Did you know 64% of companies plan to increase their investment on email marketing?

Despite several modes of outbound marketing, email marketing remains a hot favorite among marketers. While several blogs and an abundance of articles have proclaimed email marketing's death, the reality is far from this fact. 

Emails are not going anywhere. But, you cannot fully ignore the fact that people get tons of emails each day. Moreover, your readers have a short attention span. So, what can you do to maintain your customer interest? 

Well, businesses that generate the most value from email marketing are the ones that have mastered all the aspects of their campaigns. Now, what does this mean? 

Organizations that manage to play with the best subject lines, formats, messaging, and calls-to-action (CTAs) see the best results. 

Furthermore, they make sure to use the right marketing automation tools. Using them allows companies to closely monitor performance data like open rates, conversions, and click-throughs. Thus, helping them eliminate strategies that are not working best for them. 

Should phone calls be a part of email reporting?

Now that we understand the importance of email marketing let us discuss the major loopholes marketers have in their email performance metrics. Can you guess it? 

This is precisely where the need for call tracking software comes in. It allows you to easily track phone calls back to their source and even associate the revenue generated to the correct source. 

Moreover, marketing automation tools can tell you which email recipients clicked on a link, visited your site, attended a webinar, or downloaded your whitepaper.   

The high value of inbound phone calls

Interestingly, not all leads are of the same quality or created equal. What does this mean? Well, web leads like whitepaper downloads and webinar are excellent vehicles for generating new contacts. 

However, these leads are often beginning their research. It is possible that they are not ready to purchase your product or services. On the other hand, inbound phone leads are different. 

A study by the BIA Kelsey Group study found that inbound callers are 10x more likely to make a purchase when compared to leads that simply click a link. 

Now, why is this so? The leads that call you are most often in the buying process and ready to engage with a sales representative. So, even if your campaigns only generate a few inbound calls, you need not worry. 

Since these calls are the leads that most often translate to revenue; thus, you need to track them with utmost care. 

Failing to account for the revenue from these inbound calls will adversely affect your email campaigns. Moreover, it will deflate the ROI metrics you present to your executive team. 

The popularity of smartphones

88% of people prefer to check their emails on a mobile device. So, how is this relevant to tracking calls from emails? 

It is because of mobile click-to-call links. These can be links in your email text or on a mobile site, making it possible to call your company with a single click. People reading your emails or browsing your site might be more likely to click on these links and then make a call.

Credit: florenceconsultant.com

As mobile adoption continues to increase, so will the probability of calls from mobile devices to your business. The ability to track calls back to the specific marketing source is an integral part of understanding your return on investment (ROI).

Call-related metrics to measure in email marketing

One of the great things about emails is the data it provides to marketers. Open rates, conversion rates, unsubscribes, hard bounce rates, and click-through rates will give you a detailed insight into the quality of your leads.

The first metric is the raw number of phone calls each of your emails generate. You can easily achieve it by creating a unique phone number, listing it on your emails, and then collecting data with call tracking software. 

This will help you measure calls triggered by the email or calls triggered by visits to the email’s landing page. A call tracking software will display a unique, trackable number on the email’s landing page. So, if a lead calls that number, the software will redirect it to the original email.  

While measuring call volumes is a good start, most marketers focus on the quality of those calls.  

That’s why, when it comes to tracking email- triggered phone calls, you should use the same metrics you would use in email marketing. Let us try and understand these metrics. 

1. Call location

Understanding where your callers are located can help you advertise more efficiently. For example, if 60% of calls triggered by your emails come from Chicago and New York, you may wish to run more campaigns in these areas. You can also create more emails with messaging focussed on those locations.  

2. Call day of week

If you receive a higher call volume on some days of the week, you may wish to send more emails on those days. 

3. Calls converted by agent

Are some of your sales agents better at closing calls than others? Or, calls from certain campaigns better suited for one agent over another? Knowing what closes best can help you increase your campaign’s chances of success.

Did we manage to cover all aspects of call tracking? Let us know in the comments below!