Call Tracking and Return on Investment (ROI) Tracking

Data and statistics are interesting numbers to analyze. These numbers are the eyes into the soul of your direct marketing campaign. And, the data and statistical numbers give you an understanding of your target audience’s behavior and values. This allows for a better way to strategize your marketing approach and have a successful return on your investment. Measuring the data and analyzing the statistics can be done in a number of different ways. Call tracking is one way that is both reliable and efficient as it gathers data about your leads and customers.

Call tracking statistical numbers provide valuable data about which mailers produce calls and which ones don’t. Not only can they tell you which ad content works, the color combinations that attract, the size of the mailer that is the most effective, but they can tell you which call to action makes people respond, what geographic location should you put your targeting efforts, and which offers all produce telephone response calls. All of this information can be gathered simply by putting a special phone number on your direct mailing piece. Tracking telephone numbers are used to track each of your traditional and online advertising channels, so that you always know which ads are performing. The numbers are included in the direct mail pieces and a different telephone number in your online campaigns. When a call comes in, you will know just from the phone number, which channel produced the call. Call tracking can help you increase your direct mail campaign and its impact and effectiveness.

A special call tracking number can sometimes confuse a customer since it is different than your businesses main number. But, don’t worry about that when establishing a new phone number because that percentage of people who are confused is so low that most people think of a different number as being just a different department! There are also ways to make a phone call with just a click of a button. With a smart phones being used by just about everyone, click to call buttons have become key sales drivers. Seventy percent of those using a mobile will use call links to connect with a business. Use these buttons on your website and emails.

The biggest issue in tracking your phone calls that come in from a direct mail campaign is having the right staff to handle the incoming calls. The next issue is the training of that staff to convert the phone calls to sales. These types of calls require people to be fluent in talking to strangers and getting the caller to follow through with a sale. They need scripts that are written and stated in a way that inspires a purchase. The tracking phone number allows your staff to know what campaign or site the caller came from as soon as the phone rings. Because of that information, your staff should be able to tailor the conversation and be prepared with the best pitch. As calls come in, your staff will track conversions and sales amounts for each call. They should use a call log interface that enters the call and the conversion information or they could use a post call survey when the call has ended. Your return on investment reports should start filling in with your data, showing you important statistics for each direct marketing channel that you are using with information such as the conversion rate, the cost per call, revenue, calls, and return on investment.

Probably the best use of this data, is for the purpose of staffing, training and the performance and result of each phone call. The information can track a staffer’s performance on both inbound and outbound calls. You can see how long they have been on the phone, how many calls they missed and even record the conversation. Management can see what they are doing both right and wrong and set goals for each individual person on the call team. The time of the call, its length and the pause between each call can also be tracked. Another feature can be to see how much revenue each member of the staff brought in and their performance can be monitored. The tactics they use for their success can also be studied and then replicated by the rest of the sales team.

Use call tracking reporting for forecasting and planning. You can set future marketing budgets because they will be based on the revenue that was achieved from the past campaigns return on investments. Staffing needs and budgets can be set when there is a concrete number from previous campaigns that yielded a certain level of conversion rates and revenue needs. Create a model of what different conversion rates and average conversion amounts would do to overall revenue and staffing requirements.

Other tracking tools that you can use to increase the amount of sales and to increase conversions and performance for your staff are things like using call recordings.Record each staff member and then review the calls with them to assess their performance. Listen to what happens during the call to correct any mistakes and highlight the successful things that were said. Rather than listening to each call, scan through a transcript of the call and get a sense of what is being discussed. Identify patterns in calls and spot check performance. You can also live listen to each call when they are happening. This is best for real time training and coaching. You can give the call team feedback immediately.

Scoring and tagging of call is another tool that helps you to classify the calls for easy report creation. Staff should use their call log sheets to score calls using a type of star system so that management can easily track the quality of the call leads by each marketing channel. Tagging a call is when the call is classified by each different marketing channel that created someone to respond to what they received such as direct mail postcard, direct mail letter, website, email letter, Facebook or Pinterest. You can also break it down further by using a division of calls for the particular product line or the stage of the purpose of the call in the buying funnel. All of the reports can be easily filtered by the tags you choose to use. You want your calls tagged and scored with various categories because these organize the calls so that reports can be made and rated for management to rate staff on their performance and for assessing the lead quality that is being generated through each direct mail campaign. Each call should have a sale amount entered which allows management to analyze how much revenue is being created by each marketing category and mail piece that generated the lead. All calls should be examined in order to identify patterns of words you want the system to watch for and automatically score, tag, and convert calls.

At Everest Direct Mail & Marketing, we value your time and business, and we’re here to ensure your mail campaigns with us are a victory as reflected in your growing client base and bank account. Not only do we produce and send out your mail, but our dedicated account managers also help you track your success. We do this by modifying your lists and updating them based on call tracking, which in turn helps you track the return on your investment. We’ll help you clean your lists for people who have already called and you’ve done business with or those who have requested to not be contacted again. We can also help you track how many people called based on which campaign you do, helping you determine what works best for your direct mail marketing method and where you made the most money. Let us help you succeed by carefully and meticulously monitoring your return!

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