WordStream exists for one reason: to help small businesses squeeze as much value out of their paid search campaigns as humanly possible. But so often when we talk about value to our customers, we have conversations about clicks or impressions, when our customers really only care about the end result – leads.
That’s why I’m thrilled to announce the release of WordStream’s new call tracking software offering. With this new tool inside WordStream’s PPC Advisor platform, we’re enabling customers to better track and measure the value of the phone calls they receive from paid search. Further, they will be able to tie those calls back to the campaign, ad group, match type, and keyword, so they know what’s driving call traffic and what isn’t. Clients can even listen to a recording of the call if they wish.
We’re confident that this new call tracking tool will give our customers deeper insight into their account performance and deliver the information necessary to achieve better results than ever before. Why talk about the cost per click of a given keyword if you can talk about its cost per lead?
In this post, I’ll explain why your business needs this feature, how WordStream Call Tracking works, and how you can take WordStream's Call Tracking software for a spin.
Why Advertisers Need Call Tracking Software
These are some sobering stats:
- 43% of all search-related conversions happen over the phone
- 65% of businesses consider phone calls their most valuable, highest quality source of leads
Since two out of three businesses value phone calls above all other lead types, it’s obviously really crucial that you know:
- Where those calls are coming from
- How changes to your PPC campaigns affect call volume and quality
When you know where your calls are coming from, you can make smart decisions about your advertising budget and your sales strategy. That’s where call tracking software comes in.
How WordStream’s Call Tracking Software Works
What is Call Tracking?
WordStream’s Call Tracking software uses unique phone numbers to track calls from customers who find your business through PPC. This provides deep insight into exactly which keywords and text ads are resulting in phone calls to your business.
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Tracking calls involves a few steps. We use a destination URL parameter to track visitors to your website that came from your PPC campaigns, and a rotating pool of unique phone numbers to track callers that saw your website and called your business. We use a simple piece of javascript on your website to make this all happen.
How to set up Call Tracking
You’ll need to do three things:
1. Provide us with your business phone number.
At this time, we can only direct calls to a single phone number. Pick the number that you want to use to collect leads or sales. If you already have a phone number prominently displayed on your website or landing pages, pick that one.
2. Add the javascript to your website.
You can place the code on just one or on multiple pages of your website. If placing on one page, be sure to put the code inside the body tags. If you use an “include file” to include other javascript on multiple pages, you can place our code at the end of your other code in the “include file.”
WordStream’s Call Tracking software will only work if your phone number appears on your website in some sort of text format. If your phone number is an image, javascript will not be able to find it.
3. Add the tracking parameter to your destination URLs.
Our tracking parameter can be placed on any destination URLs in AdWords or Bing. We recommend that you add the parameter to all destination URLs throughout your account. But if you choose to only track one ad group or one campaign, you only need to make the changes in those places. If you use keyword-level destination URLs, don’t forget to change those, too.
Call Tracking Whispers
WordStream’s Call Tracking software includes a “whisper” feature that makes it easier to identify phone calls driven by PPC. Use this feature if you wish to be notified when you’re receiving a phone call that’s being tracked by WordStream; you’ll hear the word “WordStream” before the call begins. You can turn this feature off in the Call Tracking Settings.
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For more details on implementing the tracking parameters, who is eligible to use the new call tracking software and more, see our Call Tracking FAQ.
Try WordStream’s Call Tracking Software Free
Our existing clients are really excited about the new call tracking features. Danny Rios, owner of AmeraguardSA, said:
"I found that WordStream’s PPC Advisor solution helped my business increase our lead flow while saving me time and trouble with paid search. It’s an all-in-one AdWords solution, and I no longer need a 3rd party for call tracking and landing pages. Just the cost savings on the third party solutions alone offset the cost of the entire [WordStream] software!”
I’m really excited about some of the future functionality we already have queued up that leverages this new call tracking software, and I’m confident the tool will allow our users to gain deeper insight into their paid search performance.
So if you’re a small business spending money on AdWords and you want to better measure and optimize the return you get on that investment, we here at WordStream can help. I want to personally invite you to get a demo of the new call tracking tool and provide feedback on what you love and what still needs work. Sign up for your free demo here!
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Clik here to view.
This post originated on the WordStream Blog. WordStream provides keyword tools for pay-per click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) aiding in everything from keyword discovery to keyword grouping and organization.