10 Reasons Not to Track Phone Calls

In my day job, I find myself recommending and implementing call tracking solutions for a wider variety of clients than ever before.

But the more I bring it up, the more objections I hear. Some reasons are legit, others are pure ignorance. That’s not to say my clients are ignorant (quite the opposite, they ROCK) but sometimes their thought processes need a quick kick in the pants.

Here are the top 10 reasons I’ve heard NOT to track inbound phone calls. How many of these have you heard? Any I’m missing?

1. My customers only interact online and have no need to call my business

You’d be crazy not to have a phone number listed on your website. Some customers want to give you money but have a hard time checking out, signing up or finding a crucial detail on your site. Eventually they’ll give up and go somewhere else unless you make it easy for them to contact you for help.

2. I don’t think the extra investment in call tracking will yield any return

I have to call BS on this one! If you’re already spending money on PPC ads, SEO or other media, a small percentage invested in proper analysis of phone calls will make your paid campaigns much more efficient and more than pay for itself in no time.

3. I don’t get enough phone calls to justify the expense

This may be true if you only get a handful of calls each month. But don’t you want to get MORE phone calls? Even if you do it the old fashioned way with pen and paper, keep track of where your successful phone calls come from so you can focus your marketing efforts on those sources.

4. I already know how people find my phone number

Where did your last 3 calls come from? A phone book ad you placed last year? A Google Maps search conducted this morning? A business card you traded with a stranger at a trade show last year? A direct mail piece you sent out last week? How can you be so sure?

5. I already know the outcome of all of my phone calls

Again, how can you really be sure? What about the calls that go to voicemail when you’re out to lunch or hang up during a long or confusing prompt system? Recording these calls can shed light on abandoned calls that could have turned into business.

6. I don’t have time to analyze the calls

True, listening to hundreds of calls may not tip the work/life balance back in your favor but there are other ways to derive value from call logs. Many call tracking vendors offer automated or

human-assisted voice transcription

and data mining. If that’s not an option, commit to reviewing a sample of your calls. The qualitative insights you gain will be well worth the time.

7. Web analytics already tell me how many conversions I’m getting

Sure, any web analytics tool can report back to you on click-based conversions, leads, downloads and sales. But the moment a website visitor picks up the phone to call you, that conversion is not counted in your ROI calculations. You could be missing 50-75% of your leads when deciding how to allocate your marketing budgets.

8. I just want the phone to ring, all phone calls are created equal

Not so fast. Some of your marketing efforts could be generating a disproportionate number of customer service or unsolicited sales calls. These calls are less likely to result in new customers so you’d want to know this when comparing ROI across multiple traffic sources.

9. I don’t want to confuse people with different phone numbers

This is probably the most common response I hear from hesitant businesses. I challenge them to recite the phone numbers of the last 3 businesses they called…or more than 5 people in their cell phone’s contact list. The point is, people don’t memorize phone numbers any more.

10. The people that answer my phones don’t care where calls come from

This is another common response, and I often recommend crafting a “whisper message” to help craft a more personalized response from your sales people. If the call came from a source promoting a special offer (i.e. a Facebook ad with a 10% off coupon), your sales people may be able to pick up some extra commissions by customizing their sales pitch to the offer and ad.

The Bottom Line

People are naturally resistant to change, especially when it might involve them having to do more work or wade through more data. But the problem is not that call tracking data are not valuable, it’s that the data are often not aligned with a client’s objectives or incentive structure. Find a way to package call tracking that helps them look good and you’ll soon gain their trust and hopefully their business!

(CC Photo Credit: Tim Ellis on Flickr)