Efficiency is their specialty as performance marketers.
They are well-versed in all the strategies for generating the greatest profit from their digital platforms by generating online leads and sales. However, a high-value source of income is being overlooked by many. The phone caller can seem confusing because it mixes both online and offline components. But with the appropriate pay-per-call technology, marketers, publishers, and agencies can produce, monitor, and analyze incoming calls just like they do web traffic. Here are some frequently asked questions to help those of you who are still getting the hang of pay-per-call:
1. How do I define pay-per-call?
In pay-per-call performance marketing, publishers (sometimes referred to as affiliates or distribution partners) are compensated for quality calls placed on the advertiser’s behalf. Simply put, pay-per-call and performance networks both track calls and clicks. This is how it goes: To encourage potential customers to contact over the phone, advertisers develop marketing campaigns. These call-based campaigns are then started by a publisher, who is credited for the calls they produce.
2. Why should I invest in pay-per-call?
In pay-per-call, purpose is everything. Customers who call are far more likely to convert than those who read digital ads or postings because they receive a direct line to the person they’re looking for. Ads may result in clicks, but conversion is not always guaranteed. Calls now indicate that a consumer is either almost ready to make a purchase or is just short of the conversion threshold and needs a little more information. As a result, your lead quality is greater and your ROI is increased.
When it comes to generating leads, customers who call to order your goods or services are low hanging fruit. They have done their research and are prepared to buy, or they require more information and want to speak with a live person to fill in the gaps before completing the purchase. A recent study found that pay-per-call advertising had a greater ROI and a 30%–50% conversion rate compared to clicks, which have a 1-2% conversion rate.
3. Which advantages do advertisers receive?
Pay-per-call advertisers are able to increase their distribution and inbound call volume across many channels with the least amount of additional work. Additionally, they gain from total visibility and control over call volume and client satisfaction. When working with new publishers, it’s essential to uphold brand integrity and guarantee the best possible consumer experience. Brands can test new pay-per-call initiatives and publications with low risk thanks to pay-per-call because it offers them the control they need.
4. Which industries see good pay-per-call performance?
The ideal verticals for pay-per-call are those with a lead-generation emphasis, such as the healthcare, insurance, home services, travel, legal, and financial sectors. It also works effectively with any product or service that deserves careful consideration because clients typically need a personal touch at some point during the buying process. Anything with an average order value above $400 is also a solid candidate from a retail standpoint.
5. What advantages do publishers get?
Publishers can create a new revenue stream with pay-per-call while maintaining their current business model. It is clicks and calls, not clicks or calls. Pay per call offers the chance to monetize phone and web traffic through the already-established channels and advertising strategies. Publishers will be able to track and analyze call traffic using the same tools they do for online traffic. Also available to them would be brand-new, highly lucrative deals with larger commissions.
6. What are some pay-per-call challenges?
Data is essential when it comes to pay-per-call, which has its difficulties. If your pay-per-call setup is new, it may seem extremely overwhelming. You’ll experience some growing pains until enough data is gathered to determine what improvements need to be made, just like when handling digital ads. The next crucial step after gathering enough data is managing and monitoring your campaign’s outcomes. Fortunately, your team will be able to understand what’s working and what isn’t, how to make adjustments, and ultimately how to monetize calls thanks to AI call monitoring, analytics, and attribution capabilities.
Additionally, qualifying leads can be challenging. Again, AI is useful in this situation since it can automatically assess the quality of every call, including those that affiliates direct. Your teams will benefit from this automation by having more time and resources to focus on validated leads that are more likely to convert.
Finding the correct affiliate to partner with might be challenging as well. Making sure your goals, objectives, and industry are congruent is crucial. If the relationship isn’t working out for you both, it might be time to “swipe left” and find someone else. Like any relationship, once a solid alliance has been formed, it must be sustained for the mutual advantage of both parties! Great things in business are never accomplished by one individual, as Steve Jobs best put it. They are completed by a group of persons.
7. Which marketing strategies and platforms are most effective for pay-per-call?
Pay-per-call initiatives benefit greatly from both conventional and online marketing strategies. Through paid/mobile search, display advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), email, print advertising, and radio, advertisers and publishers are achieving amazing outcomes.
Google Ads and Retargeting Social Media – Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram are typical sources of pay-per-call traffic.
SEO/Organic
YouTube
Journalistic Mail Directories
Radio advertisements
8. Pay-per-call affiliate networks: what are they?
A pay-per-call affiliate network is a form of mutually beneficial arrangement. A unique allocated phone number will be used by an affiliate to promote your service so that when calls are made, the affiliate receives some credit, customers are still linked to you directly, and you both receive a “piece of the pie” if a transaction is made. Now consider the possible earnings from a NETWORK of affiliates!
9. How is the origin of calls traced?
Uses two main methods to track phone calls:
Each publisher or campaign is given a unique tracking phone number, which is 1. The customer’s call is associated with the original source when they use that phone number to call. 2. Dynamic tracking phone numbers – By inserting a brief piece of code on a website or landing page, distinct tracking numbers are automatically filled up and gather important online contact points that lead to a call, such as publisher or referral source, campaign, and keyword.
10. How do calls meet the requirements for a commission?
The standards that determine whether a call is commissionable are determined by advertisers. The length of the phone call is typically taken into account, along with other qualifying characteristics including the date, time, and location of the call, as well as its conclusion, such as a sale or other form of conversion. Repeated or unanswered calls are also frequently ineligible for commission. Additionally, some organizations employ Signal AI to instantly evaluate and categorize calls. With the help of Signal AI, agencies can demonstrate to their brand clients that they are delivering value and boosting conversions while also compensating publishers for conversations that in fact led to sales.
11. Is call filtering possible?
Yes! Calls can be sorted according to criteria such the time and day of the call, the caller’s location, the phone type, and whether the caller is a repeat or a new caller. Customers’ responses to inquiries and phone prompts through the interactive voice response system can also be used to filter calls (IVR). The advertiser can change the commission rate for calls based on these circumstances. As a result, they are able to pay out larger commission for calls of higher quality.
12. Are numerous destination phone numbers or locations possible for call routing?
Yes. You can set up rules to automatically route calls to the most appropriate recipient. To generate calls to various vehicle insurance advertisers, for instance, a publisher could conduct a non-branded auto insurance campaign. The call will be directed to the advertiser who can best assist the caller based on factors like the time of the call, the caller’s location, or their answers to certain questions. This results in a meaningful customer experience and gives the publisher the opportunity to increase the number of calls for which they are eligible to receive commissions. For marketers who have many stores or locations, this option also functions similarly.
13. What happens when a customer calls a company using a pay-per-call campaign?
For consumers, using a pay-per-call program to make a call is quite similar to making a direct phone call to a company. Calls will be connected to the advertiser as usual based on the routing and filtering policies in place. The customer will first navigate the IVR prompts if one is present, exactly as they would with any phone menu system. The difference won’t be discernible to the buyer.
14. Where do I begin?
There are several methods to get going. Leading performance networks like CJ Affiliate and Visiqua use technology to support their pay-per-call campaigns. Ask your network whether they have a pay per call scheme in place for marketers and publications who already work with them. To make it simple for you to incorporate pay per call platform into your marketing mix, we also partner with technology suppliers like CAKE and Tune by HasOffers and have technology connectors with CRM, marketing automation, and analytics solutions. We hope these frequently asked questions helped you understand pay per call marketing. Pay per call is simply the logical next step for those of you who are familiar with performance marketing.