Facts:
- Marketers can not operate efficiently without knowing the Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) for each paid marketing channel.
- Marketers and analysts are flocking to call tracking software solutions to measure the CPA and ROI of search and web campaigns.
- Existing web analytics packages can not measure offline phone calls to a business from a website or online ad.
- Google Analytics is the most widely used web analytics platform because it is full-featured and free.
- There are a few call tracking apps that will generate virtual pageviews in Google Analytics but they can not track a phone call to a specific session or visitor without heavy customization and 3rd party integrations.
It would stand to reason that the first mainstream web analytics provider that can successfully, granularly integrate phone call tracking alongside clicks and conversions would earn the love, admiration and loyalty (and dollars) of marketers around the world.
It seems like a no brainer for Google Analytics to step in and fill the void, so…
Is Google Analytics working on call tracking?
Google Analytics
Nobody seems to know for sure, and Google is mum on the subject. Obviously, with an announcement this big they would want to maintain the elements of surprise and launch with colorful Google fanfare.
Personally, I think they would be foolish NOT to be rapidly working on incorporating offline conversions into their online web analytics data.
A recent article on SearchEngineLand.com speculates that Google could be working on acquiring or building a call tracking vendor within the next 6 months. If that happens, I expect the rising tide to lift all ships simply because of the added exposure call tracking will receive in the web marketing and analytics worlds.
Why not Piwik or Woopra or Omniture?
Another potential game changer would be for a competitor to launch integrated call tracking before Google Analytics does. Whether by partnership or acquisition, other players could gain first mover advantage and secure a decent chunk of market share for their web analytics packages.
Piwik is a free, open source web analytics solution that is gaining popularity because it allows for localized storage of analytics data, unlike Google Analytics that stores data in the cloud behind a strict Terms of Service agreement. The open source community may have challenges integrating with telcos for phone number provisioning and routing but I would not rule out the spirit of the open source community.
Woopra is an analytics startup that could make its mark in the industry and gain ground on GA among the long tail of web analytics users by offering call tracking first. Along with visually stunning data visualization, call tracking integration could be their “killer app” that bumps them into the upper echelon of analytics providers.
Finally, Adobe just acquired Omniture and has the resources to invest heavily in enterprise-level call tracking. They may not be after the smaller customers but their fate among blue chip companies may be tied to their ability to compete aggressively on R&D with free or open source solutions that offer as much or more without all of the licensing expense and expensive integrations.
Somebody’s gotta do it…
Call data and click data are inexorably tied to one another, but so far nobody’s been able to successfully marry the two in one elegant solution on a large scale.
Google Analytics could be the first to pull it off, but they better hurry before a motivated competitor steals their thunder.