One of the most common questions I get about call tracking is, “What kind of information would I get from a call tracking service?” I’ll answer that, then take it one step further and suggest some advanced answers to “What can I do with the data provided?”

Most vendors provide the same basic metrics and call-level detail. Here’s what to expect from your call tracking provider (at the minimum):

Call Metrics

Total Calls: The total number of phone calls generated, regardless of status or caller.

Unique Callers or Unique Leads: The number of phone calls from an individual caller. If a customer calls twice, it counts as 2 total calls from 1 unique caller. Usually differentiated by the caller’s phone number.

Times Called: Shows the distribution of unique callers that called one time, two times, etc.

Average Call Duration: The number of minutes and seconds per call, on average.

Total Call Duration: The total number of hours, minutes and seconds for tracked phone calls.

Ring Duration: The number of seconds that the phone rang before the call was answered or canceled.

Call Start Time and Call End Time: The time of day (hh:mm:ss) that the call originated and terminated.

Call Status Metrics

Answered: The inbound call was answered by a human.

Hangup or Cancel: The caller disconnected before the call was answered.

Voicemail: The inbound call was not answered by a human and went to voicemail.

Busy: The inbound call resulted in a busy signal.

Error: The call was not connected due to technical problems.

How to Analyze a Call Tracking Report

Counting phone calls is just the beginning. It’s nice to know that the phone is ringing but if you’re not sure what to do next, read on.

Data is useless unless you can use it to make decisions. Consider segmenting your data to gain deeper insights into what’s working and what’s not, then allocate your marketing efforts accordingly.

I’m a big fan of coming up with a hypothesis then using data to prove or disprove it. Here are a few thought starters and how I would go about answering them:

• Which ad campaigns are driving the highest quality calls? Review your call tracking stats by campaign or traffic source to determine not just the quantity but also the quality of the phone calls generated. How? Most call tracking and CRM software allows for recording the outcome of a phone call, i.e. whether or not the customer “converted” or took a desired action.
• What times of day/days of week are we getting the best/most calls? Similarly, is it worth manning the phones during off hours if quality calls are going unanswered? Look at hour of day and day of week reports to determine when to throttle your ads up or down (online and offline where possible).
• Are visitors from different geographies more or less likely to convert? Check your reports for zip code, area code, city or state-level reports. You might find some locations are more likely to respond to your ads than others.
• Are unconverted callers more likely to convert on a second or third call? Look at reports showing the number of times a unique caller has called and figure out if it’s worth the time and money to reach out to unconverted callers at a later date with a discount or other compelling offer.

If these are not a possibility within your call tracking system or company, record the phone calls and manually review them (or a sample of them from each source) to make an educated guess. It’s not perfect, but better than sinking money into an unprofitable marketing channel.

What other metrics are available in your call tracking systems? Which data provide the most value for your company?

(CC photo credit: roblisameehan on Flickr)