There are so many different forms of advertising, some of which are easy to justify while others are not. Some forms of advertising are particularly expensive, while others cost next to nothing. Whichever approach the company takes and whichever form of advertising is used, it is vitally important to get a clear understanding of the associated success rate. It goes without saying that the form of promotion resulting in the highest number of conversions is the most important for an organization, yet many do not actively track the results and find the process of justification difficult.

As Internet marketing becomes more and more important for every organization, marketing directors are pleased with the level of tracking and testing possible. It is far easier to see whether individual webpages are bringing in visitors, which subsequently convert to clients as there are a number of comprehensive analytical programs available, allowing you to analyze to the “nth” degree.

A web site’s conversion rate can be determined very accurately if the business existed in online form only. For example, if you only accepted e-mail or instant message as a form of communication and only accepted sales electronically, then you could set up your relevant landing pages and trackable codes to determine the origin of your client and the promotion that triggered the action. However, for a huge number of organizations online, marketing is only part of their total marketing initiative.

Historically, it has been very difficult to measure conversions relevant to online campaigns when the client actually consummated the deal through a subsequent phone call. Call tracking has been independent of online tracking, although a new option has recently emerged allowing you to put together the different marketing communication channels. It is now possible to calculate off-line conversions, which are a direct result of online marketing initiatives.

While many consumers choose to do their research online, a significant number still prefer “the human touch,” and will resort to picking up the phone to talk with the organization before they actually commit to buy. As it is now possible to use any number of specific phone numbers to market your business, you are able to allocate an individual number to each individual online marketing initiative. Thus, it is possible to associate a specific phone call that results in the conversion to an online marketing campaign. The phone number is in itself, its own tracking code.

Ifbyphone has come up with an integrated solution to allow you to incorporate results from internet-initiated phone conversions into your existing Google Analytics account. In this way, you will be able to track your calls as well as your clicks and fully justify the efforts and amounts spent on specific marketing campaigns.

Do you track calls and clicks to paint the bigger picture?

Matthew Toren