4 mins and 30 sec read
Living in this digital age, everyone has a smartphone in their pocket. It’s simply the easiest way to communicate directly to a business about a product or service. In fact, 65% of people prefer to contact a business by phone rather than submission form. Are you taking full advantage of the impact of phone calls coming to your business with call tracking? Continue reading about this matters and the benefits of call tracking.
If you are unsure, then it’s probably a no. This is because you would be aware of the reporting, quality of calls coming to your business, and the many ways in which it can improve your home builder marketing. In this article, you’ll learn why call tracking matters and the many call tracking benefits which it can bring to your home builder company.
Table of Contents
Call tracking is when you can determine how callers found your business. It operates for both traditional advertising and non-traditional, online advertising. In essence, you are able to track calls coming from any platform, network, or physical sign where the phone number is located. If there’s a phone number somewhere, it can be tracked.
So, this sounds really awesome but how does call tracking work? It works first by determining how you will use your tracking. After your goals are clear, then you create a tracking number, which looks a lot like your business’s phone number. Then the tracking number is then forwarded to the actual phone number of your business.
This tracking number can be customizable based on zip-code and number order preferences (depending on which numbers are available). Many call tracking platforms tend to give you three to five options when determining which tracking number to use for your marketing and advertising.
Call tracking matters because it can reveal detailed ROI insights into your overall marketing plan.
Call tracking allows you to determine which ads and marketing creatives work and which ones don’t. For instance, let’s say you have two identical marketing pieces but with two different calls to action (CTA). Ad A had, let’s say 41 calls while Ad B had 15 calls. You then determine Ad A is the winner and you then continue to use the CTA statement for future pieces.
Without having a call tracking platform in place, it will be difficult to know that your target audience preferred Ad A more so than Ad B. Knowing which ads and marketing ideas perform the best is critical for measuring your ROI. This holds especially true in the current housing market.
Many call tracking platforms allow for call recording on both ends of the line. You might notice this in your everyday life when you try and call a business. By having the ability to listen to previous calls made, you can use it as practice when perfecting your sales strategy. Show your team the good and bad calls as examples to help them improve and sell more homes.
One thing I have to mention about call recording is the legal aspect. In fact, many states have different laws when it comes to recording phone conversations. Since you are a home builder, calls can be coming to your business from anywhere and you need to make sure you have a greeting message to the caller for them to be aware that the call is being recorded.
The third benefit of incorporating this as part of your marketing plan is that you can document consumer trends in your housing market niche. Since all of the calls coming to your business are being recorded, you can know firsthand the many questions homebuyers ask your sales team.
Commonly asked questions from your audience is not the only way to determine consumer trends. Another way to know your target audience better with call tracking is by determining the hot and cold points of the homebuyer’s journey. Are there certain keywords or phrases used in the calls that turn buyers on or off on a particular home? Find out with call tracking.
Call tracking integrates with your SEO strategies because you are now knowledgeable of the many commonly asked questions your business receives. You can use this data to create a page or blog post on your website to generate more clicks coming to your business. In other words, call tracking matters and gives you a content map for relevant information your audience needs.
Also, call tracking can pinpoint which keywords are generating phone calls. Some sophisticated call tracking platforms even have call tracking at the keyword level. This works by assigning a website visitor a unique phone number that tracks them during their visit. When a visitor calls you, you can then know which keywords and pages they saw before the conversion.
Another important benefit of facilitating a call tracking plan is that you can determine the peak call hours for your business. As a home builder, you probably receive calls from the early morning to even when you leave work. Home needs can happen at any time of the day, so I understand that you probably are not aware of when your peak hours are.
By knowing which time window is the hottest for sales, you can have more staff ready and prepared to receive calls during that time. Doing so can not only increase the productivity of your sales team internally, but it can also prepare you for future scheduling and planning. Make sure you always have phone agents available for optimal customer service.
Like I mentioned earlier, many call tracking software comes with a detailed report. This report contains insightful data such as where the call came from, the name of the caller, how long the caller talked vs. how long the agent talked, if they were a first-time caller, the source of the call or marketing campaign, duration of the conversation, the agent’s name and more.
There is no telling how valuable this data really is until you see it for yourself. They’re several call tracking companies out there so I suggest taking time to research a few and get started on tracking those calls!
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About Terry Zelen
Creative Director | Consultant | Author | President of Zelen Communications
Terry Zelen is a seasoned Creative Director with more than 35 years of experience in Home Builder advertising and marketing.
He is the founder of The Punch List, which is an online blog to help inform home builders and developers on strategic marketing insights to fuel their firm.
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