Here's 8 Ways To Optimize Your Call-Focused Search Ads For Higher ROI

There’s never been a better time for optimizing your call-focused search ads. This year, mobile search alone will drive 73 billion calls

Call-focused search ads are one of the growing forces behind high returns from digital ad spend. In fact, BIA Kelsey estimates that $64.6 billion is spent each year on localized ads meant to generate calls to businesses. With this surge in calls comes the improved sophistication and ability to call analytics tools to measure call quality and pull insight from tons of caller data. Companies can take advantage of these new call analytic tools to optimize their call search ads for increased return on investment and to improve the overall sales of their company.

How are call-focused search ads benefiting businesses?When people call, they’re ready to buy. Google research shows that 61% of calls are coming from folks that are ready to make a decision.Google also found an 8% increase in click-through-rates of search ads that had a call button. And, people get frustrated when they can’t pick up the phone and get a hold of a business.

Let’s take a look at how your business can optimize call-focused search ads to increase your conversions and returns.

1. Make sure you pick up the phone

Since 52% of those who take action after seeing a mobile ad do so via phone, it’s vital that you, or someone on your team, is around to answer customer calls.When people call, they’re ready to buy. Google research shows that 61% of calls are coming from folks that are ready to make a decision.

You don’t want all of those callers - that are eager to purchase - to get stuck in a voicemail. Or worse, they may end up never speaking to anyone on your team. To prevent missed calls

• Use a manual CPC campaign so you can adjust running times.

• Make sure you pause your company’s paid search ads while the business is closed. If no one is around to take the calls - ads should be paused.
• If you’ve got locations in different times zones, either forward calls to open locations, or pause ads for each location as needed.

2. Follow up A$AP

The sooner you respond to a missed call or a voice message, the higher the likelihood that you’ll close a deal. In fact, you’re7X more likely to close a deal if you call back within the hour of a missed call. To improve your follow-up

• Make sure you’ve got the right amount of people available - don’t have two staff members handling hundreds of inbound calls.  
• Know your peak times - maybe your callers are morning people, and you’re busiest phone times are the wee hours. If you know your peak times, you can staff accordingly.

3. Use keywords to lower ad costs and drive conversions

You can target certain keywords to lower ad costs and increase your conversions.Keywords: Target keywords that will entice the types of prospects that are most likely to call. For example, if you’re an industrial cleaning business in Fort Lauderdale, FL - you should could target local keywords like, “cleaning company Fort Lauderdale.” Or, if you want to target customers that are on the edge of a purchase rather than at the top of the funnel, you could target, “office cleaning costs Fort Lauderdale.”Someone who’s specifically looking for office cleaning costs is probably in the decision stage as they may be weighing costs of your company and your competitors.Conversions: Take note of which keywords/phrases are responsible for the highest number of converted customers.For example, maybe you notice that customers prefer to call when they’re looking to purchase your higher-end or big-ticket products or services. If so, you can target these keywords to increase ROI.

4. Understand and measure key call metrics

When you’re analyzing your call data, it’s important to understand which metrics will be most valuable in helping you draw insights and correct your campaigns for higher ROI.  First, remember that there’s a difference between clicks and calls. Clicks are when a customer clicks on the ad. Calls are when the customer clicks on the ad and then clicks the call button immediately after. You need to know the ratio of clicks to calls - this way, you can optimize your spend based on which ads convert the most calls. For example, if Ad A has a click to call ratio of 100:30, but Ad B has a click to call ratio of 100:60, then you’d either stick with Ad B or optimize your spend by placing higher bids on Ad B. You can also refer to your phone through rate (PTR) - or how many times a user dials or clicks-through to call based on impressions. This can also help you determine which ads are performing best.

5. Understand and measure call quality metrics

Metrics are one thing, but understanding the quality of a call is equally important to increasing return on investment. To understand which calls are of the best quality, you need to know one thing: which calls are turning more prospects into customers. Some key quality metrics are:

If you know which calls are most often turning into customers, then you can optimize your ads for conversions rather than simply higher volume.

6. Retarget your prospects that didn’t buy

Retargeting is all the rage these days with Pixels increasing click-through rates by astronomical proportions for most social media networks. But calls that didn’t convert the first time can be just as valuable of a retarget as someone who's been tagged by a pixel when you consider that 61% of callers are calling because they’re ready to purchase. Callers are likely super-engaged, and at the very least, highly interested in your product or service. So, generate a list of all your calls that didn’t turn into customers and send those users a retargeting ad.

7. Improve your customer’s phone experience

Nothing killed my vibes like the time I was super excited about a new software package, and I called the company to ask questions and find out which package I should buy to best suit my needs.  Then boom -  I’m directed through a million different automated messages. Click one for this, two for that. I ended up forgetting the questions I wanted to ask. Get your prospects to a person ASAP. You don’t want them forgetting why they’ve called. You want their experience to be smooth and pleasant! Try to improve caller experience based on keyword or location - that’s a great way to improve customer satisfaction and revenue.

8. Target the most profitable locations

Local business? If so, you need to make sure you’re using a phone number with your local area code. You also want to ensure that calls are forwarded to the nearest available office. To use location targeting to increase ROI: Check out your data, notice if any locations get a higher number of calls than your other locations. Notice if certain locations get higher-quality calls (calls that are more likely to convert to customers) than other offices. If so, you can add more to your ad spend in those profitable areas.

In conclusion

Research shows that call ads are highly beneficial to businesses these days. Plus, analytic tech for calls is improving, making it easier to optimize your ad spend for generating call leads.Make sure you understand which metrics will drive the highest ROI, and focus your efforts - and money - on the highest returns. What has your experience been like with call search ads?