Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising has long been a cornerstone of digital marketing strategies, allowing businesses to target potential customers with precision and track the effectiveness of their campaigns. However, despite the wealth of data available for online interactions, many marketers struggle to connect PPC clicks to offline conversions, particularly phone calls. This disconnect poses a significant challenge for optimising PPC performance and maximising return on investment (ROI). Fortunately, keyword-level call tracking offers a solution that unlocks valuable insights into the impact of specific keywords on driving phone conversions.
Picture this scenario: a digital marketing agency manages a PPC campaign for a client in the automotive industry. The campaign targets keywords related to "car dealerships" and "auto financing," aiming to drive website visits and ultimately, vehicle purchases. While the agency can track clicks and online form submissions, they lack visibility into the phone calls generated by the campaign. This blind spot prevents them from fully understanding which keywords are driving valuable phone leads and which ones are falling short. Without this insight, the agency struggles to allocate budget effectively, optimise ad copy, and maximise ROI.
Keyword-level call tracking offers a solution to the pain point described above, empowering marketers to bridge the gap between PPC clicks and phone conversions. At its core, this strategy involves assigning unique phone numbers to different website sessions, PPC keywords or ad groups, allowing marketers to track which keywords are driving phone calls. By integrating call tracking software with their PPC campaigns, marketers gain granular insights into the performance of individual keywords, enabling them to optimise bidding strategies, ad copy, and landing pages for maximum impact.
Let's explore how keyword-level call tracking works in practice. Suppose our digital marketing agency assigns a pool of unique phone numbers to their Google Ads campaigns for the automotive client. When a prospect clicks on an ad triggered by the keyword "luxury car dealership," they are directed to a landing page featuring a phone number dynamically generated for that website session including the keyword. If the prospect decides to call the number to inquire about available inventory, the call tracking software records the interaction and attributes it to the "luxury car dealership" keyword. This process repeats for each website session in the campaign, providing the agency with actionable data on which keywords are driving phone conversions.
Let's consider a real-life example of how a digital marketing agency can benefit from implementing keyword-level call tracking.
AdTorque Edge specialises in providing digital marketing solutions for automotive dealerships across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. One of their clients was looking to increase phone leads from their PPC campaigns targeting keywords related to "used cars" and "auto financing."
By implementing keyword-level call tracking, AdTorque Edge was able to:
1. Identify High-Performing Keywords: Through detailed call tracking reports, AdTorque Edge discovered that the keyword "certified pre-owned vehicles" drove the highest number of phone leads for their automotive group.
2. Optimise Ad Copy and Landing Pages: Armed with insights from call tracking data, AdTorque Edge optimised ad copy and landing pages to better align with the messaging that resonated most with their audience.
3. Allocate Budget Strategically: By reallocating budget towards the top-performing keywords, AdTorque Edge maximised their clients ROI from their PPC campaigns, driving more qualified leads and ultimately, vehicle sales.
As a result of implementing keyword-level call tracking, the dealership group experienced a significant increase in phone leads and saw a measurable improvement in their PPC campaign performance.
Keyword-level call tracking represents a powerful tool for unlocking valuable insights into PPC campaign performance. By bridging the gap between online clicks and offline conversions, marketers can optimise their PPC strategies with confidence, driving higher ROI and significant business growth. As demonstrated by the case study example, implementing keyword-level call tracking can yield tangible results for digital marketing agencies and their clients, making it an indispensable strategy in the modern marketing landscape.
