What is the difference between call tracking and call analytics anyway?

March 1, 2015

A bunch of us event-goers got such a kick out of an older woman, Joanne, on stage talking about her restaurant in New Orleans. As I sat in the audience at a digital marketing conference last September, watching a panel of small business owners, I could not help but be totally drawn into what she was saying. Because there are so many places online for Joanne to advertise, she is confused. Each time her phone rings, or a group of people enters her restaurant, she asks them “How did you hear about us?” Joanne just wants to know that she is spending her marketing money in the right place. Shouldn’t the platforms that she promotes on, be able to let her how many people they send her way?

Google has affirmed the value of the phone call and taken the lead in the industry by launching Website Call Conversions this summer. They realized that measuring only up to the click-to-call wasn’t enough for the true value of the campaign. With so many choices for marketing and advertising in different digital marketing channels, the small business needs an easy way to gauge which campaigns are really giving them the best bang for their buck.

Many agencies are currently focused only on tracking the “clicks” that occur while interacting online but they are missing an important piece. According to Google, 61% of people pick up the phone when they are ready to purchase or schedule an appointment.

**Businesses like Joanne’s will spend 34% of their ad budget on digital advertising so that they can be discovered online. *In 2015, it is predicted by BIA/Kelsey that U.S. businesses will spend 139 billion to market their products.

So what does that all mean? Lots of dollars are being spent by businesses to market and advertise, and they want to be assured that their money is being spent wisely. This is where, as a digital marketing provider, you can add value by providing Call Tracking or Call Analytics.

Call Tracking

Retrieve the details of every phone call
- Time of call, duration of call, who called, call recording
Correlate which phone calls are tied to a specific marketing campaign
- Assign a distinct phone number to each campaign
- Call whisper prompt when call is answered

Call Analytics

Takes Call Tracking a step further
Correlate that raw data into something more meaningful
Determine the sentiment of the call (was it positive)
Calculate the dollar value of the call (did they sell something)
Manage the handling of the incoming call with IVRs (“press 1 for ..”)
Automate call routing (forward to nearest office)

So which route should you take? It all depends on what your primary goal is. In either case, look for one that uses APIs so that the setup and integration is quick, easy and intuitive. If you are looking for a service that will present all of the analysis with slick charts so that you can determine performance of your current campaigns, then Call Analytics is for you. However, if you just need the raw data for a cheap price so that you can implement your own analytics, then Call Tracking is the sure way to go.

As a small business owner, Joanne is looking for a digital marketer that can paint the entire picture for her. Don’t you want to be the company that can provide that to her, as well as countless other business owners?

Let Bandwidth help if you are interested in a Call Tracking solution.