Forum Moderators: DixonJones
Although most talk in this forum relates to log files, log files don't hold all the secrets to better profits. Good tracking methodology can directly improve business processes - especially for NON COMMERCE and BROCHUREWARE sites. But you need to think laterally. So here goes - Dixon's guide to turning tracking from a cost center to a profit center.
I love our tracking system, we track which Adwords turn into newsletter signups, what paid advertising turns into forms filled in, and have path analysis and CPA tracking galore, which even gets emailed out to relevent people in synthesised form on a scheduled basis because management are too lazy to look.
But for one client, we used a tracking system that doesn't rely on anything too fancy and has fundamentally changed the relationship with the client in question, and their entire business process.
The client sells business systems - we'll leave it that vague. They were a sales rep orientated business. They paid their reps on commissions. They knew the value of a lead, but didn't trust anyone in the advertising world - and to them the web was just an advertising tool. Their main website had cost them a hefty 5 figure sum and it really wasn't performing. They wanted to pay for results, but they also wanted to be talking to the hot leads quick.
So - we jumped over the tracking system measuring every visitor to the nth degree... or rather - we use the system, but only internally. We track the client results very differently. For the client, there are only two successful actions. Either a person fills in a form indicating a SIZABLE potential order, or they phone, with a SIZABLE potential order. Anything too small is actually costing them money to get rid of.
So - the first breakthrough for us, was using a different telephone number for leads that we were generating, which could be tracked (and calls recorded) via the web and could be routed directly through to the sales rep. Web forms generated from us were also tracked, with the enquiries going direct to the sales reps but copies coming to us for billing.
This really started us on a true CPA path for the client. Now we could be rewarded using measurements that the sales reps understood - based on real enquiries, not based on some number on a web screen. They liked that idea. We negotiated a trial contract...
But it did not all go according to plan. The sales reps' phones starting ringing - straight from the web site - but the reps were on the road. They had ansaphones on. Can you imagine as a web user - you type a phrase in Google - get to the perfect site - a real site with real phone numbers and a real company, then phone and get a recorded message? four out of five hung up. I couldn't charge for people who do not leave a message. Then - when a user DID get through, it was 50/50 that they were selling something not buying something. I couldn't charge for those calls either. So I was probably only getting to charge for 1 in 10 calls and most of the web mail enquiries. But people preferred to call - the number of calls outweight the number of web forms 2:1... so losing the phone numnber was going to be an issue.
We were in danger of losing the trial and the contract. We saw lots of enquiries being wasted by the client and the client saw a low number of low value leads. we thought we were doing a good job, but the client did not see it that way.
But... our tracking could record the calls! We KNEW that the sales reps were not understanding the mindset of a person who had never heard of the client before and had just called from a Google search. What the potential buyers wanted more than anything was reassurance that the company was real, professional and able to deliver. They wanted a person to reassure them just then, before hearing the sales pitch.
The answer was blindingly simple. We diverted the calls through to a small call center in our home town in Bedfordshire. The call center staff were given training on how to answer appropriately (using the client's name of course) and to fill in the web enquiry form properly. The call center still had the ability to forward the calls to the sales reps, but they were also instructed to refer all non-sales callers to the company's main switchboard number - getting the caller out of the sales loop at the start.
The results have been electric. Now, the sales reps almost always get solid sales leads into their inbox - or occassionally direct to their mobiles. They think they are getting 500% more leads, but infact, we are just not squandering the leads. They think they are getting twice the quality - which they are because the rubbish is filtered before they see them. The web users always get a friendly reception and - most of all - we get to track the actions, whether the web user fills in a web form or phones the number on the screen.
My bigger mlearning here was that tracking and logging is not seen by management as a way to easily improve profits and the bottom line. They leave tracking to us techies and as techies we do not sell the benefits... instead we sell the technology. That is a mistake. If you do not get hung up on a single technology, then it becomes much easier to find a way to build a tracking system into a company's processes in a manner that generate self-improvement without complex web analytics.
Two years on, the client wants to change their brand, which means a new core website. Guess who they turned to for advice?
Hope it gives a few people some ideas.
Best,
Dixon.
