How Call Tracking Can Assist PPC Budgeting and ROI

Over a 6 month period, we tracked the phone call activity that was received through pay-per-click (PPC) ads for a particular client.  As we monitored the calls coming directly from PPC Ads, we were able to adjust advertising spend and ad delivery for a better ROI for our client.

The first slide shows how call activity increased from January through June.  As call activity from the PPC ads were tracked during January and February, we noted consistent daily phone calls.  This was a strong indicator that the PPC Ads were leading people to the site and they were taking action by calling the company.  For the month of March and April, we recommended a budget increase, which in turn increased the number of phone calls received.  We continued this recommendation of increasing the PPC budget through the months of May and June.

In addition to monitoring the increase in calls due to an increase in the PPC budget, we were also able to see a breakdown of call activity by Days of the Week.  In our second screenshot, it shows that the highest volume of calls was received on Mondays, followed by Fridays and Wednesdays.  The least amount of phone calls were received on the weekends.  After reviewing this data, we were able to recommend a heavier spend during the weekdays, particularly on Mondays and a reduced budget on the weekends.  This screenshot enabled us to show the client that although they receive consistent clicks throughout the week in their PPC platform, it was more cost effective to reduce the budget on the weekends and put a portion of that reduction toward the Monday spend.

Our final slide shows the phone calls received through the PPC ads by Hour of the Day.  The highest volumes were received throughout the lunch hours of noon to two.  Often “user behavior” will indicate when clicks are received…most people are able to make phone calls during their lunch hours.  This metric is also helpful in determining the most effective ad scheduling period.  As shown in the graph, very few calls come before 8:00 am and after 6:00 pm.  This data allowed us to adjust the ad scheduling further to focus ad delivery between the hours of 8:00 am and 6:00 pm.  For bidding purposes, we put a 10% increase in the bid during the hours of 11:30 and 2:00 since this is the time of day when most people are searching, clicking, and making phone calls.

In conclusion, the use of phone tracking has allowed us to make better marketing decisions related to budget and ROI.  We recommended an increase in the budget due to an increase in call activity.  We also adjusted the advertising dollars to be spent on the days with more activity and narrowed down the best times of day for advertising with an increase in the bid during the heaviest call times.  By combining the data received from the Call Tracking platform and comparing it to the click activity in the PPC platform, we were able to make effective decisions for a positive ROI for our client.