Most businesses know that it’s important to keep an eye on their website data to see how the site is performing overall, as well as which pages and searches are prompting enquiries. This only paints half a picture though.
What about the telephone enquiries that come through to your clinic? How do you know where people found your phone number unless you ask them when they call?
It could be that potential patients have found your number via a Google AdWords campaign, social media, a digital ad, a newspaper ad or a recent ad on the side of a local bus but, without knowing the source of the enquiry, there’s no way of understanding which form of advertising has given you the best return on your investment (ROI).
This is why you should track your telephone enquiries.
What is call tracking?
Call tracking uses special software to track the sources of all telephone enquiries that come into your clinic. Used properly, it can identify individual campaigns and even the keywords that prompted the enquiry.
There are lots of reasons why you should track your telephone enquiries. Most importantly, call tracking gives you a more complete picture of your calls, enquiries and the ROI for all of your marketing activities.
One common scenario is when a new patient sees your clinic phone number in the Google Knowledge Panel on a search engine results page (SERP) or in a Google Ad you’re currently running. They may not click on the ad to visit your website, choosing to call you straight from their search. Without call tracking, you wouldn’t know this is happening. Therefore, you might look at your AdWords analytics and decide that the campaign isn’t profitable, despite the fact that it is because it’s generating telephone enquiries.
In this situation, call tracking would give you the missing piece of the puzzle about your AdWords ROI.
How does call tracking work?
Call tracking software uses JavaScript to display a different contact telephone number for your clinic (known as a ‘tracking number’) on each ad or version of an ad. However, Google only sees your static or fixed local number, i.e. the actual number for your clinic. This is known as Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI).
DNI can be used in some exciting ways. For example, you could run two versions of the same ad with a slight variation in design or keywords, and you would receive call-tracking data showing which ad prompted the most telephone enquiries.
Similarly, you could use DNI on different landing pages on your website and measure which ones inspire people to pick up the phone.
Not sure if the ads on the side of a bus or in the entrance to your local supermarket are working? Call tracking will tell you.
Call tracking and SEO
In the past, call tracking has had some bad press from people saying that it can harm a business’s SEO efforts. In reality, if call tracking is properly implemented, it won’t impact negatively on your SEO at all.
The mistake some businesses have made is to feature a different phone number in every directory listing, which directly contradicts Google’s recommendation that directory listings including the name, address and phone number (NAP) of a business are always consistent whenever they are listed online.
With DNI call tracking, you still have that all-important static local number and that’s what Google will see when indexing your website.
Call tracking features & benefits
· One line
One of the benefits of call tracking is that, although you may have lots of dynamic numbers in the public domain – one for each version of each campaign – all of the calls will come through on your usual phone line.
· Call whispering
The call tracking software we use for clients at Cosmetic Digital includes a handy ‘Call whispering’ feature. This is when the staff member answering the call will hear a short message telling them which marketing campaign the call is coming from.
By receiving a ‘Whisper message’, your staff will have the opportunity to tailor their response to the call. For example, if you’re a dentist running an ad for teeth whitening, your team will know from the outset that the caller wants to know more about whitening. This can save both parties time and ensure that the caller receives relevant information straightaway.
This feature provides fantastic support in terms of enabling you to personalise your service to the individual caller, setting you off on a firm footing towards securing them as a patient.
· Call recording
Call tracking software also lets you record calls, enabling you to monitor that callers are receiving the correct response and that customer service standards are high at all times. The recorded calls can also be used for training purposes.
· Web based reports
With call tracking software, you receive web-based reports about every phone call. From PPC ads and digital marketing to offline campaigns, this data will show you which of your marketing activities are driving phone conversions. You can even track the cost per response and score the calls based on factors such as quality, duration or conversions.
With this information, you will be able to see which advertising methods give you the best ROI and which are not profitable. This can save you time and money, and help you make decisions about your marketing quickly.
