Here at Grasshopper, we’ve done a LOT of marketing. We’ve run TV ads, radio commercials, pay-per-click ads, email campaigns, banner ads and so on and so forth. It’s a lot to keep track of! How do we know which ones are working and which ones aren’t?

The good news is many of these campaigns can be tracked with analytics. We can set up tracking URLs for things like email and pay-per-click, and when the person clicks through a link and purchases, we know.

But what happens when that person doesn’t click on a link and instead picks up the phone? How do we know what channel it came from? The answer is phone tracking and here’s how to do it:

Use dedicated numbers by campaign

By using a designated number for each campaign, you’ll know exactly where your calls are coming from. For example, the phone number we use in our email campaigns is not the same toll free number we use on our website. Despite the fact our emails actually drive traffic through to our website, it’s still important to capture those who are picking up the phone from the email.

800 numbers vs. Local numbers

When targeting a particular geographic area, it can make a lot of sense to offer a local number. For instance, if you’re running a television commercial on a local station in Boston, using a Boston number is probably smart. Conversely, if you are running a global PPC campaign, an 800 number is going to be your best bet.

Track your calls

The most important part of all of this is tracking. If you can’t track your calls, there isn’t a ton of benefit to using different numbers. You want to track call volume, questions or concerns arising from calls and ideally, the result. Was it a sale? Did they come back later?

For small businesses who can’t afford a big system like Salesforce, this may be a bit difficult. But with good communication and team work, you can make this happen.

Know your ROI

As a small business, it’s imperative you know where to spend your money. The better tracking you enable, the more clear your ROI becomes.