The missing metric: Why call tracking is a must for total attribution

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Pinpointing when, how, and why conversions are happening is an ongoing challenge for marketers. Determining which metrics to track in order to gain a deeper understanding of conversions is even more difficult. Fortunately, there’s a solution: Attribution modeling.

Attribution modeling provides insights that can help you better gauge how leads are interacting with campaigns and how they’re converting. This level of visibility shows what is and isn’t working, helping you to optimize your marketing strategy.

But there’s one catch: Attribution models are only as good as the data you feed them. Monitoring vanity metrics that contribute to unaccounted or misattributed conversions inevitably produces flawed models. This can (and does) often occur when valuable conversions aren’t being captured — like phone calls. Call attribution could be the missing metric that’s keeping you from attaining total attribution.

BIA/Kelsey reports that the volume of inbound calls to businesses “will grow to 169 billion by 2020.” At the forefront of this movement are mobile campaigns because, let’s be honest, we’re obsessed with our smartphones — they’re tethered to our palms nearly every waking hour. Integrating call tracking into your marketing analytics is the best way to capture these money-making metrics.

Prospects are making calls to businesses every day, and call tracking reveals the true value of call conversions in marketing attribution. This shrinks the attribution gap, gives you an actionable metric to help solve attribution dilemmas, and enhances your ability to strategize for success.

Learn more about how call tracking systems are a crucial part of a complete online and offline marketing campaign attribution system.

Don’t go it alone: Multi-channel / Multi-touch attribution and call tracking

If a single method existed that guaranteed new customers on a consistent basis, we’d be all over it. But since there’s no such magic bullet, marketers must use a wide range of methods to engage their prospects, and must continuously evolve their strategies in order to cater to user behavior.

In turn, this creates the opportunity for prospects to convert through multiple channels and at various touchpoints, both online and offline. So how can you possibly keep track of it all?

Cue your best allies: Multi-channel attribution (MCA) and multi-touch attribution (MTA). Think of MCA and MTA as your ultimate behind-the-scenes teammates. As you execute strategies across multiple fronts, MCA and MTA help you figure out which of your strategies is performing the best, and why.

Let’s say you have a local clinic as a client. A prospect sees a print ad for the clinic, and they call a unique tracking number to learn more about the promotion in the ad and make an appointment. Another prospect searches online for a local clinic and then checks out your client’s site and Facebook page. They’ll see another unique tracking number and call a few days later to schedule an appointment.

Call tracking helps close the gap in your attribution data by capturing a more complete picture of a customer’s journey, whether online or offline. With the calls receiving proper attribution, MCA and MTA can now help you determine which strategies will ultimately yield the best conversions for your client. Fewer touches are missed, and holistic attribution is achieved.

Why isn’t call tracking part of your marketing attribution?

Maybe call tracking hasn’t come across your radar yet. We encounter marketing professionals every day at all levels of their careers who have no idea what call tracking is or why it matters. And those are the kinds of encounters we actively seek out — we want to help make their jobs not only more efficient, but also more rewarding by using data to show the real value of their work.

On the other hand, maybe you’re already familiar with call tracking, and you’ve seen it mentioned on major platforms like Google or HubSpot. But you still haven’t taken the time to explore what it is, why it matters, and how it can be valuable for your clients. Fortunately there’s no time like the present to ignite a shift and change how you work in ways that are greatly beneficial in the long run.

Getting the most from your marketing attribution data can be a tedious task. Call tracking simplifies your workload by monitoring functional online and offline data to create healthy, full attribution models. By tracking reliable metrics like phone calls, you’ll have hard evidence for your marketing efforts that also minimizes the risk of missing meaningful touchpoints and conversions.

Learn more about what call tracking can bring to your marketing attribution: Request a no-obligation demo of CallRail, or start your 14 Day Free Trial, no credit card needed.

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