Running an e-commerce store in today's competitive market can be challenging. To attract new customers and increase sales, store owners invest in a variety of marketing tactics. They might create an engaging website, build a social media presence, send out email newsletters, and use traditional marketing methods like print ads and business cards.

Speaking of traditional methods, it's also smart to get a toll-free number and display it prominently on both digital and print ads. When asked what their favorite form of business communication was, 22% of 18-39-year-olds said they would rather use a phone, and this percentage only goes up with age.

This means if you do the same, you could get a lot of phone calls, but without a way to track the sources of these leads, you will be left guessing where your customers are coming from. This can make it difficult to decide where to allocate your marketing budget. In this article, we will explore the importance of dedicated phone numbers and call tracking for e-commerce store owners.

What is Call Tracking?

Call tracking has actually been around for ages. When you were asked to mention you heard about a product on the radio or when a customer service agent asked, "How did you hear about us?" a business was tracking their calls manually. Some still do, but your business doesn't have to because call tracking is automatic with the right type of technology.

With the modern, automated version of call tracking, a customer calls your business, and the call is routed through a call tracking system that records information about the call, like the date and time, the phone number, the duration of the call, and more. Call tracking can be used in a variety of ways, such as tracking calls from specific marketing campaigns, tracking calls from specific geographic regions, and identifying the most effective marketing channels. It can also be used to identify issues that arise during customer interactions to help improve customer service.

Why are Dedicated Toll-Free Numbers Important?

Dedicated phone numbers, also called tracking numbers, are crucial for call tracking because they allow businesses to analyze phone calls separately for each marketing campaign or advertising channel. By using a dedicated phone number for each advertising channel, businesses can track the effectiveness of their marketing efforts and make better decisions about where to allocate their budget.

Getting a dedicated toll-free number rather than a local number has many benefits, including:

• Toll-free numbers can be used as a marketing tool, allowing businesses to create a memorable brand.

• Toll-free numbers are often associated with larger, more established businesses and can help to enhance a company's professional image.

• Toll-free numbers allow customers to call a business without incurring long-distance charges, making it more likely that they will call.

What are the Benefits of Call Tracking?

Call tracking can revolutionize the way your e-commerce business approaches marketing, customer service, and customer retention. When you track your incoming phone calls, it can provide your business with valuable data that can help:

• Identify effective marketing channels: With a dedicated tracking number for each marketing channel, you will learn which generates the most leads, optimize your marketing efforts, and allocate budgets accordingly.

• Improve customer service: Call tracking can tell you how long a call lasts, how many calls are missed, which agents handle the most calls, and more metrics that will help you find and address customer service issues.

• Identify sales opportunities: Tracking your calls will help you find new sales opportunities and upsell or cross-sell products and services.

• Measure marketing ROI: When using dedicated phone numbers with call tracking, you can easily measure the return on investment for your business's marketing efforts.

• Learn more about your customers: Call tracking allows you to gather data on your customers, like their geographic location, gender, age, and interests, which can be used to tailor future marketing efforts to specific demographics.

Phone calls are still popular with a large segment of consumers and are still a very effective way to generate leads and convert them into paying customers. But if you aren't using call tracking and dedicated toll-free numbers, you're left guessing where the call came from or using the old manual method of asking every customer how they heard about your business. With call tracking, you will understand what channels are driving your leads, who your customers are, and how satisfied they are with your company.