
Call tracking is vital to prove the ROI of sales-driven marketing efforts; without it, the data trail disappears when potential customers pick up the phone.
The absence of proper setup poses a significant risk, leading to the potential loss of invaluable data necessary for shaping and optimizing your overarching marketing strategy.
In pursuit of insights, we sought tips on maximizing call tracking’s potential. The response was remarkable – over 20 marketers with extensive backgrounds across various industries promptly shared their expertise!
To help you, we’ve categorized the call tracking tips into 3 main categories:
- Lead Attribution: Call tracking tips around PPC, Social Media, SEO and more!
- Lead Management: Call tracking tips on best practices around handling leads
- Reporting & Analytics Call tracking tips around data and insights
Simply skip to the section that interests you the most, or use the table of contents on your left to navigate easier.
Category #1: Top Call Tracking Tips for Lead Attribution
Use call duration on Nimbata as conversion value and leverage conversion value bidding in Google Ads for better quality leads.
To enhance SEO and maintain NAP consistency, add your call tracking number as the primary contact in your Google Business Profile (GBP), keeping your regular number as secondary.
This method ensures you don’t miss tracking any prospect, providing a full spectrum of how customers interact with your listing.
Adopting this dual-number arrangement allows a complete evaluation of your GBP’s performance in generating leads, facilitating targeted improvements to your online marketing efforts, all while safeguarding your search ranking integrity.
Utilize Keyword-Level Call Tracking Software: Track calls down to the keyword level, allowing you to identify which keywords drive phone calls allowing you to optimize your PPC campaigns to optimal levels.
A great tip is to invest time in clustering and organising your tracking numbers in as much depth as possible! There are so many hidden gems you can identify!
For example, with the help of Nimbata, we managed to identify that our Google Ads call extension on our Brand campaigns was generating a massive influx of fake and spam leads, while our tracking number in our Google My Business profile was outperforming great!
Just by turning off our Google Ads Call Extension we almost completely eradicated our fake leads!
One of our key challenges related to offline conversion tracking and understanding which inbound calls resulted in conversions. Nimbata’s ability to track GCLID and UTM tracking in tandem is a game-changer for me.
By utilizing UTM tracking templates in Google & Bing Ads, Nimbata can provide you with detailed insights on which campaigns, ad groups, and ad variations are driving call conversions.
Furthermore, if you can sync your Nimbata to your CRM, this will provide you with quality data about your campaigns & funnel visible in your CRM.
Our company in the middle of Europe (in Hungary) is focused on healthcare marketing. I think I don’t have to say how call tracking is important in this special field. We can integrate with Google, so we can easily check the conversions.
Furthermore, you can also give value to the phone calls, so that Google Ads see the value of that conversions. And Google knows more about your valuable leads.
Google Ads has also phone tracking conversions, but it doesn’t show the “not answered” calls as a conversions, plus it gives the users new tracking numbers each time. So Nimbata is much more better than Google Ads phone tracking. 🙂
To maximize the effectiveness of call tracking, it’s crucial to adopt a meticulous and thorough approach. Ensure that you include every possible variation of your phone numbers for Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI).
This includes formats such as (000) 123-5432, 0001235432, 000.123.5432, and 000-123-5432. Paying close attention to details is key – think of it as going above and beyond in crossing your T’s and dotting your I’s. By being exceptionally attentive and perhaps even a bit obsessive in this process, you can significantly enhance the accuracy and efficiency of your tracking system.
This attention to detail will ensure that your tracking operates seamlessly and provides you with the most reliable data.
Assigning a monetary value to call conversions. Calculate the average number of calls that lead to successful sales, and identify the average value of each sale.
With this information, you can estimate the monetary worth of individual call conversions. By incorporating this value into your call conversion metrics, your PPC reports will accurately represent the average Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) in relation to both web and call conversions.
This software illuminates the path to efficiency by identifying the most lucrative leads, enabling a laser-like precision in targeting and budget allocation. We use Nimbata to decode which campaigns truly convert, unlocking insights that transcend traditional metrics.
With revenue attribution at your fingertips, you sculpt campaigns that not only draw in leads but convert them into tangible revenue. In the landscape of Google Ads, Nimbata emerges as your indispensable ally in driving cost-effective acquisitions and maximizing ROI.
My top call tracking tip for agencies: Implement unique phone numbers for each SEO-driven landing page or campaign. Use call tracking software to attribute conversions to specific SEO efforts accurately.
Analyze call data to demonstrate increased leads or sales originating from organic search. This detailed insight showcases the agency’s tangible impact, validating their SEO strategies and illustrating the value delivered.
Category #2: Top Call Tracking Tips for Lead Management
Ring 2 phones at the same time to avoid unanswered calls and miss out on more business!
Start scoring/tagging calls with different values based on quality. Then send the call conversions with the corresponding value back to advertising platforms.
Then when you’ve collected enough “learning” conversions switch to a bidding strategy based on conversion value, like tROAS or max ROAS.
When using a call tracking platform, don’t view it merely as a tool to meet a specific need. Rather, see it as a business enabler. Leverage its features to enhance and optimize your business or revenue model.
Say you’re running a marketing agency that generate leads for local businesses. You can take advantage of the various routing options offered by Nimbata to enhance the value of each lead.
This approach allows you to tailor the leads more effectively to match the unique needs of your clients, thereby maximizing the potential of each lead for your business and theirs.
In industries where the primary forms of customer contact are through calls and forms, understanding the distinction between these two user groups is a game-changer.
It’s not just about how they reach out – it’s about recognizing the different mindsets behind each method. Integrating call-tracking enables us to delve deeper into these preferences, offering invaluable insights. This approach allows for a more tailored, effective marketing strategy, enhancing engagement with each unique group.
It’s a strategic move that goes beyond data collection to truly connect with and understand your audience’s diverse preferences. Embracing this method can transform your customer engagement, making every interaction more meaningful and impactful.
Boost your response rate by adding a form option asking for the customer’s preferred contact time!
Category #3: Top Call Tracking Tips for Reporting & Analytics
One of the benefits of using call tracking with Nimbata is the Analytics section where you can get detailed data about which days and especially which hour of the day the client in question gets the most phone calls.
As a Google Ads campaign manager I can then leverage that data to adjust google Ads-bids (raising bids) at the hours the Nimbata-data indicates that the client gets the most phone calls.
Call tracking is not just about counting calls; it’s a strategic marketing compass. It goes beyond mere numbers by revealing which ads and channels drive valuable leads that convert.
When merged with client records, it becomes a powerful tool showcasing precisely how your marketing efforts influence a business’s bottom line. This isn’t just about keeping clients satisfied; it’s about uncovering new avenues for growth.
Use call-tracking insights to fine-tune ad strategies and messaging for optimal results. It’s akin to possessing a treasure map, guiding you towards shrewd marketing decisions that nurture enduring client relationships.
We faced a challenge organizing calls in our CRM, not knowing if they were from new or existing clients. To fix this, we started using call tracking option for both new and repeat callers.
By sending data to our CRM based on whether it was a new or repeat caller, we could see exactly from which channels our new leads were coming from each month. This not only made reporting easier but also improved how we get new clients.
Now, with this clarity, we make better decisions and allocate budget into the channels that bring in more new clients, making our process of lead generation to work even better.
Tracking is nothing else but collecting data. If so, why not use the data to remarket prospects. The easiest way to remarket the callers is to do it in Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Nimbata has a native integration with GA4 where you can send the event whenever a call comes. It is more than easy to create out of those events retargeting segments and use them to create RLSA campaigns or GND ones.
A bit more tricky is Facebook where Zapier integration is needed. Alternatively you can send the phone numbers directly to Google Ads with tools like Zapier too. Of course much depends on the amount of the calls you receive, but this concept can be developed in a number of ways, by creating sub-segments, segments from particular campaigns and so on.
Huge advantage of the approach with Zapier is that compared to the GA audiences those data do not expire, so you can use them much longer than 540 days.
When working in Europe GDPR can be an issue. For that reason you have to adjust privacy policy to be able to do it fully in line with GDPR.
Adding at least 2 more tracking numbers than your initial estimate not only optimizes budget but also accelerates valuable insights, enabling a more comprehensive analysis of various Calls to Actions.
By diversifying your dataset, you can pinpoint which elements, such as Sitelinks and Button Clicks etc. perform better. This saves time and money in the long run, enabling informed decision-making and improved overall performance.
BONUS: Nimbata’s top call tracking tip
My top call tracking tip are the following two 😜
Slack integration for team alignment. We know who called, when they called and where they found out about us, without having to listen to the call or be in the office.
Google Sheets integration for sharing call data with clients. Your clients will love you for this. They get access to a sheet with all their client data, and the best part? It’s populated in near real-time!
For service-led businesses offering fixed-price services, the combination of Surveys and Automation Rules can be game-changing. Create an internal coding system; matching each digit with a service (e.g. 0 equals Dental Cleaning, 1 equals Teeth Whitening etc). Then create an automation rule specifying than when an agent presses ‘0’, tag call as X Service in this case “Dental Cleaning Appointment” and assign fixed value X. This process, enhances information accessibility, reduces manual efforts in tagging and value assignments, and last but not least ensures accurate data transmission of each conversion’s value to Google Ads, thus providing a comprehensive view of your Return on Investment (ROI).
Takeaway
Call tracking is a powerful tool for marketers who want to optimize their campaigns, measure their ROI, and improve their customer experience. By following the top call tracking tips shared by the marketing experts listed above, you can take your call tracking strategy to the next level in 2024 and beyond!
We hope you enjoyed this blog post and learned something new.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.
And don’t forget to share this post with your friends or colleagues who might benefit from it 😊.
Thank you for reading and happy call tracking!
