12 Questions You Must Ask before You Hire a Call Tracking Vendor

Call tracking is a crucial part of your marketing efforts because it can allow you to figure out what’s working—and worth the money—and what’s not. But in order for it to be effective, you have to make sure the call tracking software is comprehensive enough to track all your campaigns and agile enough to respond to changes in your marketing. And if it goes beyond just tracking your calls to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your marketing, so much the better.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Call Tracking Tool

Here are some questions you should ask a potential vendor to make sure their call tracking tool meets your needs. And remember, you are not only choosing a tool, but a company/vendor that will help you every step of the way when putting the software to use. So choose a vendor that will be your partner instead of just focusing only on the software itself.

Can your software perform call tracking for all my campaigns?

Make sure the software you’re considering can track calls for all kinds of campaigns. Even if you think you only need call tracking for one campaign. Or if you think you just need call tracking for your online marketing or offline marketing. The point is that your business can and should grow, and you want a call tracking tool that can grow with you. Sure, you can shop for a new vendor later, but that’s time you may not have to waste then—and who knows what data you’ll be missing in the meantime?

Can your call tracking tool integrate with my other analytics platforms?

You know that fragmentation is the enemy of your business, and you’ve worked hard to eliminate the silo mentality in your company. Why, then, should you tolerate silos in your data? Ask whether call tracking data can integrate with your website data, your labor tracking data, and more. Talk to a call tracking vendor about the software you use in your business, and the ones you might use in the future, such as Google Analytics and Ads, KISSmetrics, WordPress, and Salesforce. And see if there are tools available to incorporating call tracking into new business intelligence software as it becomes available.

Do you offer “whisper messages” so my team has a head start on each caller?

For most of the history of inbound marketing, the prospect has had an advantage over the salesperson: they know why they’re calling, but the salesperson doesn’t. The salesperson has to react, which can dramatically decrease the effectiveness of the sales effort. Whisper messages turn that advantage around—your salespeople can know what inspired the call, what campaign inspired the call, what page the caller has active at this very moment, and even what keywords the caller searched before they called.

Can you do call recording?

Call recording is a great tool for sales, training, and for customer service. It is literally a “must have” for the best call tracking software, so if a vendor doesn’t offer it, you should move on. Call recording allows you to identify which leads are the most likely to turn into sales, and which campaigns generate those leads. That way, you know where to put your money, and how to train your sales staff to identify and capitalize on those leads. And it allows you to make sure every customer that calls is getting the quality service you want your company to be known for.

Make sure you can record both inbound and outbound calls.

How hard will it be for me to access call tracking data?

All the data in the world doesn’t do you any good if you can’t access it. You want to make sure that you can get important information from your call tracking without having to go through arcane rituals. Ideally, you want the information to come to you in the form that you want it, either via email or in a handy dashboard that you can access from anywhere.

This is one area where reviews will really help: they can give you not just the facts, but the emotional frustration level experienced by actual users.

Will my call tracking data be fresh when I get it?

Old information is bad information. You want to make sure your call tracking metrics are going to be as up-to-date as possible when you get it.You want to make sure your call tracking metrics are going to be as up-to-date as possible when you get it. And that means continuous, real time call reporting. And for really important information, you shouldn’t have to remember to look for it—it should come to you as it becomes available so that you can evaluate it and make relevant decisions.

Can I decide how my calls will be routed?

The best call tracking software can also be your call management system, and so make sure you ask about this. You should be able to control which calls go to which phone when, and even if you want them to go to multiple phones at the same time. Your calls should be able to go to the office during the day, the answering service at night, and even to your home phone if that’s what you want. Call routing should also be able to interact with a VoIP system if you have one in place.

An interactive phone menu can be helpful, and you should be able to get it without having to invest in expensive phone systems.

Do you offer both toll-free and local phone numbers? Can I take these numbers with me?

Local numbers create the feeling that you’re a hometown business. Toll-free numbers give the impression that you’re a nationwide presence. Both have their advantages, and you might want to use either one, or both toll-free and local numbers at different times to create the best image for any given campaign. Your call tracking service should be able to offer both options. They should also be able to work with your current number, if you like.

And you shouldn’t be held hostage by your number—you should always be able to take it with you. Ask the question, but also check the reviews to find out how people are really being treated when porting lines away from a call tracking service.

Can I control how data is reported?

Your call tracking should report the data in a way that’s most convenient for you.

Whether you want to get it as emails or access it yourself through a dashboard. You should also not have to sort through a report that was designed for a business very different from yours—you should be able to see what information matters to you front and center. This means you should be able to design custom reports so that you get the most important information right up front and center without having to hunt for it.

What support do you offer in case my numbers stop working?

Call systems are very reliable, and downtime is likely to be a minimum. You’ll want to ask this question, but also check reviews. If call tracking software reviews list a number of outages, you may need to be looking for someone else. But the most telling part of a call tracking software review is what happens when a reviewer experienced an outage. When it happens, you need to know that you can get it back up and running as soon as possible. After all, those calls are the lifeblood of your business, and every second the phones aren’t working, the calls are draining away and may never return. So you want to know that the call tracking vendor can be reached at any time when you need calls to be flowing into your business.

Can you help make sure I don’t miss any leads that come in by text or go to voicemail?

It’s already hard enough to attract new business—do you want to make it harder by putting extra barriers in front of potential customers? Of course not. You want all potential business to be able to reach you no matter what their preferred method of communication may be. That means your call system should be able to handle text leads and voicemail leads, too. And it’s important that you can track text messages and ensure they are getting the same level of personal attention as voice calls.

My business doesn’t really have an office—can you still help me with call tracking and follow-up?

For many businesses today, the office is wherever you are whenever you have work to do. Your call tracking and call routing system should be able to handle that, ensuring that no matter where you are, you never miss a call or a potential lead. You should be able to call from any phone as though it were your office phone. And you should be informed right away when someone fills out the contact form on your website. Leads can go cold quickly.

CallRail vs Call Tracking Metrics & Other Vendors

We know there are a variety of different companies to research and review before choosing a vendor. When you’re in the process of choosing between CallRail vs Call Tracking Metrics or other call tracking companies, be sure to get each of them on the phone and ask them the above questions. Keep track of all the answers so you can compare at the end and see which company would best suit your needs.

We invite you to contact us anytime to ask all the above questions and any more you may have. Also, here are some actual call tracking software and CallRail reviews to check out to see what others have to say.
We invite you to contact us and ask all these questions, but maybe you want to read some actual call tracking software and CallRail reviews first to see what others have to say about us.

Brian Jackson’s Call Tracking Metrics Reviews:

Likes the documentation, which includes easy-to-follow tutorials and screenshots, as well as the ease of installation, especially for WordPress. Praises the ability to sort and segment data, and says that the client support is superb.

Bottom Line: “this is the company I will be recommending to all of my clients.”

GetApp’s Call Tracking Software Review:

4 out of 5 stars (1 review): Praises the ease of use (with the exception of a couple of dashboards), as well as the reliability and customer service.

Bottom Line: “Easy to use call tracking”

G2 Crowd’s Call Tracking Service Reviews:

4.5 out of 5 stars (11 reviews): Reviewers praise the ease of installation (often less than an hour from beginning to functioning call tracking) and the ability to track activity in numerous channels. By tracking ROI, reviewers were able to justify additional marketing expenses for clients. Described as a “key tool” in their marketing armamentarium, the ability to integrate with other software is seen as a crucial strength.

Bottom Line: “Almost perfect product.”

Brian Chappell Call Tracking Review:

Notes that although CallRail is based on Twilio stack, it’s a much better product than simply getting a Twilio account because you don’t have to hire a developer to get customized reports. Instead, you get vital business intelligence for a price that is scalable to your needs and business size.

Bottom Line: “a great base foundation to build out and monitor call activity with.”

Quora Community CallRail Call Tracking Company Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars (4 reviews): Reviewers praise the support, the agility of the team, and value. They note that many clients have seen even more sales gains than CallRail advertises. It also helps companies lower their advertising expenses by focusing only on the services that work.

Bottom Line: “best call tracking platform for SEO/PPC agencies and their clients”

As you would with any other business decision, just be sure to do the proper research on call tracking tools and vendors before making a decision. Once you make a decision, here are 10 ways that call tracking can help your business.