Nine Questions to Ask Before Buying a Call Tracking Solution

Even the most experienced marketers aren’t always clear on which phone call tracking features will add the most value to their particular business model. We recently released Call Tracking: The Definitive Buyers’ Guide, to not only help businesses compare call tracking systems, but also to help them evaluate which  features can add the most value. For example, some businesses might only want campaign-level tracking data, while others might need the granularity of keyword-level insight. Before investing, know which questions to ask.

What are you trying to accomplish with call tracking?

When comparing solutions, it helps to identify your short and long-term goals. For example, a short-term goal might be attributing the referral source of every phone lead from social media, while a long-term goal might be boosting marketing ROI by 20%. Try to find a solution that will give you the data to meet not only short term, but also long-term goals.

Are you looking for a call tracking solution to align sales and marketing?

Most solutions are intended to be pure-play Marketing IT tools. However, CRM-based solutions can actually help build bridges between Sales and Marketing teams. A great CRM-based tool can instantly enable sales reps to see a caller’s marketing referral source, as well as give sales reps the ability to provide marketers real-time feedback about lead quality. The can help sales reps and marketers work together to drive ROI.

Would you like a solution that integrates with your CRM seamlessly?

Lots of phone call tracking systems claim to integrate with CRM tools like Salesforce.com. In reality, many of these integrations are complex, requiring you to upload data into your CRM from spreadsheets or hire a CRM consultant to do pricey customization work. If you’re investigating a solution, be sure to ask what is involved with CRM integration. Is it truly plug-and-play?

How robust are your reporting requirements?

What level of insight do you need? Do you just want to know which search engine drives the most calls? Do you want to know which AdWords campaigns offer the best ROI? Or do you want to know which paid and organic keywords deliver the best calls? It’s important to identify the level of granularity you are looking for, and then find a solution that meets those needs.

Does you require on-demand, scalable features to meet your specific needs?

You might be content with basic call tracking now, but I’m going to take a wild guess that your goal is for your business to grow. While basic website call tracking might offer the insight into advertising spend that you need now or align with your current marketing budget, you might soon find that you want more insight. Take the time to investigate whether a call tracking service offers scalable features that can keep up with your business as it grows. Is it easy to add additional users? Can you instantly provision new phone numbers and track new channels at any time? Can you devise complex new call routing scenarios at the drop of a hat?

Are you looking to track ROI from online ads, offline ads or both?

Where are you investing your advertising dollars? Do you go to trade shows? Buy radio time? Run AdWords campaigns? Advertise on social media sites? Create inbound marketing content online? Before investing, make sure that the system in question will enable you to track the efforts that you invest in. Otherwise, you can’t truly get 360 degree visibility into marketing ROI.

How much training does it require to use the system?

Marketers tend to be busy folks, and we don’t have time to spend a million years provisioning call tracking numbers. It’s important to find a solution that makes it quick and easy to provision large quantities of call tracking numbers. This can especially come in handy if you’re looking to track lots of keywords at once. But even if you aren’t, provisioning numbers, and associating them with your CRM, should be a quick process.

How important is one-click integration with Google Analytics and AdWords?

If you want to track online efforts, it’s important to find a solution that can quickly and easily integrate with your Google AdWords PPC and Google Analytics accounts. For AdWords, one way to get underneath this is to ask whether the company utilizes a Google AdWords API. If so, then the process is more likely to be easy.

Are you looking for a call tracking solution with routing capabilities?

Certain call tracking solutions actually give marketers the ability to route calls to sales reps, or even entire groups of sales reps, based on a caller’s referral source. This can be a game-changer since it can cut down on a caller’s hold time and help ensure that prospects are always routed to the right rep. If intelligent call routing can add value to your business, be sure to ask if a call tracking solution offers routing capabilities.

For more information on call tracking read our whitepaper: Call Tracking: The Definitive Buyers’ Guide