Ad Tracking with 800 Numbers

Tracking ad campaign effectiveness is a key component to fine-tuning advertising strategies, media plans (choosing the right stations, networks, newspapers, or markets to advertise in), and improving return on investment (ROI).

There are several ways to track campaign performance, depending on the type of advertising you conduct and what the call-to-action is in your creative materials.  For example, if you run online ads, like pay-per-click campaigns or banner ads, you can use unique toll-free numbers to track clicks and incoming calls.  But, if you run traditional ads, like radio or billboard campaigns, you’ll want to use a more memorable phone number since writing down a phone number is not always an option when people are driving and listening to the radio or passing a billboard on the freeway.  Same goes for television ads – it’s better to use an unforgettable phone number, like a vanity 800 number (i.e. 1-800-BEST-BUY) because people don’t always have a pen handy when they’re relaxing and watching American Idol!

Ad tracking with vanity 800 numbers is also possible, and easy to do if you have access to call tracking reports.  Companies using vanity 800 numbers in their ad campaigns have access to a wealth of customer and call data through ad tracking reports.  These online, real-time reports provide powerful data on customers, like addresses and demographics, so you can build a lead database, and develop promotions and campaigns based on a prospects profile.  The reports also show advertisers when their phones are the busiest – so they can schedule staff accordingly.  And, they provide information on who calls your business more than once (repeat callers detail), who in a new caller (unique caller detail), and the reports even alert you to when your business has missed a call.  Missed call monitors send an instant alert to a designated email address or cell phone number, enabling your business to call that person back as soon as possible in order to recover a lost lead.

The benefits of call tracking reports goes on and on.  Use the information to build stronger advertising and marketing strategies for your business, and improve your return on advertising investment.  You’ll look smarter, and the toll-free phone number (preferably a vanity 800 number) and call tracking reports will do most of the work for you.  A quick glance and analysis is all you need to find out if your current ad campaigns are performing and generating leads and business.

And, don’t forget…a consumer survey found that people have an 84% improvement in recall of a vanity 800 number (vs. a numeric toll-free number, i.e. 866-425-8597) after watching a print/billboard ad for five seconds, and had a 9x higher recall of the vanity number in radio ads.

That’s a no-brainer though.  Not many people can remember a string of 10 random digits, which is why so many advertising businesses use vanity numbers (UPS, 800-Flowers, Best Buy, Got Junk?, Progressive, and many others).