Marketers need clear attribution strategies. It’s essential to validating that their offline lead generation is having an impact. Call measurement and analytics technology company Telmetrics knows this — and has some recommendations for best practices.
According to the company, calls are a “critical way to measure offline ad engagement and, for many categories, are a must-have part of the attribution toolkit.”
“Most digital and mobile ad campaigns help drive offline purchases, making it critical for today’s marketers to ensure they have strong attribution programs in place to effectively prove the offline impact,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, who recently spoke about mobile attribution at SMX East 2014. “Calls are a powerful piece of the offline attribution puzzle as rich call analytics can help marketers not only accurately identify the source of the lead but also reveal purchase indicators and conversions.”
What does Telmetrics suggest? Here’s their sage counsel from a provided statement this week:
1. Include contact information up front – Clear contact information is one of consumers’ most sought-after mobile features and more than 60 percent of mobile consumers say it is very important to be able to call a business in the purchase phase.
2. Go beyond the last click – Click to call or tap to call is commonly used to track how many consumers connect to the business they are searching, but attribution shouldn’t be based on clicks alone. End-to-end call measurement technology can reward with rich lead generation data and qualify lead quality.
3. Close the online-offline gap – Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) seamlessly replaces phone numbers with call tracking numbers on an advertiser’s website or landing pages based on how the visitor arrived at the site or page. This practice allows marketers to tie calls back to the specific originating digital or mobile campaigns.
4. Track calls for all digital programs, including display – Call attribution isn’t just for search programs. Attribution best practices should be used for display ad programs as well: 30 percent of display ad secondary actions are calls.
5. Complete the purchase loop – Call attribution metrics can help optimize advertising programs in a number of ways. Marketers should measure and test campaigns using multiple variables, e.g., various display creative, ad networks, distribution partners.
6. Ensure quality calls are delivered – Spam and telemarketer calls (and even wrong number calls) are not only a nuisance but also can dilute advertiser call response data. A call-blocking feature is essential and marketers should test their provider’s success.
