There’s no questioning the value of pay per call advertising. But when you’re just starting out, you might not see results right away. Optimizing your call campaigns takes time, and getting the most out of pay per call is a continuous process. There are a few very costly mistakes that you can prevent ahead of time. If you choose to invest in pay per call, make sure you cover these four bases, or else you could be missing out on returns.
Not Preparing for Calls
You’re paying to receive calls from prospective clients or customers. You need to be ready to answer those calls.
If you have a call center, be sure the representatives are prepared to handle your calls. If your sales team will be answering the calls, make sure you’re only advertising when they’re in the office and able to answer. You don’t want a flood of calls coming in when your office is closed.
Also remember: if you’re running a promotion, make sure your team knows about it. If your hotel lobby gets an influx of calls asking about a special $199 couples retreat, and your employee says “We don’t offer that deal,” you’re going to be losing out big time.
Focusing on the Wrong Metrics
You may notice that your longer calls may be more qualified leads, and may lead to more sales. But don’t make the mistake of focusing primarily on call time when analyzing your calls.
Look at it this way: sure your qualified calls may last longer, high call times may also signal inefficiencies with your IVR. If you want to truly understand call performance, look at a combination of variables: call volume over time, conversion rate, caller demographics, landing page performance, etc.
The biggest mistake would be not looking at any metrics at all. But don’t focus only on quantitative metrics, either. Record your calls, and get an understanding of your caller’s experience. But you might want to let them know that you’re recording them.
Not Qualifying Calls Fast Enough
Not every caller is a prospective buyer. That’s why the first questions you ask are often those that qualify them as legitimate prospects.
But even those first few questions need to be prioritized. Every second can count in pay per call. You might be charged more for longer calls. And even if you’re not, you’d be wasting time by keeping people on the phone longer than they need to be.
If you want to save more time, especially in very high involvement industries (like legal services), consider having each person fill out a form before calling. This can knock out a lot of your qualifier questions before the call even begins.
Complicating the Caller Experience
Nobody likes being put on hold, and nobody likes dealing with an IVR for too long.
If you completely disregard the caller experience, you’ll be losing the very callers you’re paying for. Yes, pay per call advertising is known for driving high quality leads, but those leads will flock elsewhere if you don’t streamline their experience.
Remember, you’re trying to get their business. Don’t make your IVR complicated, don’t leave them on the phone too long, and keep your questions short and simple. And make this a standard for your sales team or call center.
Pay per call can be extremely rewarding, but you’re flushing your returns down the drain by not focusing on the caller experience.
Guest Contributor:
Marty Schneck is a Digital Content Specialist at eZanga. Follow him on Twitter @MartySchneck!