Using call tracking to prove PPC campaign effectiveness for agencies

When it comes to running PPC campaigns, there are two things marketing agencies need to understand:

1. Are the keywords you’re bidding on for a client the right ones?
2. Is your client actually appearing in searches?

But these aren’t the only challenges marketing agencies are facing. You also need to be able to measure ROI from their PPC campaigns so you can prove value to clients, and secure budget for future work.

While understanding where visitors to your client’s website have come from is easy, clients often want more than this. Agencies now need to show where revenue is coming from, and which leads are actually converting into customers.

But it’s not always possible to get this data from web analytics tools alone. This is where call tracking gives your agency the edge.

The role of call tracking in understanding the full customer journey

Even in a world where online shopping is common, calls still have a place in both B2C and B2B marketing. This is especially the case for expensive, complex, or emotional purchases.

But outside of that, potential customers will make a phone call to get immediate answers to questions or when they need advice on the best solution for their specific challenges. And, for some clients, some or even all marketing activity will be specifically geared to generating phone calls. But, if you’re not tracking these, how can you know if your PPC campaigns are contributing to these calls.

Proving PPC campaign success with call tracking

There are many elements that can be used to prove campaign success when it comes to PPC including how many visits to a website it is driving. But with call tracking, agencies can go beyond this to show the value they are bringing to a client. This includes:

• Customer journeys: Call tracking can help you understand your clients’ customer journey in detail, including where PPC was involved in that journey. And not just if PPC was involved, but what specific campaign or keyword.
• Lead generation: If your client is in a service business, it’s likely that their marketing campaigns is aimed at generating calls. So, as an agency, you need to be able to prove which calls have come from your PPC campaigns.
• Maximising budgets: Not only can call tracking help you understand if you’re campaigns are generating leads, it can also show which prospects are converting into customers. This can help you to funnel budget into the keywords that are most likely to convert in a sale, rather than just a website click or a call that doesn’t convert but takes up time.

Agencies who aren’t tracking calls could miss out on up to 80% of leads that have come from their PPC campaigns.

Agencies who aren’t tracking calls could miss out on up to 80% of leads that have come from their PPC campaigns.

When it comes to campaign reporting, this discrepancy could make all the difference between a client committing to further PPC spend, putting spend elsewhere, or cutting it altogether.

Channelling PPC budget into the most effective areas

Using call tracking to refine activity in this way will give you an advantage over agencies who are basing their overall campaign analysis on clicks and CTR alone. By seeing exactly what is driving leads, your client’s budget will be channelled into the most effective areas when it comes to generating high-quality leads that drive ROI.

This will help you build and maintain trust with your clients, which is key to forming and maintaining long-term partnerships.

To find out more about maximising your PPC campaigns with call tracking, download our eBook.