Did you know? 88% of visitors say they are more likely to contact a company when a “Call” button is available on their website . Think of the marketing opportunities that have gone untapped in all these years, all those leads you might have had the chance to convert into customers by offering them the chance to call you…
In this article, we will explain exactly how to use your digital marketing to increase the number of incoming calls, and thus help your business grow.
1. TRACK ALL INCOMING CALLS WITH A CALL-TRACKING TOOL
Offering the possibility to Internet users to call you by setting up a telephone number on your site is not enough. Admittedly, you will see an increase in your incoming calls, but you will have no insight into the source of these calls. By knowing the number of times each of your marketing channels rang your phone, you can optimize your digital presence. You may find that a channel that was not generating direct sales until now is generating a lot of calls. This way, you will know that you should not cut this channel, even if the analysis of your Google Analytics leads you to conclude otherwise.
To measure all incoming calls and attribute them to the right source of traffic, all you need to do is set up a call-tracking tool .
HOW IT WORKS ?
A call-tracking tool is a script to be integrated into your site, which will replace your telephone number with another number that you have previously reserved with the company offering this service. This redirection number will direct calls to your original number, and will allow the call-tracking service to record the content of these calls, and to define the channel which will have been the source (either based on UTMs of your URLs, or by assigning a different number to each of them).
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ?
Contrary to the falsely widespread perception, setting up a call-tracking tool is not that expensive. Of course, costs are to be expected*, but the returns on investment are, in most cases, very interesting. The cost of such a tool includes a fixed charge for each of the telephone numbers reserved, as well as an additional charge per minute for telephone calls.
* Adwords offers a free call-tracking solution , but this will only allow you to measure calls from Google paid ads, which limits analysis when your marketing plan is broader than this single channel. Discover some call-tracking tools here.
2. ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO CALL YOU
Metering calls is good, but ringing your phone is better! Putting your number in a top or bottom corner of your website is not enough: you have to encourage Internet users to take action!
HOW TO DO ?
There are three easy ways to maximize incoming calls using your digital properties.
A – ON YOUR WEBSITE, OFFER THE CALL AS ADDED VALUE.
At first glance, a user will not visit your website to call you. He expects to find the answers he seeks online. Nevertheless, in some cases, such as when navigation is not optimal on mobile, or when the purchase requires additional details, human interaction can bring a lot of added value to the user's experience. But still it is necessary to communicate to him.
To achieve this, it is necessary to make the telephone number visible, and especially to ensure that it can be clicked on mobile, so that the Internet user can call you directly by clicking on it.
B – IN YOUR MARKETING MESSAGES, PUT FORWARD THE CALL TO ACTION “CALL US”.
It's also important to use the call-to-action “Call us” in all your marketing messages, in order to make it clear to Internet users that you offer them this possibility.
In our experience, we've seen a real difference in click-through and engagement rates between ads that contain this type of call-to-action, and those that contain a more traditional one like "Contact Us." .
C – FOR YOUR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CLICK-TO-CALL ADS.
On most ad networks, different formats are offered that allow users to call you from a single click on the ad. On Google as on Facebook, for example, there are formats highlighting calls. Here is an example from Facebook:
Our experience has allowed us to understand that the costs per prospect of click-to-calls , redirecting to an online contact form, were more interesting than those of traditional formats when the same value is attributed to both types of prospects.
Google also offers the possibility of indicating your telephone number under your Adwords ads. On mobile, it will be directly presented in the form of a "Call" button which will allow the user to contact you directly from the ad, without having to go to your website. Here is an overview:
TIP FROM #PRO
The new Google Adwords interface also allows you to adjust bids to encourage the appearance of these call extensions. You'll find this option under the "Advanced Bid Adjustments" tab.
In short, as you will have understood, calls can be a very good way to increase your sales, and therefore, the profitability of your digital marketing offensives. It is still necessary to have the internal resources to answer these incoming calls, but also to have an omnichannel view of your company and its conversion funnel. The boundaries between online and offline are shrinking, and you need to be able to understand this to adequately analyze your marketing presence.
