What do you want your website visitors to do? It’s a question you should answer before you continue reading.
No matter what the action you want your customers to perform, you need a strategy to compel leads forward along the sales cycle, and calls to action help you achieve your goals. Do you want them to buy your book? Call for your service? Download a white paper? Sign up to vote in an election? You can convert a high percentage of traffic when you understand your audiences’ motivations and the type of persuasive language they respond to most effectively.
Many of my clients who depend on offline transactions are initially skeptical about content marketing’s ability to drive meaningful website conversions. If website downloads or online forms aren’t your wheelhouse, you can get literal about “calls to action” by encouraging web readers to CALL your company. There are a ways to use your call data to to strengthen your web marketing for better results – and it’s equally important to analyze the critical conversion moments when people dial in.
Do you make it easy for your customers to convert? You should.
You should have your phone number on your site, and it should be visible. Whether you’re trying to get visitors to call or not, data suggests a phone number on your site increases conversions. But what if you’re depending on incoming calls, and want to understand what content helps drive offline connections?
I want to talk about how you should be tracking leads through these phone numbers. Even if generating sales online is your top priority, always establish additional ways for consumers to contact your brand.
Track where your leads come from to focus your digital marketing efforts, cutting costs and building ROI.
Website metrics can take you so far, but you need to go above and beyond.
Do your PPC campaigns have tracking numbers? Do your SEO landing pages have different tracking numbers? How about your Yelp profile? Was that a tracking phone number on that killer PR piece you put out last month? If not, how will you know if you are throwing money down the Google toilet (PPC)? How will you know where to concentrate your content marketing and link building efforts (SEO landing pages)? How can you confirm that your reputation management campaign is working (Yelp)? And don’t you want to keep your PR department honest (Press Release)? Website metrics can take you so far, but you need to go above and beyond.
I am from the school of thought where you should increase investment in your strengths and manage your weaknesses. If you are getting great leads off PPC, up your spend and invest more in your landing page copy for better Quality Scores. Then, get even more granular – put different tracking numbers on different ads so you can see which copy performs better. This can work great for SMB local businesses that advertise on Adwords and have strong content marketing campaigns.
If you’re ranking favorably for high converting keywords, and call numbers on these pages are bringing in the best leads, keep the pedal on your SEO strategy. If specific landing pages or subject categories within your blog consistently produce higher-engaging phone calls, shift your strategy accordingly. In this day and age of internet saturation, it’s hard to own every marketing channel in your vertical. So don’t spread yourself too thin in the beginning – focus on what you’re good at. We have seen clients with great blogs test the pay per click waters, only to get crushed because they did not have the experience or solid strategies. They should have invested that money and time into their branded communities.
If you’re ranking favorably for high converting keywords, and call numbers on these pages are bringing in the best leads, keep the pedal on your SEO strategy.
Treat phone analytics the same way you treat web analytics.
Make sure you tear your phone analytics apart, analyzing them up and down to find every pattern and secret hidden in the metric nooks. Looking at your phone analytics will take the truths you find from web analytics and extend them to how they affect your bottom line.
Think of “time of call” the same way you think of “time on page” and your marketing efforts will come full circle.
Most digital marketers analyze traffic-driving metrics, but they should also evaluate call – and conversation – trends.
On top of identifying the strategies that yield the most meaningful calls, ask yourself if there’s anything about the numbers, themselves, that might be impacting call volumes. Phone numbers are a little different than lead gen forms. There isn’t too much you can “tinker” with them. You might consider which vanity numbers work the best (1-800-CONTENT? 1-800-BLOGGER?). Overall, watch out for an overpowering vanity number that kills your online tracking.
The work with phone number tracking comes after the customer has called.
Number analysis can help, but focus more on what the callers can tell you about your strategy – and your people.
Treat phone analytics the same way you treat web analytics.
Make sure you tear your phone analytics apart, analyzing them up and down to find every pattern and secret hidden in the metric nooks. Looking at your phone analytics will take the truths you find from web analytics and extend them to how they affect your bottom line.
Think of “time of call” the same way you think of “time on page” and your marketing efforts will come full circle.
Are you listening to your calls?
A seasoned Customer Service Representative is one of the best hires a company can make.
You should be. CallSource has a service that does this, but really it’s best if you can perform this task in house. It behooves you to identify the best people are in your company to manage incoming calls. What is their conversion ratio? It may not be the most chipper person. You may realize that calls for certain products or services are harder for your team to close, allowing you to dig into the reason. Are your employees informed of the product or service you are actually trying to sell them on the landing page? It’s possible the landing page has an offer on it that you have not communicated to your team. A seasoned Customer Service Representative is one of the best hires a company can make. It’s the first human touchpoint a prospect usually engages with offline.
If your end goal is to increase conversions over the phone, make sure you have the resources in place to support your strategies. Custom content can attract a wider internet audience and provide them with educational information to compel them to convert. Be smart in identifying which content drives call transactions – and remember, if your sales team drops the ball on the phone, not even the best content marketing strategy can improve your bottom line.
