The days of face-to-face shopping may be losing prominence, but connecting with customers is still essential when a single call can represent a big revenue windfall for your company. Proper call tracking may not be seen as vital to effective eCommerce PPC campaigns for simple, transactional items, but for more complex products or those with an opportunity to increase average order value, it can be a game changer.
When it comes to truly leveraging the potential of digital marketing, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Here are some reasons why call tracking might be right for your brand, as well as some other tips and tricks to help you find success with your online marketing.
What we’ll cover in this blog:
- Tracking a full-funnel strategy
- Building customer lifetime value
- Leveling up against Amazon
- Latest eCommerce trends
Don’t Sleep on Call Tracking
It’s easy to assume that call tracking primarily benefits local service-based businesses, but many e-commerce brands can also gain valuable insights by adopting this technology. For companies handling phone inquiries related to customer support, sales, or product consultations—particularly those with higher average order values (AOVs) or complex, customizable products—call tracking is a game changer.
Our preferred partner, CallRail, leads the way in this space. Their platform goes beyond basic tracking to provide businesses with critical insights into lead source, customer behavior, and campaign performance. By leveraging advanced features like AI-driven transcription and keyword-level tracking, CallRail helps companies identify whether they’re targeting the wrong keywords or which ad campaigns drive phone calls, enabling better ROI and more targeted marketing strategies across platforms like Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
Call tracking also bridges the gap between online and offline interactions. For example, a keyword might seem underperforming based solely on online metrics. However, CallRail can reveal that the same keyword drives high-value phone calls, leading to offline conversions. With tools like call recording, scoring, and CRM integration, businesses can refine their sales strategies, improve customer service, and better train their teams.
By unlocking these insights, businesses can allocate budgets more effectively and double down on strategies that generate meaningful results across all channels.
Maximizing Lifetime Value with Call Tracking
Focusing on customer lifetime value (CLV) is essential for sustainable growth in the highly competitive eCommerce landscape. While many businesses fixate on profit from first-time purchases, long-term success lies in nurturing repeat customers and maximizing the potential of your existing client base. This is where call tracking can be a game changer.
How Call Tracking Enhances CLV
With the power of AI, call tracking platforms like CallRail allow businesses to quickly and efficiently analyze vast amounts of customer interaction data. Instead of needing to listen to (potentially) hours of phone calls, you can gather valuable insights via call transcriptions and summaries. By identifying recurring themes, buying behaviors, and customer needs, brands can anticipate revenue patterns and make informed operational decisions that foster long-term loyalty.
Expanded Product Offerings
One effective way to boost CLV is by diversifying your product catalog with complementary add-ons, upgrades, or subscription services. However, the best product decisions come from listening to customer feedback. CallRail captures this feedback at scale by analyzing inquiries and conversations for actionable insights. If you’re considering launching a subscription model or a new product line, comprehensive call analytics ensures you align offerings with customer needs—after all, listening is the key to understanding.
CallRail’s Role in CLV Optimization
CallRail harnesses first-party data to provide deep insights into customer behavior and campaign performance. By collecting data directly from customer interactions, such as calls, text messages, and form submissions, CallRail offers businesses a privacy-compliant, data-driven approach to enhancing CLV.
Call Attribution and Tracking: CallRail assigns unique tracking numbers to campaigns, allowing businesses to tie calls directly to specific ads, keywords, or marketing channels. This insight helps identify which strategies drive the most valuable customer interactions.
CRM and Analytics Integration: Integrating tools like Google Ads and CRM platforms (such as Hubspot), CallRail merges first-party call data with other owned data, providing a comprehensive view of the customer journey.
Enhanced AI Features: AI-powered transcriptions, call summaries, keyword spotting, and call scoring analyze customer interactions in real-time. These features reveal customer pain points, preferences, opportunities for upselling or cross-selling, and, most importantly, save time and effort!
Privacy Compliance: By relying on first-party data, CallRail ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR and CCPA, offering transparency and maintaining customer trust.
Calculating CLV for Marketing Investments
Brands with high CLV can afford to invest more in customer acquisition. For example, if a customer spends $100 on their first purchase and you anticipate two additional purchases of $100 over six months, their CLV is $300. With this insight, you can:
- Justify spending more than $100 on acquisition costs to gain long-term profit.
- Identify high-value customers and invest in nurturing their loyalty through exclusive offers or tailored campaigns.
Companies that embrace a CLV-focused approach can shift their mindset from short-term revenue to long-term growth, allowing them to scale marketing budgets confidently and effectively.
The Amazon Effect: Enhancing Insights with CallRail
Now, let’s call out the elephant in the eCommerce room: Amazon! It continues to dominate the e-commerce landscape, shaping strategies for businesses whether they sell on the platform or not. During the 2023 holiday season, Amazon accounted for an estimated 60% of all e-commerce sales, with third-party sellers contributing to nearly 60% of units sold—many achieving significant growth. However, this dominance presents both opportunities and challenges for Amazon sellers.
Opportunities and Challenges for Amazon Sellers
Amazon offers unparalleled access to a vast customer base but retains ownership of customer data, limiting sellers’ ability to retarget or build long-term loyalty. In contrast, conversions on a brand’s website enable direct control over customer data, fostering personalized re-engagement strategies.
This is where CallRail can elevate your Amazon advertising efforts. While Amazon’s ecosystem offers robust ad solutions, integrating CallRail into your strategy allows you to track and analyze phone inquiries related to your Amazon campaigns. This provides actionable insights to bridge the gap between online sales and direct customer interactions.
How CallRail Supports Amazon Advertising
Customer Behavior Insights: CallRail reveals how Amazon ads influence customer actions, such as calls to inquire about product details, availability, or shipping options. Connecting ad performance to phone interactions gives you a deeper understanding of what drives conversions and customer interest.
Data for Cross-Channel Strategies: Many businesses use Amazon and direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales channels. CallRail helps track leads and inquiries generated by Amazon-related campaigns, providing data to inform cross-channel strategies that maximize overall sales and profitability.
Enhancing Customer Retargeting: While Amazon limits access to customer data, CallRail captures insights from phone interactions linked to your campaigns. This valuable information refines audience targeting for DTC channels, enabling sellers to build retargeting strategies that extend beyond Amazon’s ecosystem.
Improved ROI Measurement: CallRail’s tracking capabilities allow businesses to determine which Amazon ads drive offline actions, such as calls that lead to high-value purchases. These insights ensure ad budgets deliver on strategies, both on and off Amazon.
The Amazon Influence on Broader Strategies
Even if you don’t sell on Amazon, the platform’s dominance shapes consumer expectations, pricing strategies, and marketplace trends. CallRail’s analytics can reveal how Amazon’s reach influences your broader advertising efforts, helping you identify opportunities to differentiate your brand or align with shifting consumer behaviors.
By incorporating CallRail into your Amazon and eCommerce strategies, you can bridge the gap between online marketplaces and offline customer engagement. This approach empowers sellers to optimize campaigns, drive meaningful interactions, and build long-term value—whether on Amazon or through their own channels.
How Call Tracking Enhances Strategic Insights
As eCommerce continues to dominate a bigger share of the retail pie, businesses need to stay ahead of emerging trends to remain relevant. Integrating call tracking into these efforts provides an added layer of insight, helping brands adapt in real-time.
Mobile-First Design and Shopping
With mobile commerce projected to account for over 40% of eCommerce sales, mobile-first user interfaces, apps, and payment solutions like Google Pay or Apple Pay are now essential. Call tracking helps businesses measure the impact of mobile-driven campaigns by analyzing which mobile-specific ads, keywords, or landing pages lead to phone inquiries. This insight is especially valuable for industries where customers often prefer a quick call to resolve questions before purchasing on their smartphones.
Omnichannel Shopping
Seamless integration of online and offline shopping experiences, like buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS), has become a must-have as customers fluidly shift between digital and physical channels. Call tracking bridges the gap by revealing how online campaigns drive offline actions, such as calls to confirm product availability or inquire about in-store services. This data helps businesses refine their omnichannel strategies and ensure every touchpoint is optimized for the customer journey.
Rapid Delivery Options
The demand for same-day and next-day delivery remains a powerful driver of conversions. Semrush reports that 67% of shoppers are more likely to purchase when same-day delivery is available, and 74% favor next-day options. Call tracking can help identify the role fast shipping plays in driving inquiries, such as calls about delivery timelines or order modifications. This data empowers businesses to prioritize campaigns that promote rapid delivery options, addressing a common cause of cart abandonment—delivery times.
Why Call Tracking Matters
As eCommerce trends evolve, call tracking enables businesses to dig deeper into customer behavior, uncovering insights often overlooked in traditional analytics. Call tracking provides actionable data to fine-tune eCommerce PPC strategies, whether identifying high-intent mobile users, connecting online ads to offline interactions, or gauging the influence of delivery options on purchase decisions.
Answer The Call: Change The Game
In today’s fast-paced eCommerce world, success demands more than clicks and impressions—it requires a deep understanding of your customers and their journey. Call tracking isn’t just an add-on; it’s a pivotal tool that bridges the gap between online and offline interactions, offering insights that drive smarter decisions, higher ROI, and long-term customer value.
Whether refining your omnichannel strategy, optimizing Amazon campaigns, or tapping into the growing mobile-first audience, CallRail empowers businesses with the actionable data needed to thrive in an ever-evolving market. By unlocking the potential of call tracking, you’re not just keeping up with eCommerce trends but staying ahead of them.
So, if you’re ready to transform your marketing strategies, drive meaningful engagement, and increase sales, it’s time to answer the call. Your customers are calling—literally—and with call tracking, you’ll know exactly how to pick up.
