Earlier this week, Log My Calls released our search marketing Q1 inbound call report. We analyzed millions of call segments across dozens of industries in Q1 and extracted the data in aggregate. And, as one does these days, we decided to release it in infographic form.
This is literally data extracted from every call that ran through our system in Q1 of 2014. The calls ran through our Conversation Analytics engine and then came out the other side.
No one has ever analyzed calls generated by search marketers en masse before. This is entirely new data, which has massive implications for search marketers. These are the deep analytics calls have been missing.
![Data from the Search Marketing Q1 Call Report [Infographic]](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/conversation-analytics-conversion-lead-score-infographic.jpg)
An Explanation of Call Tracking and Conversation Analytics
Search marketers, by now, are fairly familiar with call tracking. We have written about call tracking several times on SEJ. In essence, call tracking allows marketers to determine which ads, campaigns, and keywords generate phone calls.
Conversation Analytics is something different entirely. Some marketers view Conversation Analytics as a very advanced feature of call tracking. But, it is important to note Conversation Analytics can be utilized WITHOUT using call tracking at all.
Conversation Analytics analyzes call content—the words and phrases actually said on the call—using speech recognition technology calibrated by hundreds of thousands of proprietary algorithms. It listens to the call, picking out words and phrases that indicate what happened on the call. Conversation Analytics can determine if an appointment was made, if a purchase was made, if the caller was confused, if they were a qualified lead, and even if there was a conversion of some sort.
This data has never been available to search marketers before.
An Explanation of the Data
Conversation Analytics can extract nearly 50 individual metrics from phone calls. The infographic only details a few very high level metrics across dozens of industries and millions of calls.
29% of Calls Result in a Conversion
This is a critical metric for search marketers to understand. If you’re an agency, what percentage of calls you generate for clients actually produces revenue for them? This metric—again, gathered via the automatic analysis of phone calls—provides that information. A conversion could mean one of four things:
– Appointment Set – In some industries setting an appointment is the desired outcome of a phone call. So, if you’re doing marketing for a dentist, an auto repair shop, an auto dealership, a plumber, or a host of other businesses, this is your desired method of conversion.
– Reservation Made – Conversation Analytics can determine if the caller made a reservation at a hotel or other business that takes reservations.
– Intended Purchase – This is usually in context of a bigger ticket item. For example, the person on the phone might say ‘I’ll go ahead and send you the contract,’ or something like that. In other words, the purchase wasn’t made, but a purchase will be made soon.
– Actual Purchase – Credit card number exchanged.
How Search Marketers Can Apply the Data
Retention, retention, retention. If you’re an agency and your client wants to leave, simply provide conversion data. In most cases, the problem will not be your marketing, it will be their inability to close the phone calls you’re driving them.
Which channels, ads, and keywords are generating conversions at higher rates? And more importantly for agencies, are you generating conversions for your clients?
56% of the Total Calls in Q1 Were ‘Good’ or ‘Great’ Leads
This is determined by the actual words and phrases spoken on the phone call. The better the lead is, the more likely they are to convert into a customer, an appointment, or a contract.
How Search Marketers Can Apply the Data
For the last five to eight years or so search marketers have had some level of lead scoring for web leads. This is the exact same concept now applied to phone calls. Search marketers can analyze channels, campaigns, ads, and keywords based on lead quality. Perhaps a specific keyword group generates a lot of phone calls, but they are not very high quality. That would change your marketing spend.
Additionally, some mobile search agencies are now billing their clients more money if a phone calls has a high lead score. That’s a great way to use the data.
This data can be appended to CRM records, added to email nurturing campaigns, and even pushed into marketing automation platforms.
46% of Sales Inquiries are Missed Opportunities
A Missed Opportunity—as defined by Conversation Analytics—is a high quality lead that didn’t end up converting. In other words, it is a caller that should have converted, but didn’t.
In Q1, a stunning 46% of all sales inquiries were Missed Opportunities. These calls represent a MASSIVE chunk of revenue for you or your clients.
How Search Marketers Can Apply the Data
Missed Opportunity alerts can be sent to your CRM, queuing up a callback list. Or, if you’re an agency, your client can receive instant alerts whenever a Missed Opportunity is detected. Think they’ll value their relationship with you once you’ve alerted them to missed sales opportunities? Yes, yes they will.
Behavior Altering Data for Marketers
This new ability marketers now have to extract data from phone calls is vitally important. It will help search marketers optimize their budgets, improve their ROI, and, help them keep clients. Imagine being able to deliver Missed Opportunity data to the sales team, or to clients. Imagine being able to provide concrete lead scores for your phone calls, or to be able to measure and manage conversion rates.
