Is making a purchase directly through a phone call a common occurrence for you? Perhaps you recall contacting the real estate agency that helped you secure your first home or the company that transformed your floors with stunning wood. Recently, you might have even called a hotel in Austin to confirm a business trip reservation.

Maybe this scenario doesn’t resonate with your lifestyle. Perhaps you’re renting, uninterested in “flawless wood,” and your most recent “business trip” involved a 20-minute bike ride to work.

Regardless of your personal habits, phone calls play a significant role in your purchasing decisions, even if you don’t consciously realize it. And guess what? Your customers share the same behavior. Across various industries, phone calls are vital for acquiring new business. In fact, calls are the most crucial lead type for many businesses, often valued at 5-10 times as much compared to form-fill leads.

A common thread among these phone-reliant industries is their use of paid search to attract website traffic, frequently serving as the catalyst for these calls.

Still need convincing? According to AdInsight, 43% of all search-related conversions occur over the phone, and 65% of businesses regard phone calls as their most valuable and highest-quality lead source.

However, a significant challenge arises with calls originating from paid search campaigns: they often go untracked, significantly underestimating the impact of PPC on leads and conversions. This lack of call tracking data keeps marketers in the dark about which keywords, ads, and landing pages are the primary call drivers, leading to uninformed decisions regarding PPC strategy. Without effective call tracking, advertisers risk losing a substantial portion of phone call conversions simply because they are unaware of where to concentrate their time and resources. Allocating a larger budget to keywords that generate the most calls becomes impossible without knowing which keywords those are!

Fortunately, tools are available for advertisers to track these calls (which we’ll explore later) and make more strategic marketing choices. But how do you determine if it’s worth the effort? Are phone calls truly that crucial to your business model? If your business falls into one of the 10 industries outlined below, the answer is a resounding YES!

P.S. Did you know about the availability of click-to-call ads for website traffic campaigns? Discover more about Facebook click-to-call ads here.

The 10 Industries that MUST Track Phone Calls

#1: Home Services

Think about it: plumbers, painters, landscapers, cleaning services, flooring specialists, windows/door installers—you get the idea. If your work falls under home improvement, tracking calls is essential due to the high volume received daily. Imagine a potential customer needing a new sink installed. Their typical journey involves searching on Google for “sink installation service” or “plumbing service,” clicking on a few ads to compare (often unaware they are ads), and then calling their chosen service to schedule the installation. This conversion path is standard for such requests because entrusting someone to enter your home for a service requires planning best done over the phone; hence, call tracking becomes indispensable! You’ll want to identify the keywords, ads, and campaigns driving calls that convert into new clients. Take a look at this local plumbing ad encouraging phone calls as an example.

#2: Dental & Cosmetic Surgery

Let me share a story about a college friend from Hawaii who chipped her front tooth on a beer bottle. It was a significant, noticeable chip. Understandably, she was eager to address the issue, but with her dentist in Hawaii, traveling from Connecticut wasn’t feasible. So, she did what anyone would do: searched for a local dentist online, visited their website, and made a call. She wanted to discuss the situation, confirm insurance coverage, and schedule an appointment. She was so pleased with the experience after her tooth was fixed that she continued seeing that local dentist for cleanings throughout her time in school.

This scenario is common - people often delay dentist visits until an emergency arises. If you’re in this field, being visible on Google and having a strategy for capturing phone calls is crucial, as website conversions are less frequent. Potential patients need to call to clarify insurance details, ask specific questions not addressed on the website, and book appointments. Check out these example ads below:

We’ve shared many more dental marketing ideas here.

#3: Legal

Law is a challenging field with fierce competition on search engine results pages (SERPs), expensive clicks, and highly valuable phone calls. It’s an opportunity to acquire a new client with the potential for significant profit. Legal services are costly, so considering the ROI for each conversion, the expenditure can be worthwhile if the returns are high. However, law firms often abandon paid search because they don’t track calls, don’t see a return, and feel like they’re wasting money. Often, this isn’t the case.

Lawyer and Attorney are the two priciest keywords on Bing!

A past client, who wasn’t tracking calls, approached me puzzled about only seeing three conversions from a high-priority search campaign. Examining the data, I found that besides those three conversions, there were 30 additional click-to-call conversions not being tracked. This realization made it clear to the client that call tracking was essential.

#4: Real Estate

Looking to rent an apartment or buy a new home? You likely won’t simply click a “buy now” button on Google. Housing is a major life decision and expense, with home buying often being the most significant investment one makes. Therefore, conversions won’t happen solely online. Seriously interested individuals will call to connect with a real estate agent. As a marketer in this field, you might consider form fill-outs more effective, and they can be valuable for lead capture, but calls are far more profitable. While a form fill-out implies “call me later,” a direct call signifies “close me now!” Which do you prefer?

#5: Hotels & Travel

Hotel marketers understand the importance of phone calls for bookings, but without tracking those originating from paid search, their efforts are hampered. Personally, I can’t recall the last time I booked a hotel without a call, typically after searching for “hotels in [location],” browsing a website, and using the provided phone number to secure the reservation. Hotels dedicate staff to handling booking calls, highlighting the importance of calls to the business, and consequently, call tracking.

This extends to the entire travel industry throughout the booking process. Whether it’s tropical excursions, vacation packages, or yoga retreats, if you’re selling travel, phone calls likely drive significant traffic and conversions, making tracking essential.

#6: SaaS

Working at a SaaS company alongside our sales team, I’m acutely aware of our constantly ringing phones. While not solely attributed to PPC, a significant portion is, which is why we value call tracking data for making informed marketing decisions. I’m confident this rings true for numerous software companies with extended and intricate sales cycles. Purchasing a SaaS platform often involves multiple touchpoints, with a phone call (or several) almost always part of the process. Think about it: customers rarely make direct purchases on the website – an option often unavailable for SaaS companies requiring phone-based deal closures. Typically, a sales representative is assigned to a lead, engaging in discussions to ensure the SaaS product aligns with the lead’s needs. Conversations are necessary to address company-specific questions unanswerable by website content alone. With phone calls being such a critical aspect of the sales process, call tracking becomes inherently crucial.

#7: IT

While I’m no IT expert, my experience at nexus-security has shown me that this is a prime field for phone calls. This is likely because, similar to SaaS, IT often involves longer sales cycles, complex products and offerings, and company-specific questions best answered by a human over the phone rather than website content. Therefore, IT marketers must track calls to effectively evaluate and optimize their PPC campaigns.

#8: Education

Education encompasses various forms - pre-K, elementary, middle school, high school, college, grad school, continuing education courses, public vs. private, boarding vs. commuting. The abundance of options often leads to extensive research, especially by parents or guardians, resulting in longer sales cycles and multiple touchpoints. This is because education, seen as the key to one’s future, is a life-altering decision. Numerous factors influence school choice – location, tuition, guidance services, housing, extracurricular activities, career counseling, disability support, and more. Again, this is an industry where phone calls are prevalent due to missing information and specific questions requiring answers before conversions occur. With competition potentially fierce depending on location, education marketers must maximize their paid search impact, and call tracking is vital for achieving that.

#9: Automotive

While I haven’t personally purchased a car and don’t even own one, I can confidently say that if I were in the market, I’d be making numerous phone calls during my research. The automotive industry extends far beyond car purchases. Consider oil changes, dents, engine problems – the list goes on. Whether it’s car shopping or addressing car owner issues, searchers will turn to calls. Imagine your muffler suddenly hissing uncontrollably or a mysterious dashboard light appearing. What would you do? You’d likely search on Google, find a car shop, and call to inquire about their ability to fix the issue and how quickly they can do it. Phone calls are significant in the automotive world, and whether you’re a body shop, insurance provider, dealership, or any other automotive-related business, tracking calls is crucial for maximizing PPC returns.

#10: Mortgage/Loans

Last but not least, we have the mortgage and loan industry. Managing personal finances is complex for most, and making sound financial decisions often requires professional guidance, especially when buying a house, financing an advanced degree, or handling other financial responsibilities that involve borrowing substantial sums. Discussing finances is highly case-specific and personal, making it an industry where phone calls are both prevalent and essential for customer acquisition. Therefore, industry marketers must prioritize call tracking to fully understand the value of their paid marketing efforts.

Remember, even if your industry isn’t listed here, calls might still be highly important to your business, so don’t underestimate the potential impact of call tracking on your PPC strategy.

So How Can You Track Calls?

At nexus-security, we offer a solution for tracking calls back to the specific keyword, ad group, and campaign that initiated them. This solution also allows for call recording and conversion evaluation within your account, enabling you to make more informed decisions regarding your paid search strategy.

Interested? Schedule a free live demo today with one of our certified Google Ads (formerly AdWords) experts.

According to Marchex, the average conversion rate for prospect calls is 25%. So what are you waiting for? Start tracking calls today to become the industry leader!