Utilizing Call Tracking for Advertising and Sales Optimization: An Overview of Russian Services

You have various advertising methods, including context ads, targeted ads on social media, TV and radio ads, and banner placements. How can you determine which ads generate more conversions?

One option is to purchase separate phone numbers for each advertising source and manually track the results. However, this approach complicates the analytics process significantly and consumes a lot of time. Moreover, when it comes to online ads, it becomes challenging to pinpoint the exact ad that led a user to your website.

To address these challenges, call tracking is designed precisely for such situations. It enables you to track the channels that generate calls, allowing you to reallocate your advertising budget towards more conversion-focused channels.

Category tracking for phone calls

There are two main categories of call tracking: static and dynamic. These categories differ in terms of the level of call detail recording and their application areas.

Static call tracking involves assigning fixed phone numbers to different advertising sources. Reports are then generated to gather information on calls made to each specific number. This type of call tracking is cost-effective and is commonly used for tracking offline advertisements or sources where detailed data is not necessary (such as social media contacts).

On the other hand, dynamic call tracking involves assigning a unique phone number to each visitor for a session period and sometimes beyond. This allows the system to match online activities with phone calls. Dynamic call tracking is particularly beneficial when running online ads, as it enables a more in-depth analysis of contextual advertisements and provides insights into the entire customer journey.

Call tracking services typically offer both static and dynamic call tracking options and allow users to combine them. Additionally, some call tracking systems provide additional tools for various communication channels, such as callback, live chat, website call, and lead generation. These systems may even offer comprehensive end-to-end analytics capabilities. Let’s explore the differences and advantages and disadvantages of each system:

• Callibri
• CoMagic
• Calltracking.ru
• Calltouch
• Mango Office
• Roistat
• PhoneTrack

Callibri

Callibri is a call tracking service that offers the ability to install widgets for audience communication. It boasts a substantial number capacity for different regions and provides temporary emails as part of its package. It also offers seamless integration of data into various analytics and CRM systems.

With Callibri, you gain access to valuable information, including the sources of clicks, advertising campaign names, search queries, banners/clips/landing pages or ads that attracted visitors, region and city details, browser information, device data, and traffic type.

Pros:

• Competitive pricing.
• Geolocation-based number insertion.
• Extensive selection of regional numbers.
• Ability to connect your own telephone number to the call tracking service without requiring additional contracts.

Cons:

• In dynamic call tracking, telephone numbers are assigned to users only until the end of the session, which may slightly impact analytics accuracy.
• Federal numbers like 8-800 and associated conversations are relatively more expensive compared to competitors.

CoMagic

CoMagic offers a comprehensive solution for tracking both call and ad data in a single window, eliminating the need to switch between multiple services. With CoMagic, users can quickly determine which ads are generating more calls. The service supports two types of call tracking: static and dynamic. Here’s what you can achieve with CoMagic:

• Optimize online ads: CoMagic seamlessly integrates with Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords, allowing users to analyze data by ads, ad groups, keywords, advertising spaces, and retargeting audiences. This optimization enables users to fine-tune their advertising campaigns based on the insights gained.
• Analyze keywords: CoMagic provides an estimation of advertising efficiency across different call detail record (CDR) levels. Users can identify the keywords that drove calls and adjust their advertising strategies accordingly.
• Monitor call cost: CoMagic offers detailed statistics on clicks, impressions, expenses, and click-through rates (CTR), enabling users to understand the cost associated with each call.

CoMagic’s call tracking functionality can be seamlessly integrated with third-party CRM systems, context ad platforms, advertising campaign aggregators, Yandex.Metrics, Google Analytics, split testing tools, and online consulting tools. This integration allows for a more holistic analysis and optimization of marketing efforts.

Pros:

• Call tracking is provided through its own communication provider, offering the flexibility to choose numbers upon purchase.
• Extensive integration capabilities with internal and external systems.
• High reliability and quality of the assigned numbers.

Cons:

• The level of service and consultation support depends on the chosen rate: the default rate may only provide email support without a personal manager, resulting in slower issue resolution compared to higher-priced plans.

Calltracking

Calltracking.ru is one of the pioneering call tracking services in Russia, offering both static and dynamic tracking solutions. Similar to CoMagic, Calltracking.ru operates as a communication service provider. The company boasts its own fiber-optic network that covers the entire Moscow region and its surrounding suburbs, ensuring excellent communication quality in the area.

The service provides a wide range of federal and local numbers across 63 regions of Russia, encompassing 100 cities.

In terms of integrations, Calltracking.ru offers seamless connections with contextual advertising platforms, analytics tools, and CRM systems. Additionally, the service features Call Scoring, a reporting tool that evaluates the efficiency of managers. For a nominal fee, users can also request an analysis of call records to assess manager performance.

Pros:

• Easy and straightforward connection and setup process.
• Competitive pricing for numerous regions.
• Visual call reports available in the user’s personal account.
• Call tagging within the voice menu and the ability to evaluate manager efficiency.

Cons:

• Connection fees may be applicable in certain regions.
• No minute package option available for subscriptions.
• All calls are charged from the first minute onwards.

Calltouch

Calltouch is a comprehensive analytics system that combines call tracking and advertising management tools. The service operates in 68 regions of Russia and utilizes the numbers provided by Telemir communications provider.

The standard reports provided by Calltouch include data on traffic sources and segments, behavioral metrics (such as activity on different weekdays), and a lead book that contains information about clients and deals. Additionally, extended reports offer insights into UTM parameters and key queries. All of this data can be conveniently visualized through a user-friendly dashboard.

Pros:

• Excellent information support and regular free training sessions to help users navigate the service effectively.
• The ability to seamlessly integrate with major advertising platforms, analytics tools, and CRM systems, including non-standard systems.

Cons:

• Higher cost compared to many larger services in the market.
• No option for self-service connection of new numbers or call forwarding settings, necessitating support assistance.

Mango Office

Mango Office is a cloud-based business communication system that includes a call tracking service. The company offers hosted PBX, widgets, and Mango Talker, a solution designed for corporate communications. The number database covers over 80 regions.

In contrast to many popular services, Mango Office charges based on the number of impressions the numbers receive on the website, rather than the quantity of numbers themselves. This means that the number of dynamic numbers available is not limited.

Reports generated in the personal account depend on the selected type of call tracking and provide insights into earning capacity, advertising channel effectiveness, return on investment (ROI), and a call log.

Pros:

• Assigning a number to a caller for the entire session duration and up to 30 minutes after leaving the website.
• No need to pay for a specific quantity of temporary numbers.
• Convenient hosted PBX with a large number database and easy integration with call tracking.

Cons:

• No demo version or trial period available.
• Inability to connect personal numbers to the service.

Roistat

Roistat’s call tracking service is a key component of their comprehensive end-to-end analytics system, which also includes advertising management, split testing services, email tracking, and lead generation widgets. The number database covers 91 cities.

When integrated into a CRM system, Roistat is capable of providing detailed source descriptions. Users can easily identify the origin of the information, along with additional data such as the city, landing page, and search query (if dynamic tracking is enabled).

Pros:

• Detailed visual reports offering comprehensive insights.
• A lengthy testing period that can be extended if needed.
• Seamless integration with external services for comprehensive end-to-end analytics.
• Flexibility to use regular and SIP numbers, as well as the option to connect a personal telephone for call forwarding.

Cons:

• Ongoing monitoring and verification of settings are required.
• Working with marks in advertising accounts can be complex.
• Occasional loss of statistics may occur.

Phone Track

Telephone analytics without number insertion provides a cost-effective solution for tracking the effectiveness of online marketing channels without the need for additional expenses on numbers. This approach offers significant savings for large companies and enables small enterprises to monitor their online marketing efficiency at minimal cost.

The basic concept involves placing a program code on your website that partially hides the telephone numbers. To view the complete numbers, users need to click on them. The system records these clicks and identifies the source, geographical location, and keyword that led the website user to click.

Pros:

• PhoneTrack interface seamlessly integrates number insertion into the design of any website.
• Selective number replacement allows for more flexibility in displaying numbers on the page.
• No advanced technical knowledge required; basic HTML skills are sufficient to install the code on your website.

Cons:

• Suitable only for analyzing online marketing channels.

Conclusion

Numerous call tracking services offer a trial period upon request, allowing you to assess the quality of communication by conducting test calls to the company at various times of the day. Additionally, it is advisable to evaluate the numbering capacity in advance, particularly if you plan to run advertisements in multiple regions or utilize numerous advertising channels.

To gain further insight into the primary advertising and analytics systems and tools in the Russian market, you can refer to the White Paper “Russian Digital Market Overview 2019.”