It’s reasonable to believe, in my opinion, that people would be more inclined to dial (and certainly to remember) a more memorable number.

All of our testing has been based on comparably “less desirable” numbers so it’s not been something for which we have a good scientific control.

It seems like the sort of thing for which one would need a 50/50 split test against exactly the same set of search phrases.

Will

Are dynamic phone numbers as effective as one or two “good” phone numbers?

For example, a “good” phone number might be defined as one that is easy to remember, like 800-200-2000 when a “less desirable” phone number might be something like 877-245-9137

During phone tracking analysis, do you skew for the impact a “less desirable” number might have on call volume? Do you even acknowledge that this is an issue?

From a practical perspective, could a website with a “good” number out-perform a “better” website with “less desirable” numbers, simply on the basis of the perceived power of the number?

I ask because in our business we believe that we did notice such an issue, and so we have stayed away from using phone tracking using dynamic numbers because our conversion rate was so much better using the “good” numbers that it overrode the value of knowing exactly where calls were coming from, re: keyword searches or ad buy sources that could be identified through the use of dynamic phone numbers.

Thoughts? Thanks.

Thanks for your comment. And no you don’t sound like a jerk, you just point out my lack of clarity.

I’ll revise the post to make this more clear, but the point we were trying to address was “what’s the impact of this one ad placement among many”.

Among the things I didn’t say but need to are:

• The client has a very high transaction cost
• 4 conversions / month would validate a 20K spend
• The difference in the business between 4 & 12 calls from one source, given their other source of traffic, is difficult to track and of great value
• The numbers on their web site drive 160-180 calls / month

I hope that better explains why this was a worthwhile effort.

Cheers,
Will

I would think at this extreme lack of effect would be evident in business metrics.

Thanks for dropping by.

For service businesses, for a deal to get done the phone rings or the door swings.

Way beyond website analytics, call tracking is a powerfull marketing tool.

There are so many ways to waste money online. At least this way we can help minimize that.

The challenge of service businesses is that you’re not pushing widgets. Unless the phone rings the ads aren’t effective.

Sadly tomorrow I’ll be just as busy — writing those proposals

I know I was really fascinated by your explanation of this when we were chatting earlier.

Having the stats, being able to show the client where there money is going…this is extremely empowering.

Just think of all that they can do with that $20,000.00.

I’m really glad you decided to share this information, Will. You’ve been a busy guy tonight!
Miriam