I. Thou shalt not drop calls

Your call tracking vendor must be reliable and stable to insure that calls actually stay connected and call clarity remains high.

II. Thou shalt have reliable metrics

Inconclusive marketing campaign results are due to poor planning, not poor execution.

III. Honor thy caller

Respect her time and privacy. Help them accomplish their desired task as quickly and easily as possible. That’s why they picked up the phone instead of typing an email.

IV. Thou shalt offer local or toll-free numbers

If you are asking people to call you, they should not be expected to foot the bill.

V. Thou shalt integrate all of your analytics

Know the source of each incoming call and attribute each conversion event to the appropriate channel.

VI. Thou shalt use clean numbers

Don’t risk mucking up your data or paying for leads that aren’t yours.

VII. Thou shalt not create unnecessary phone trees

Have an actual human take 10 seconds to route the call properly rather than force callers to listen to 2 minutes of options.

VIII. Thou shalt not commit schenanigans

Don’t keep callers on hold any longer than necessary, even if you could make a few extra dollars by pitching them ads for other services while they wait.

XI. Thou shalt nurture your leads

Getting people to pick up the phone to call you is hard. Asking them to opt-in to your free email newsletter, catalog or brochure is easy.

X. Thou shalt optimize thy campaigns

Segment your audiences, determine the conversion sources, and re-allocate marketing dollars to channels that make you more money.

(photo credit: pasukaru76 on Flickr)