Call-only PPC campaigns have made it easier for businesses to drive and track phone conversions. They offer a high level of control by using a cost-per-click (CPC) bidding depending on the value of a call. A call-only campaign can help you to reach your digital marketing goals if you’re aiming to increase your phone conversions and drive more customer engagement.
There are a few things that you can do to lead your campaign towards driving the right results for your business. Here, we’ve created a handy guide to help you understand how to set up your call-only ads and connect with more valuable customers.
Target users with high intent
Call-only ads will usually appeal to users who are already quite far down the purchasing funnel. This is because people who make a call will often already have done some research to get them to that point. Most callers will know what they’re hoping to achieve from a phone call.
Let’s say a user is looking for a big-ticket item like a holiday – a phone call is often one of the last stages of the booking process, and they’re calling for confirmation or some more information. Think of it this way – would you directly phone a company if you weren’t already interested in their service?
Also, remember that users won’t be clicking through to your site, which means your ad needs to be enough to make them want to click and call. With this in mind, your keywords should target people with high intent who are looking for a quick solution.
Use location targeting
If you’re advertising a local business, then this type of targeting will play a key part in your PPC ads. You can use location targeting in your call-only campaign to reach out to potential nearby customers and offer them a quick and efficient way of getting in touch. For larger businesses – when possible, try to make calls go through to your users nearest branch.
Location targeting allows you to track the success of calls from different areas. For example, you may notice that most of your callers are coming from the same area or a specific geographic area is producing higher-quality calls. If this is the case, you can increase your bids for people in that location.
Retarget unconverted calls
If you sync your call data with your retargeting campaigns and retargeting lists for search ads (RLSAs) – you will be able to reach out to users based on their previous interaction with you.
If you have a phone call but it doesn’t lead to a sale – you can take this as an opportunity to target them with an ad. Users will often browse their options before committing to a purchase, so it’s worth using a retargeting ad to give them a subtle reminder or encouragement.
Keeping track of users online and offline engagement will also prevent you from retargeting somebody with an ad after they’ve already completed a purchase over the phone. If you’re aware of a phone conversion, you could retarget them with a promotion or discount instead.
Schedule your ads
There’s no point in scheduling call-only ads if you won’t be able to answer all, at most of your calls. To avoid missing out on a potential new customer, you can use a manual bidding CPC strategy meaning your call-only ads will be triggered only during your operating hours.
We also suggest looking into peak call days and times as it is likely your ads will generate a different number of clicks depending on both these things. Your busiest time will depend on your industry and your customers. If you build an understanding of how to adjust your bids depending on consumer behaviour, then you should start to notice an increase in calls.
Use the URL
Your headline will be your phone number, and there is no need for a landing page because when somebody clicks, it will generate an auto-dialler on their phone so they can quickly make a call. With this in mind, your URL is more important, so we suggest making the most of your character limit and including a strong call-to-action (CTA). Think about what grabs your attention on search engine results pages (SERP) and apply this to your campaign.
Work out your call-through rate
You’ll be paying for each click on your ad – meaning there will be a cost even when the call didn’t result in a conversion. To get the most from your budget, you should try to work out how many clicks are leading to a call. Then, you can optimise bids based on calls vs clicks. If you notice a big difference between clicks and calls, then you might want to reconsider your ad copy or keywords.
Call reporting
If you use Google’s forwarding numbers and call reporting – you will be able to measure how well your call-only ads (and call extensions) are performing. There are three steps when your ad runs with call reporting:
- A user clicks on your ad to make a call, and you pay for a click (as usual.
- The call goes through and is routed through a Google forwarding number, which allows you to collect data throughout the call.
- You can then review data for all your calls and adjust your campaigns based on what you find.
You can track things like caller area code, call duration, start and end time and whether a call was connected. You can also mark phone calls that lasted a specific amount of time as conversions. Automated bidding strategies can then be used to increase conversions.
Always consider the caller experience
Generating the calls is the first step – and then it’s important to get as much out of each call as possible. Try to direct your calls straight to the person or department that can help a customer depending on their query. Each call should be made personal depending on what the user is looking for and which keywords or campaigns led them there. Finally, if you’re using a phone menu, try to make it as short and straightforward as possible to avoid callers losing interest!
Get in touch
If you are interested in building a new campaign to drive phone calls or if you are looking to improve an existing call-only ad – feel free to get in touch with us.