By Kelly Kern, Digital Media Sales Executive

Soleo Communications, Inc.

The Performance Marketing industry is still growing, now representing over $8.2 Billion annually, and it’s estimated call campaigns make up over $600 Million¹ of that very large pie. While that percentage is still relatively small, just 10 years ago, this category of performance marketing didn’t exist. 

Today, any business that can book an appointment or close a sale over the phone is a great candidate for a call campaign. Top categories include insurance and other financial services, pest control, appliance repair and other home services as well as home security, solar and many more. This segment of performance marketing continues to grow, which means that there is plenty of money to be made in call campaigns. The following tips can help you improve your existing efforts or start new profitable campaigns.

Step 1: Decide how you want to receive calls. Consider where and how the phone will be answered for your campaign.  To ensure that you are only paying for qualified calls, consider these questions to design a call flow and lead handling process that works for your business:

• Will you use a centralized call center or route calls to local store locations?
• How many calls can your team handle?
• How will your team qualify calls through the sales process?

Step 2: Decide how to structure your campaign. This is a big part of the planning process, but here are the top factors that will impact the success of your campaign:

• Budget:  What can you spend, what should you spend or what do you need to spend to get the desired results. Do you want to set a daily budget or monthly one? Do you want to front load your campaign early in the month or pace it out evenly throughout? Consider the value of a sale and the length of the sales cycle to help you answer these questions.
• Bid Price & Call Duration:  This is what you pay per call. Call duration buffers are usually set between 60 and 120 seconds depending on your industry, and this is the point where the call becomes billable. To determine your bid, we recommend you look at your budget, the number of calls needed to make a sale and your average sale revenue. Doing this will allow you to back into what you can realistically pay per call to still achieve a high return on ad spend.
• Campaign Goals:  What results do you need to have a successful campaign? Will you measure cost per lead, cost per sale or return on ad spend (ROAS)? How will you determine if you continue funding the effort, increase or decrease budgets?
• Campaign Set Up:  When do you want calls and what kind of calls do you want? This includes the geography, hours of operation and other targeting parameters to make sure you reach the consumers who will be most valuable to you. Additional campaign details include IVR set up (optional automated recording used for filtering and routing calls), media restrictions to ensure you are compliant with laws and regulations like TCPAA and call recording (if done correctly and allowed) which can help you rate and score your leads and partners.

Step 3: Chose a pay-per-call partner. Whether you are buying or selling, most of us need partners at some point to scale and grow. You may be looking for a couple of direct publishers or a larger network, either way consider the following attributes:

• Accurate & Dynamic Campaign Management: Ongoing campaign monitoring and optimization is key to long-term success. What works today is not guaranteed to work next week. Select a partner that is transparent and plays an active role in campaign management for the long haul.
• Reliable & Predictable Call Volume:  It can be very frustrating when a partner promises a large volume of calls and is not able to deliver on that consistently. Choose a partner that is transparent and collaborates with you to set realistic expectations and schedule a cadence for regular check-ins to make sure you are on course with meeting campaign goals.
• Call Quality & Compliance: If a publisher violates a federal law while sourcing leads, the brand can be held financially liable. Work with a partner that proactively employs tools, technology, and resources to prevent fraudulent calls from reaching you in the first place. 
• Call Tracking, Real-time Reporting & Analytics:  These are all key components to ensure you know what you are getting out of your campaigns in a timely manner so that you can make ongoing investment decisions. Choose a partner that is willing and able to do the heavy lifting (preferably using automated reporting tools) and proactively provides options for campaign adjustments and optimization.
• Proven Success & Reputation: If you don’t know a potential partner’s track record or reputation, ask for professional references. 

While the digital world moves quickly, putting effort into the research and setup and picking the right partners can pay dividends in the end. For more information about getting campaigns started, choosing the right pay-per-call partner(s), and managing your campaigns, check out Soleo’s ebook, The Complete Guide to Pay-Per-Call.  

Source: ¹ PWC/Statista