The Marchex Blog

Marketing Attribution for Phone Calls – Part 3 of a 3-part series

Marketers who want to understand and improve campaign performance rely on data to make adjustments. For marketers who drive phone calls, that data includes knowing how many calls they are driving – campaign-level tracking – and from which sources. At the channel-level covered in part 2 of this series, marketers have the information they need to adjust their marketing mix for better outcomes.

In part 3 of the series, we take a look at creative-asset level tracking, the next layer down in our increasingly granular journey of marketing attribution. This strategy requires that you insert a unique call tracking number (CTN) on each unique creative asset within a channel. This strategy is especially useful for A/B testing – displaying two slightly different assets to two similar groups to see which performs well. This is often used to test digital ads such as two similar paid search ads, as in the example below.

In the example, above one ad is displaying the same promotion, but the ad on the left presents it as a special deal, and the ad on the right presents the promotion as a price discount. By looking at the results in the search engine analytics dashboard or in the bid management platform, the marketer can learn if one ad is resonating more with searchers and driving more calls.  This strategy can be used in any channel where you are utilizing different versions of your creative assets.

For paid search marketers trying to stay on the first search engine results page, understanding which search terms are driving more clicks can help hone which ads to use. This strategy can require many CTNs, which will result in a lot of data. Smaller businesses may want to use this strategy on a limited basis, though digital agencies may rely on it to provide value for their clients.

For more information on this and other marketing attribution strategies, download our informational blog: Call Tracking and Call Analytics: The Basics.