The Future of Call Marketing in the UK

Lead Generation World London, one of the premier conferences in the performance marketing industry, returns May 9 to 10 in the UK, and the event is set to be a boon for advertisers and publishers currently navigating the lead generation ecosystem. 

This year’s event features speakers from various industries sharing their insights and expertise in lead generation. One of the industry experts speaking at Lead Generation World London will be Oliver Koukoulis-Fribbens, Commercial Director for Phonexa UK. Oliver will be presenting at Lead Generation World London on May 9 at 2:50 p.m. in Main Session Hall the following:

“The Future of Lead Generation: Why Call Tracking and Distribution is Essential for Your Business”

In order to give marketers a sneak peek into his session, overall leadgen trends, and what to expect at the conference, Oliver recently joined Michael Ferree, CEO and Founder at Lead Generation World, Contact.io and the AFFY Expo, for a show taping. 

The entire episode is worth a listen, but below are highlights of some of Oliver’s top takeaways. 

1. Capitalise on Click-to-Call Journeys

Oliver details a scenario in which a consumer immediately requires a particular service and is more willing to click on an ad rather than fill out a form. Lead generators can capitalise on this journey by leveraging click-to-call ads to give consumers the option to phone immediately.

“You’ve got a flat tire, and you Google ‘roadside tire repair’ or something like that. You’re not filling out a web form, are you? Let’s be real here. You’re clicking on an ad — click to call — and you’re speaking to somebody,” said Oliver. “It’s capitalising on those sorts of journeys, but there are other types of journeys where the consumer is expecting to speak to somebody. They may still fill out a web form, but ultimately, they know that they are going to need to speak to somebody.”

2. Address Low Contact Rate Concerns by Improving Speed-to-Contact

“I’m sure there are a number of listeners that generate web leads and sell them to a buyer, and they’ve had buyers complain about contact rate being low.

“If the end goal is to get the customer on the phone, then let’s just get the customer on the phone in the first place rather than getting them to fill out a web form and then phoning them back. All of this just speeds up that route and, ultimately, allows for higher lead prices you can sell. If the contact rate is normally 50%, but you’re actually going to deliver live inbound phone calls where 100% of the people are on the phone because it’s a live inbound phone call, that lead is instantly worth twice as much.”

3. Leverage Bespoke IVRs to Qualify Leads and Route Them Accordingly

“One of the things that we’ve developed as part of Phonexa is the ability to build bespoke IVRs within the platform. What that would allow you to do is ask similar questions to what you would do in a web form.

“So, if we use car finance as an example, it could be asking how much financing you’re looking for, if you’re employed click 1, or if you’re unemployed click 2. Based on those answers that the consumer has entered, you’ve done that qualification piece, and then you can route the call accordingly based on those answers.”

4. Combine Web and Call Journeys to Convert More Leads

Marketers that successfully convert leads through the phone may be tempted to focus on call leads solely but can also convert web leads by adding a phone number to their landing pages.

“We have lots of clients that do really well with web leads, and obviously, a big part of the Phonexa solution is that we are able to help track and distribute web leads. As part of your overall strategy, adding calls is something that absolutely can help.

“For example, we’ve got a client that generates web leads and, when the lead is submitted, they will land the customer on a bespoke Thank You page that uses Dynamic Text Replacement to pull in a company name and also a tracking phone number. It says, ‘ABC company is going to contact you; however, there is an agent available now. If you click to call, you can speak to somebody now.’ Some of those customers are then prioritised by routing them just after they’ve applied.

“The other journey is actually a physical call with applications. The customer completes the application form, and at the end of the form, they’ve then got the option to speak to somebody now. Then, both the web lead and the live call are routed.”

5. Trackable Phone Numbers Don’t Just Have to Live on Landing Pages

“Even after a call is distributed, you still have to determine where the call came from.

“You want to know which creative (if you’re running a PPC campaign, social ads, etc.) actually generated that call in the first place so that we can go in and optimise our ads and keywords. We use something called Dynamic Number Insertion, which is a way of dynamically placing a phone number from a tracking pool to ultimately be able to tell where the lead came from. Then we can say we know that this particular keyword or advertising spend is actually generating the majority of the calls.

“We know from our IVR that those are actually qualified leads, and ultimately they’re generating X amount of revenue. So go and spend more on that particular ad or group of ads.”

Connect with Oliver on LinkedIn to set-up a meeting at Lead Generation World. 

Schedule a consultation to learn more about Phonexa’s performance marketing software and all-in-one marketing automation solution.