Call tracking is a system for tracking and analyzing calls. Call tracking: what it is and how to use it Connection with Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica

Hello everyone!

You've probably already lost me? There’s just a lot to do: a lot of work, changes in my personal life (I’ll tell you very soon) and some problems have taken a lot of my strength and health. I’ve almost finished the work, I’ve solved the problems, which means it’s time to write an article on my favorite blog. How I miss him and you - my subscribers.

Okay, enough preamble. Let's start the lesson.

So. The topic of today's lesson is Call Tracking. Another very useful tool that will help us measure the number of offline conversions - calls.

Today I will not dwell on working with any specific service, but will simply tell you what Call Tracking is and the principle of its operation. Let's go!

What is Call Tracking?

Call Tracking is a method of tracking offline conversions (calls) from a website.

Thanks to this conversion tracking method, you can easily measure how many applications a particular traffic channel actually brings and optimize your advertising campaigns more effectively.

At its core, call tracking works in a similar way to tracking online conversions by analytics systems (,).

According to various statistics, a huge number of applications (about 70%) in the B2C (business to people) segment occurs through the phone, and in B2B (business to business) it is as much as 10% more. Thus, it turns out that when setting goals in Metrica or Google Analytics, we (internet marketers) do not get a complete picture of what is happening. Consequently, the optimization of advertising campaigns is not entirely complete.

It is precisely because a huge proportion of requests come through the phone that smart people have developed special services that will help us track calls. Here are some of them:

• Yandex.Metrica target call;
• CoMagic;
• CallTracking;
• Call Tracking from Google Adwords (appeared in early 2017);
• And others.

Naturally, most of them are not free. However, you do not have to pay separately for Call Tracking in Google Adwords; the cost of using this service is included in the cost of advertising campaigns.

How Call Tracking works

To make it easier for you to understand the operating principle of call tracking systems, let’s imagine the following situation: you have set up two traffic channels ( , ) and want to use a specific Call Tracking system.

1. Initially, to track offline conversion, one number is used for one traffic channel, but since you decided to use two channels, there should also be two numbers (one for each);
2. Next, you need to link these numbers to traffic channels, this is done in the Call Tracking system;
3. Then, you need to place special JavaScript in the site code, which will remember each site visitor and replace the phone number in accordance with the channel from which it came;
4. When a site visitor calls the number corresponding to the traffic channel, his call will automatically be redirected to the phone number specified in the settings.

This is how the most common Call Tracking works. There are only two types:

1. Static Call Tracking. The operating principle is described above;
2. Dynamic Call Tracking. This type of call tracking works not by traffic channel, but by visitor session, that is, different visitors to your site will see different numbers. This allows you to obtain a huge amount of data: from the key query to the visitor’s behavior on the site. However, the data may be vague for the simple reason that the list of numbers allocated by the system is small and is in constant rotation: one number can be used in different sessions.

Unfortunately, Call Tracking in RuNet is still far behind Europe, where this method of tracking offline conversions is an integral part of advertising campaign analytics. Because of this, large errors in visitor data are possible: accuracy is 50% - 80%. But if you use call tracking in conjunction with analytics systems such as Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica, you can get a complete picture of what is happening.

We have released PhoneTrack - a free call tracking that allows you to track calls from the site without replacing numbers. You can request access now or read this article to understand why your business needs PhoneTrack.

How call tracking works

PhoneTrack finds all phone numbers on a site and partially hides them from users using an image or text. To see the full number, the client must click on the icon or word - and this action is recorded by the system. Clicking on a number in most cases leads to a conversation with the client.

Who can use PhoneTrack?

For companies that want to understand:

• How often does a website visitor call the organization?
• From which pages of the site does the conversion to call come from?
• From what traffic source and what keywords did the calling client come from?
• What region did the potential buyer call from?

PhoneTrack is best for small and medium-sized businesses: it's free, simple, and only involves call tracking. Large companies will most likely prefer services with broader functionality and higher cost.

But we don't limit our audience and invite companies of all sizes to try PhoneTrack!

Why you should try PhoneTrack

Why does the world need another call tracking service? Why should a company choose PhoneTrack when there are others? To explain the benefits of the service, let’s consider its functionality in detail.

Connect with one line of code

It may seem that hiding phone numbers on a website is an easy task. But to implement it and attach data to the analytics system, you will need at least four hours of a programmer and two hours of a web analyst. During this time, call tracking will be set up for only one site without the ability to quickly add another resource or phone number.

PhoneTrack can be activated by a marketer, business owner, or any employee with basic knowledge of HTML/CSS. You don't need to be a developer to do this! You can connect any number of sites with an unlimited number of pages to the system.

How to connect call tracking

If you want to edit call tracking settings, click on the “My Sites” tab, find the desired resource in the table and manage it using the icons in the “Manage” column.

Connection with Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica

Google Analytics and Metrics counters are connected through simple authorization. You don't need a programmer or analyst for this. Once you have linked your accounts to PhoneTrack, you no longer need to go to https://services.completo.ru/ to view call data: it will be collected in the analytics system.

For Google Analytics, PhoneTrack creates an event and action called the organization's phone number.

The phone_click goal appears in Yandex.Metrica.

Actions from PhoneTrack can be analyzed in the same way as other goals and events: look at the percentage of conversions, pages, sources, channels, keywords, filter by date.

Design customization

First, you need to decide which element to hide: text, ID or class. Then, using the “Replacement method” option, you can hide phone numbers so that they look harmonious with the site design. For example, you can load an icon from the set that was used in the interface and close part of the number with its help.

When setting up PhoneTrack, we offer several options for replacing part of the number:

• Picture with an eye
• Text “Show”
• Text “Closed”
• Text “Open”
• Stylized eye
• Any picture you upload

You select the background color under the text or image through the “Custom replacement method” drop-down menu item.

Built-in analytics

After installing PhoneTrack, your account will have basic call information. Open the “Reports” tab and see a table with parameters:

• date and time
• Telephone
• Client ID
• Region
• Page
• Source
• Keyword

This data is available in the form of a table and a graph that shows the numbers by time and phone number. The results are filtered by time periods and all the parameters listed above. Filter conditions:

• Contains
• Equals
• Not equal

Conditions can be combined depending on the purpose of the search.

Analytics is saved in connected Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica accounts, but we thought it would be convenient for users to monitor basic indicators on the PhoneTrack website.

The client sees a valid phone number

Call tracking companies currently on the market offer to monitor calls from a website using dynamic and static tracking.

With dynamic call tracking, each unique user is shown their own phone number. This method allows you to determine the source of the call down to the keyword.

Problems with these options:

• The user does not see the company's real phone number, and many business owners are not happy with this. If a person has written down a number or passed it on to friends, and the organization has refused call tracking, it will no longer be possible to call the spoofed number.
• With static call tracking, the user path is visible only at the advertising campaign level.
• Dynamic call tracking solves the problem mentioned above, but is much more expensive: for each phone number you will pay from 250 rubles.

PhoneTrack solves all of the above problems because it:

• Doesn't change numbers.
• Allows you to track the full user path through standard Google and Yandex analytics systems.
• Free.

It's free

Tracking calls from a website is a service that small companies cannot afford: the price in popular call tracking systems varies from 1000 to 229,000 rubles per month plus payment for the work of employees to implement the service.

PhoneTrack is a free service with an easy connection that requires almost no time from company employees. True, we do not refuse voluntary donations: you will find the form right in the interface.

So far we don’t know how to monetize the service: perhaps it will remain free or become paid, but inexpensive: approximately 100 rubles per month.

Future plans

We plan to develop a PhoneTrack communication system with CRM and electronic PBXs so that users can collect all data in one system.

Connect PhoneTrack to the site. It is free and will take no more than an hour of working time.

Need deeper call tracking? Contact "Completo".

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What is calltering used for: challenges and opportunities

Using this technology, you sort all incoming calls, divide them into groups by audience type, priority, average bill, and types of goods purchased. This allows you to optimally distribute the incoming flow between employees of the sales department or call centers. Surely you have employees in your company to whom you entrust the most important clients, and there are those who still lack experience and are not yet mature enough to work with a certain type of customer. Thanks to call tracking, you refer the client to the specialist who is working with whom the call will bring more profit.

Call Tracking technology performs the following tasks:

• Analysis of the work of the call center and sales department - you can listen to audio recordings of calls, see how many incoming requests employees missed and left unanswered.
• ROI calculation.
• Calculating the amount of money a company invests in attracting new customers. This data can then be compared with the amount of profit received from each customer. This way you can see how profitable your business is.
• Directing the budget allocated for a marketing campaign to those channels that are most effective in this case.

Data recorded by call tracking:

• call status (missed or accepted);
• quality of communication (can be monitored by audio recording);
• source of conversion – phone number and the client himself;
• what advertising channel was used;
• how many unique calls are received and how many repeat ones;
• average call duration.

There is an article on our blog about. It pays great attention to call tracking as one of the main tools.

How call tracking works: principle of operation

To track user actions, you can install a special script on the site. It's called a call tracker or call tracker. It can be linked to analytics services, for example Metrica. Here are some call trackers that are integrated with Metrica:

• Alloka
• Callibri
• Calltouch
• Call-tracking.by
• CallTracking.ru
• Comagic
• Mango Office
• PrimeGate
• Ringostat
• Roistat
• Vector

For the simplest model, one number is enough to track conversions. The system records those requests from clients that arrive at this number in a log. Thanks to these records, you can track various parameters: the number of unanswered calls, the time spent on one or more calls from a group, etc.

But to make tracking advertising channels through a call tracking system more effective, it is better to use several numbers. It works like this: an individual phone number is associated with the advertising channel or one-time user on your site that you want to follow. Your potential customer sees only this combination of numbers and dials it to make a call. Using call tracking technology, redirection is enabled and the client is automatically directed to the call center or sales department. Using this number, you see the source of each call - an individual user or a specific advertising channel to which this number is attached.

Scheme of work in the Calltracking system:

• We determine how many advertising channels and traffic you need to control. The number of controlled elements can be any and depends only on your budget. The more rooms, the more you pay.
• We attach a personal phone number to each advertising channel or unique user on your website. Advertising sources also place a separate number dedicated only to this offer.
• We install a special code (JavaScript Code) on the resource where traffic from advertising channels goes. The code identifies and stores in memory each new user who visits the site and changes the phone number. When a user calls, the action is automatically forwarded and the client is taken to the sales department or call center. All data during a call is recorded so that it can be used for analysis in the future.

Pros and cons of call tracking

When advertising payment is determined by the number of clicks, it is very difficult to calculate such an important indicator as the cost of attracting a client. Advertising platforms often take advantage of this for profit. They charge for clicks even though they don't convert. For example, user referrals from botnets or pop-up advertising rarely bring orders.

If you use Call Tracking technology you can:

• Analyze the effectiveness of each advertising channel.
• Properly allocate your budget and focus your efforts on those sources that bring the most conversions.
• Experiment with advertising presentation, format, distribution method and track how changes affected the number of conversions.
• Get data that allows you to make calculations and find out whether your advertising investments are paying off.

The call tracking system has certain disadvantages, namely:

• High cost if you need to control a large amount of traffic and channels.
• Large companies like to use beautiful, memorable numbers, such as combinations of repeating numbers. If all users see different numbers, then the main one remains unattended, no matter how beautiful it may be.
• If most of the conversions occur online (placing an order through a website, filling out electronic forms), there is no point in overpaying for call tracking. Online conversion data will be sufficient for analytics.

To this day, when calling any company, you can hear the phrase: “Tell me, how did you hear about us?” By analyzing the answers to this question, entrepreneurs try to understand which advertising channel works better and brings in more hits. This is the obvious and easiest way to analyze advertising channels, but it is very labor-intensive.

Today there are systems with which you can obtain accurate information about where exactly calls are coming to the site. Moreover, this process can not only be automated, but also much more information can be obtained with higher reliability and without missing any data. In this article we will talk about how a modern call tracking system works.

What is call tracking?

In general, call tracking is a complex of three elements:

• a pool of telephone numbers provided by the operator company;
• a service that tracks all incoming calls;
• an analytics system that distributes all received data into categories.

As a result, you receive information about how the caller found out about you, thanks to which you can draw a conclusion about the effectiveness of this advertising channel. Everything is the same as with a “manual” survey, only in this case the work is performed by a call tracking service, and your managers are engaged in their direct responsibilities.

The easiest way to explain this is with an example. Let's say you want to place advertisements in the newspaper, on radio and bus stops, and then check which of these channels is more effective, so that you can subsequently focus on it. To do this, you need to give one phone number to the newspaper, another to the radio, and a third to the bus stops. The call tracking system will automatically distribute calls according to numbers, and in the future you will be able to make a choice between the most effective advertising channels.

This type of call tracking is called static because it allows you to link one number to one advertising source - contextual advertising, banner, etc. This is an affordable service that provides information only about the effectiveness of the advertising channel as a whole, but it can be used for offline evaluation - and online advertising.

If you want to get data about each visitor to your website, you need to use a dynamic call tracking system. It is more expensive and more complex, but many times more effective.

This option only applies to online mode. It lies in the fact that every user who comes to the site sees a unique phone number. If a person makes a call, the service connects data from a web analytics system (Yandex.Metrica or Google Analytics) and you receive all the information about where this person came from to the site, what queries he entered into the search engine, what city he was from, whether he called he earlier and so on.

How call tracking works

The most important thing is to understand that this is not some kind of program, the installation of which is enough for the system to work. Each site user should see “their” phone number. But purchasing so many phone numbers and developing a system for integrating them with the site just to evaluate the effectiveness of an advertising campaign is unreasonable. It’s easier to connect a ready-made call tracking analytics system.

Any call tracking provider has its own phone numbers, which will be displayed on your website. If there are not enough of them, then you can contact your telecom operator and buy numbers there. Please note that room rates vary by region. You also need to understand that providers do not always have a sufficient number of regional numbers. If necessary, the system can work with numbers like 8-800, but this costs more.

You might think that the operating principle of call tracking involves the use of an infinitely large number of phone numbers. This is wrong. You need exactly as many numbers as visitors can simultaneously (!) be on your site. As soon as the user has finished choosing what he needs and has left the site, his “connection” is over, which means this number can be shown to the next one.

In any case, you don't have to worry about this. Large providers are ready to connect to your analytics system exactly as many numbers as needed. Sometimes you have to pay extra for this, sometimes this service is provided as part of a standard service. Pay attention to this when you study the offers of operators and choose which one to connect.

Why is call tracking needed?

Many companies active on the Internet use web analytics and believe that this is enough. They think they are tracking all orders based on only the cart and email. Based on this information, they conclude which advertising was more effective (for example, context or SEO). But they miss calls completely.

Meanwhile, in a number of business niches, phone orders reach 70%! Can we talk about the reliability of analytics if such a large percentage of information is not taken into account?

To get a truly complete picture, call tracking is needed.

Call tracking services: how to choose?

When choosing a suitable option, focus on the following criteria:

1. Number of rooms. You already know that for call tracking to work, you need many phone numbers, which are provided by the call tracking operator. Check to see if there is a limit on their number. Preference should be given to operators who do not limit you in the number of rooms and do not charge additional fees for them.
2. Speed ​​of connecting the service to your system. The faster you can integrate the service and “make” the system work, the better.
3. Possibility of integration. It is important that the system can integrate not only with web analytics, but also with other services (for example, CRM). This way you can not only select data from incoming calls, but also compare it with sales information.
4. Ease of use. Study the call tracking operator’s website, online reviews and evaluate how its system works. If everything in the service descriptions looks simple and clear, you can give it a plus. Also evaluate the “Personal Account” interface and the ability of call tracking to work in test mode.
5. Additional features. The operating principle of call tracking involves obtaining various types of information about each caller. It can be displayed on the screen of the manager right at the time of the call, and he will immediately see where the person is calling from, whether he called before, what query he used to find the site, and so on.

As you can see, choosing a call tracking operator is not so difficult. To do this, you need to evaluate the quality of the service, the appearance of your “Personal Account” and how call tracking will work in test mode.

As an example, let’s compare several well-known call tracking services.

Yandex target call

Google AdWords call tracking