According to xAd, over 50% of mobile searches result in phone calls. Those calls, predominantly, originate from mobile click-to-call ads. These are ads that appear in the paid results area after a mobile search.
So how do you run a really awesome mobile click-to-call campaign.
1) Separate Mobile Adwords Bidding and Campaigns
Marketers shouldn’t underestimate the power of planning well. Keywords that apply for mobile ad buys won’t necessarily apply to ‘standard’ ad buys. For example, mobile keywords are going to be more localized, more specific, and more targeted. There will also be more misspellings.
Simply put: mobile searchers are going to search for different keywords than ‘regular’ searchers.
• Separating campaigns in Google Adwords can increase click-through rates (CTR) by 11.5 percent, that’s according to Google.
• Keep in mind that the majority (yep, a majority) of mobile searchers are searching for something local–a business, restaurant, shop etc. This means that you should refine your campaign to attract customers who are in your business’ locality using geo-targeting.
• Day-Parting – Most mobile searches are conducted in the evenings or on weekends. That’s when people are out and about. That’s when they’re running errands or thinking about running errands in their town and neighborhood. Thus, you should conduct your mobile buys predominantly during these times. Google Adwords allows you to do this.
2) Use Call Tracking
We might be slightly biased here (okay, we’re really biased here), but you ABSOLUTELY should use call tracking numbers when you’re conducing mobile click-to-call.
You can plug in a call tracking number in your mobile click-to-call ads. If you use your current business number or a number provided by Google you will only get the raw number of calls produced by the ads.
On the other hand, a call tracking number can provide you call data, conversation analytics, close rate data, conversion rate data, marketing ROI information, agent sales performance data, and a host of other information.
You’ll be able to optimize and you’ll get better results.
3) You’re Only as Good as Your Data
When you run a mobile click-to-call ad (via pay-per-call) you’re charged everytime a call is iniated. This means that you’re charged each time the searcher clicks the number in your ad. That’s fine. BUT, it doesn’t tell the whole story. What about the people that don’t complete the call because they don’t push the call button after clicking on the number? What about hte people that abandon the call before it even reaches the business? What about the junk calls?
Yep, Google still charges you for those calls.
And their data doesn’t tell the whole story.
A few months ago we ran a very small case study with some of our call-tracking clients, including Holiday Inn Express in Utah, using our tool, LogMyCalls, to extract call analytics from calls initiated from a Google Adwords campaign.
Case study: Holiday Inn Express – Logan, Utah – June 2012
• Campaign spend – US $332.
• Google billed for 60 calls generated via mobile click-to-call.
• In reality, only 29 calls (48 percent) were actually completed.
• Of which nine were qualified opportunities (15 percent).
• And six ended in a room reservation (10 percent).
• The implications: CPC, CPL and CPA (cost per acquisition) are inaccurate measures unless you have more data. If click-to-calls are indistinguishable from your other inbound calls, how can you make any rational decisions on optimization, future spend and choice of ad channels. That’s why we recommend using a call tracking number.
4) Track Conversions via Conversation Analytics
Read about Conversation Analytics here. It is awesome. Mark my words: there will not come a day
5) Include ‘Call Specific’ CTAs in the Ads
Would it be silly to create a mobile click-to-call ad without using phrases like ‘Call Now’ in the ad copy? Yes, yes it would.
Google says that using these simple phrases can increase CTR by up to 15%.
Boom.
