Agency view – 1 Impression. Interview about call tracking
Welcome to agency view of call tracking, involving a series of interviews with top digital agencies around the country to learn how and why they use call tracking. When the experts are judged by performance and ROI, they really need to know what is working and what is not.
I was lucky enough to grab some time with Becky Carré (PPC Strategist) and Chloe Fair (SEO Strategist) at Impression to learn how they use call tracking.
Firstly, I asked them both to tell me about Impression.
Becky and Chloe said: Impression is a multi-award winning digital marketing agency, based in the heart of Nottingham. Our awards involve; Best Large SEO Agency at both the UK and European Search Awards, as well as Best Small PPC Agency at the European Search Awards.
We are an integrated, ambitious and fast-growing team of digital marketing specialists who have a passion for achieving the best possible results for our clients. Businesses working with Impression can benefit from our digital marketing services and web development team.
What tools do you use to track and manage campaigns?
Becky: Our primary method of tracking is Google Analytics, where we can view data from all our paid channels in one place. We manage campaigns across a range of platforms including Google Ads, Facebook, Bing Ads, YouTube, Search Ads 360 (and many more) so having a holistic approach to tracking is key. In Google Analytics we can view form completions, pdf. downloads, e-commerce transactions and calls made, which Calltracks helps us with.
Chloe: In analysing SEO, our first point of call is always Google Analytics, closely followed by Search Console for further analysis. We initially drill down in the channels report discovering how different channels are performing and then focus specifically on key organic metrics.
Google Analytics is able to provide a user with reliable and constructive data from different metrics, including; the number of users, new users, sessions, bounce rate, sessions and session duration. We are also able to track the number of form completions or a potential customer getting in contact with the business, to which Calltracks can aid in tracking.
The granular data that you can get from Google Analytics, especially when working with a website that has numerous contact forms and ways the user can convert, is invaluable. By being able to easily assign a contact form submission to a specific landing page in Google Analytics we can immediately identify any pages that are performing well or not so well.
How has tracking and analysis changed over the last 5-10 years?
Becky: Digital marketing is changing all the time, but a big topic of the last couple of years has been attribution. It’s no longer a case of “this user clicked a Google Ad, so we’ll attribute the sale to that channel”. Marketers now have the ability to track the whole user journey and understand all the touchpoints users have before they make a decision or purchase. This helps marketers more accurately judge what is working well and where they should spend their budgets.
Chloe: We have a lot more data now and the way in which this data can and is being used has changed a lot of the past 5-10 years.
We also have a lot-more accurate data including real-time data. This allows for more accurate reporting and a better understanding of user behaviour.
There has also been a lot of developments and advancements in Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) such as the developments of heatmaps, split testing, A/B testing, to name just a few. This means that now not only do we have even more data, but ways to accurately report on, compare and contrast the data.
There is a lot of talk about attribution and 360-degree client view – what is your perspective?
Becky: As mentioned, attribution is a real hot topic. Although attribution models, channel funnels, targeted TV advertising, and tools such as Google Analytics 360 have helped marketers gain a better understanding of user journey, there is still a long way to go to fully understand this. I think the next step will be linking in-store purchases (for retail businesses, for example) or location visits to that user’s online activities – technology that is still in its infancy right now. If you wanted to get really sci-fi, it has been suggested that in the future, out-of-home advertising could use facial recognition to know if a passer-by has acknowledged the ad!
Chloe: This is not unexpected with a large focus being on customer and user experience, in many different ways. This has been reflected through online shopping experiences,
What are the most important criteria for analysing the impact of any campaign?
Becky: Campaign performance always has to come down to the impact on the client’s bottom line. Lead tracking and the quality of those leads (for lead-based businesses) or revenue tracking (for e-commerce) is what ultimately determines if a campaign succeeded or failed. By tracking these metrics, we can determine the real return on that client’s investment.
How important is call tracking in your analytics tool kit?
Becky: Without call tracking, we’re only seeing half the picture. This is particularly true for lead-generation campaigns. In PPC, we typically optimise campaigns based on the number of leads or transactions generated. To do this effectively and ensure we are making the right decisions, we need to have a full view on campaign performance; both online conversions and phone calls.
Chloe: Within SEO, call tracking is extremely valuable for local businesses who may heavily rely on phone calls for leads and customers. As well as this, call tracking helps us to understand what landing pages customers are converting on, to help us optimise with particular keywords to help our clients’ rank.
What data does call tracking provide that would not otherwise be available?
Becky: Without Calltracks, we’d only be able to see online conversions (or Google’s less robust ‘Calls from Ads’ in the case of Google Ads). Calltracks not only allows us to see the number of calls made, but also the date/time, the length of the call, and missed calls. With advanced implementation, the sales team can input the revenue generated by each call, allowing us to calculate campaign ROAS even more accurately. It is the only tool that tracks offline buyer activity and brings it back to the web.
Chloe: Call tracking provides accurate data that helps to understand enquiries and if they turned into valuable sales. Through dynamic number insertion (DNI), we can see what value is being assigned to certain numbers – helping to understand the attribution of the business.
Do you recommend call tracking to all your clients?
Becky: When we start working with a new client, we’ll typically ask “what proportion of your sales/enquiries are made over the phone?”. For clients selling high-value products, anything that requires installation or specific sizing, for example, service-based businesses, or lead generation businesses, it is almost always the case that some proportion of leads/transactions are generated by phone calls. In these cases, we would always recommend Calltracks.
Chloe: If a client gets phone calls and some of these calls are conversions then I would ways recommend a client using call tracking. This is most likely to be relevant to B2B, lead generation clients. It is not likely that ecommerce clients will drive direct revenue through telephone calls. Although I am an SEO, I see large value in using call tracking whether a client is investing in SEO or PPC. Actually, if a client is investing heavily in PPC I would recommend that they definitely invest in call tracking. This ensures that we can attribute conversions to specific campaigns and identify campaigns and landing pages that are performing well.
Call tracking does not really describe what Calltracks does – how would you describe it?
Becky: It’s certainly more than just call tracking. It’s essentially an important tool in the marketer’s toolkit to measure campaign performance and report back to clients.
Chloe: As the tool has evolved along with digital marketing strategies, Calltracks’ primary offering would be considered call analytical tracking. This is because the analytics provided helps businesses really understand where their enquires are coming from, and how they can optimise their landing pages accordingly.
How does Calltracks compare to other call tracking services you have used?
Becky: I like the easy implementation of Calltracks. It’s very simple to install and even our clients who are not so digitally-savvy can get to grips with it very quickly. It also tends to be very cost-effective compared to other services I’ve used.
Chloe: Setting up Calltracks is really easy – especially once you have done it on a couple of accounts. You can track every single telephone number on your site through Calltracks which means that the data you can get is really granular. The tool is suitable for all businesses, no matter what the sector.
What are the main challenges facing digital marketing agencies and clients in the future?
Becky: Digital marketing, and particularly PPC, are going through a period of automation evolution. With more data available than ever before, AI is playing an increasingly important part in campaign management (especially for those running campaigns on a large scale). This doesn’t mean digital marketers are about to come redundant – it simply means we need to adapt to new ways of thinking. Allowing machines to make decisions such as how to apply bids to a keyword, or what ad copy individual users should be displayed means marketers can spend more time thinking about strategy, audiences, and being creative. I think that’s pretty exciting!
Chloe: The changes and developments in search and the way people search has been, and will continue, to cause challenges for digital marketers. For example, when voice search is concerned there have already been many changes during my 5 years in digital marketing where I am questioning the accuracy of data. As we are aware, more people are using Siri, Google Home’s, Amazon echo’s and other devices to conduct searches. It is unclear how accurately we can report on this data. These changes
What other problems or challenges would you like call tracking to solve for you?
Becky: For our lead generation clients, lead quality is a big factor. Calltracks can help measure the number of leads but generating a large number of low-quality leads which don’t convert into sales/customers is not going to help a client achieve their business goals. If Calltracks could help clients to ‘score’ their leads, that would help us with campaign optimisation.
Chloe: There is also a challenge with international tracking. Currently, there are quite a lot of limitations with this where the user can’t get through to the business if they are calling overseas.
There are often teething problems when trying to integrate tracking analytical tools with CRMs. It would, therefore, be great if there was an even easier, seamless way to integrate call tracking software and to get as much granular data as possible.
Thank you both for your time… That was really helpful and very interesting.
To find out more about Impression then please take a look at their website. I am sure they would love the opportunity to help you or discuss SEO, PPC, PR, Content, or CRO with you, and Call Tracking, of course.