The Complete Guide to Call Tracking and Sales Tracking Software

Unravel the mysteries of the customer journey with call tracking and sales tracking software. Monitor marketing performance, optimize budgets, and boost revenue with data-driven insights. This comprehensive guide explores the true power of call and sales tracking for next-level growth. Learn how leading solutions like Mystrika provide advanced analytics, omnichannel visibility, and ecosystem connections to give your team an unparalleled view of prospects and customers. Discover how to leverage tracking to target high-value audiences, tailor personalized engagements, and coach teams for peak excellence. Read on to unlock the tools and intelligence needed to catapult business growth and optimization. The future of insight-driven success starts now.

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What is Call Tracking Software and How Does it Work?

Call tracking software is an invaluable tool for modern businesses. It allows you to capture invaluable insights into your marketing performance and customer interactions. But what exactly is call tracking, and how does this useful technology function? Let’s break it down.

Defining Call Tracking Software

Put simply, call tracking software records data about the inbound phone calls a business receives. It attributes each call to the specific marketing campaign or channel that drove it.

This could include calls from:

  • Paid search ads
  • Organic search keyword traffic
  • Social media ads
  • Display banners
  • TV or radio spots
  • Billboards
  • Direct mail
  • And more

With call tracking, you get a complete picture of your marketing ROI across both digital and traditional channels. No more flying blind when it comes to call analytics!

How Call Tracking Systems Function

Call tracking platforms use dynamic number insertion (DNI) to connect your ads and campaigns to unique phone numbers.

Here’s a quick example of how it works:

  1. You create a Google Ads search campaign targeting the keyword “pet insurance”.
  2. Your call tracking software generates a unique tracking number to associate with that campaign.
  3. When a user searches for “pet insurance” and clicks your ad, they land on a webpage featuring the unique tracking number.
  4. If they call that number, the call tracking system recognizes that this came from your Google Ads keyword campaign.
  5. It records vital data about the call and can even connect it to conversions.

This process happens instantly without any interruption to the caller. And it works the same way for all your marketing channels, not just paid search.

Dynamic Number Insertion Enables Call Tracking

The dynamic number insertion (DNI) method used in call tracking provides the attribution magic.

DNI essentially swaps out your main business phone number for a unique tracking number tailored to each user. It does this by using a short snippet of JavaScript code installed on your website.

The code automatically changes the phone number displayed based on parameters like:

  • UTM campaign parameters
  • Referrer URL
  • Landing page URL
  • Geographical location
  • And more

So when users navigate your site after clicking an ad, the number they see will be tied specifically to that ad or campaign. This number gets routed through the call tracking system, enabling enhanced attribution.

Information Captured by Call Tracking Systems

When a call comes into your call tracking number, what exact data can you expect to get?

Here are some of the key details recorded:

  • Number, date, and time of call
  • Duration of call
  • Whether call was answered or went to voicemail
  • Source of call (ad, keyword, landing page, etc)
  • Caller location information
  • Call recordings (if enabled)

Your call tracking dashboard then compiles this data into reports and insights you can act on.

Advanced call tracking solutions like Mystrika even go beyond standard details to offer information like:

  • Call transcripts generated via AI
  • Real-time call sentiment analysis
  • Agent performance scoring
  • Lead quality grading
  • Custom call tagging

With the in-depth analytics provided by call tracking platforms, you can make data-backed decisions to optimize your marketing spend. This results in more high-quality calls and happier customers.

So in summary, call tracking gives you the missing attribution link between your marketing efforts and inbound calls. With call analytics, you can finally connect the dots and see your true marketing ROI across channels.

Why is Call Tracking Vital for Businesses?

In today’s data-driven business environment, understanding your marketing performance and optimizing accordingly is essential. Call tracking provides the missing attribution link that makes this possible.

Here are four key reasons call tracking is a vital tool for modern businesses:

Allows Full Attribution of Marketing Efforts

Imagine running advertisements across channels like Google, Facebook, radio, TV, billboards, and more. Lots of money spent, but how much is each channel contributing to bottom-line revenue?

Without call tracking, you simply can’t attribute your inbound calls properly. And for many businesses, calls are the primary or only conversion metric that matters.

With call tracking software, you get full visibility into marketing ROI across all channels. You can accurately analyze effectiveness down to the keyword, ad creative, referrer, landing page, etc. This enables smarter optimization of budgets.

According to research by Invoca, businesses using call tracking realized a 20-50% higher ROI compared to those that didn’t. That’s extremely significant!

Accurate attribution is especially important in today’s multi-touch buyer journeys. Customers often research on one channel (e.g. organic search), engage on another (e.g. social media), then convert on a call. Call tracking connects the dots.

Helps Optimize Ad Spend and Increase ROI

Speaking of getting more bang for your marketing buck, call tracking delivers here as well.

By tying calls to specific campaigns and creatives, you gain visibility into the true return on your ad investments. You can double down on what’s working and pare back wasted spend.

For example, if you run both Facebook and Instagram ads, call tracking data may show one vastly outperforms the other in generating calls and conversions. You can redistribute budget accordingly.

Retargeting callers is another optimization opportunity. Many call tracking platforms integrate directly with major advertising platforms. This allows creating laser-targeted remarketing campaigns based on who engaged with you on a call.

This analysis enables you to optimize ad copy, landing pages, offers, and budget allocation for maximum ROI. Studies show optimization driven by call tracking can increase conversion rates by 10-30%.

Provides Insights to Improve Customer Experience

Beyond marketing analytics, call tracking offers vital customer experience insights.

By linking digital behavior to calls, you gain a clearer picture of buyer journeys. You can see exactly what pages prospects visit before calling and what campaigns influence their decisions.

These journeys often highlight pain points and abandonments. For example, you may find a certain webpage drives lots of calls due to confusing navigation. You can optimize the page to reduce this friction.

Call tracking also enables “customer journey listening” – using call transcripts and AI to understand voice-of-customer data. This provides feedback to improve CX.

For instance, conversational analytics could reveal customers get frustrated by long phone menus. You can simplify your IVR system to remove hurdles.

Enables Sales Team Coaching and Training

Call tracking isn’t just a marketing tool – it provides invaluable benefits for sales teams as well.

Recording calls allows managers to listen to rep interactions with prospects. This helps identify coaching opportunities to improve sales skills.

The data can also showcase star performers setting them up as models for training other reps. Benchmarking team members against behaviors of top reps quickly improves results.

Conversational analytics takes it a step further. AI automatically analyzes calls to detect patterns like:

  • Effective openings/closings
  • Language correlated with conversion
  • Ideal call length
  • Talk-to-listen ratios
  • And more

These insights scale coaching and training beyond what’s humanly possible through manual call reviews.

For example, Mystrika’s automated call scoring provides each rep a measured monthly productivity score based on call analytics. Managers can track improvement over time and maintain quality.

With these kinds of tools, managers can efficiently coach reps and maximize revenue. Call tracking analysis has been shown to improve sales teams’ close rates by 5-25%.

In summary, call tracking provides unmatched visibility into your marketing performance, customer experience, and sales processes. The data it offers is impossible to gather any other way.

Businesses who embrace call tracking and optimization stand apart from competitors with less visibility. Having an insightful tool like this can be the difference between mediocre and accelerated business growth.

Types of Call Tracking

Modern call tracking solutions can attribute calls from a wide variety of marketing channels, both online and offline. Here are the three core types of call tracking used by most businesses:

Offline Call Tracking

Offline advertising encompasses traditional media formats like TV, radio, print, and direct mail. While not as hot as digital these days, offline channels still play an important brand-building role for many companies.

The problem is that offline ads provide no direct response tracking. There’s no URL clickthroughs or web analytics to gauge performance.

This is where call tracking comes in clutch. It enables connecting offline ad spend to inbound calls and conversions for the first time.

Here’s how offline call tracking works:

  • You set up a unique tracking number for each offline campaign or even individual ads. This can be a local or 800 number.
  • These numbers are displayed prominently on the ads along with a call-to-action.
  • When a prospect calls the number, the call tracks back to the associated ad.
  • You gain visibility into the ROI generated by your offline media buys.

This methodology can be applied to attribute calls from:

  • TV and radio commercials
  • Billboard ads
  • Print ads (magazines, newspapers, etc)
  • Direct mail campaigns
  • And more

For example, 1-800-Flowers implemented call tracking numbers on their national TV spots. They found TV accounted for 15-20% of inbound orders, a major revenue stream they had no visibility into previously.

Without call tracking, you’re essentially flying blind when it comes to offline advertising. Call analytics provides the missing puzzle piece to connect your offline media investments to bottom-line business growth.

Organic Call Tracking

Next up we have tracking calls generated from organic search traffic.

Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is a pillar of digital marketing. Ranking highly for relevant organic keywords provides a steady stream of qualified prospects.

The problem is that when these prospects call your business, it gets lumped into a general “Direct” or “Organic Traffic” bucket. You have no visibility into the actual keywords and landing pages influencing calls.

Call tracking fixes this. By dynamically inserting tracking numbers on your site, you can attribute calls to the specific organic keyword and page they came in on.

With this visibility, you can better optimize pages to drive more phone call leads from SEO. And you can build out long-tail content around the specific topics that prompt calls.

This results in higher-quality organic traffic and enables driving more conversion value from your SEO efforts. Call tracking for organic makes it possible.

Paid Call Tracking

The final core component of call tracking is attributing calls from paid advertising channels. This includes pay-per-click search, paid social, display ads, and more.

Paid call tracking works by dynamically assigning unique numbers to each paid ad group or campaign. Marketers can also drill down to the keyword level.

For instance, you could run one Google search ad with three tracking numbers – one for each keyword it targets. This allows optimizing the ad and keywords independently based on performance.

Integrations with major platforms like Google and Facebook make dynamically inserting tracking numbers into ads simple. APIs also enable logs of tracked call data to be imported into their analytics platforms for optimization.

Beyond standard ad analytics, call tracking provides crucial context about your paid leads:

  • How many booked demos?
  • Any repeat customers?
  • What offers or products did they ask about?
  • What messaging prompted the call?

With these insights, you can better target likely high-value customers and tailor your ads to maximize ROI.

In summary, call tracking provides unified visibility across your online and offline marketing efforts. By leveraging call analytics for all major channels, you gain a holistic view of your advertising performance. This enables better decisions to drive revenue and growth.

Benefits of Using Call Tracking Software

Now that we’ve covered the basics of call tracking and how it works, let’s explore some of the tangible benefits this technology offers businesses:

Drives More High-Intent Leads

One of the biggest advantages of call tracking is it helps you generate more high-intent, high-quality leads.

By attributing calls to specific campaigns and tactics, you gain visibility into exactly which marketing channels and messages resonate most with your ideal buyers. You can use this insight to optimize your spending and outreach.

For example, call analytics may reveal your LinkedIn ads drive significantly more phone call leads than Facebook. You can shift budget to the higher performing channel.

Or you may find a specific ad creative or offer converts callers at a higher rate. You can A/B test variations and scale up the messaging that converts.

This level of granular data enables you to refine targeting and personalization to drive more of the right prospects into your pipeline. If calls are your end goal, call tracking is the most direct path to get there.

According to Invoca, advertisers using call tracking realized a 10-30% lift in high-quality phone leads on average. That’s powerful.

Maximizes Marketing Budget Efficiency

Tied to the above, call tracking also helps maximize your marketing ROI by identifying waste.

It equips you to decipher exactly which initiatives are generating tangible value in the form of tracked calls. You can scale back budgets on lower performing areas and double down on what works.

Common examples of waste uncovered by call tracking analysis include:

  • Keyword search terms driving irrelevant calls
  • Specific site pages or campaigns yielding few calls
  • Low call quality from certain lead sources
  • Low conversion rates from unoptimized call processes

With clearer visibility, you can course correct and optimize spending for maximum impact. This efficiency gain results in a higher marketing ROI.

According to Invoca, call tracking empowers advertisers to gain a 20-50% higher ROI compared to “flying blind.” Greater efficiency indeed.

Builds Trust with Customers

Next up, call tracking can actually help you strengthen trust and improve customer satisfaction. How so?

By providing visibility into the customer journey, call tracking enables you to create more tailored, personalized experiences.

For example, knowing a prospect visited pricing and features pages indicates where they are in the buyer’s journey. You can address specific needs accordingly and provide relevant offers.

Conversational analytics takes this further by analyzing past call interactions to uncover needs, pain points, and sentiment. Your team can leverage these insights to better serve each unique caller.

According to research by Deloitte, 72% of customers feel more loyal to brands that personalize engagement based on past interactions. Call tracking enables just that.

Illuminates Marketing Blind Spots

The final major benefit of call tracking software is it shines a light into previous marketing blind spots.

As we’ve discussed, without call analytics you have huge visibility gaps in both your online and offline efforts. Call tracking plugs these holes to complete the picture.

You gain the power to connect every ad dollar spent to bottom-line revenue, regardless of channel. No more flying blind or making decisions on gut feel.

In fact, 80% of advertisers say they discovered new insights within months of implementing call tracking and analytics. These are growth opportunities hiding in plain sight.

Call tracking dispels assumption and guesswork by grounding your decisions in definitive customer call data. It provides the missing link for truly data-driven marketing and sales.

In summary, leveraging call tracking equips you to boost high-value leads, maximize budgets, elevate CX, and illuminate blind spots. The benefits crystalize the power of call analytics.

Applications and Use Cases of Call Tracking

Now that we’ve covered call tracking fundamentals, let’s explore some of the most popular real-world applications and use cases:

Paid Search Optimization

One of the most common and high-value uses of call tracking is optimizing paid search campaigns.

With platforms like Google Ads, you can easily track clicks, impressions, and website conversions. But calls end up lumped into a general “Direct” bucket without deeper context.

Call tracking provides that missing layer for understanding the true ROI of search ads.

With unique numbers inserted for each ad group and keyword, you can track exactly which terms are driving calls. You can also integrate call data back into Google Ads for unified reporting.

This analysis lets you:

  • Identify high-value search terms prompting calls
  • Refine match types and bids based on call performance
  • Build out more relevant ad copy and landing pages
  • Feed call insights into Smart Bidding algorithms

For example, Overstock.com leveraged call tracking data in Google’s automated bidding and gained a 14% higher ROI from paid search. Those are big optimization gains.

For any search marketer, applying call tracking is one of the most direct paths to boosting PPC performance.

Personalizing the Customer Experience

Next, call tracking is invaluable for enhancing the customer experience by enabling personalization.

Linking identities to marketing touches and calls allows you to tailor CX across channels. You can greet customers by name, reference past interactions, and provide relevant offers.

For example, if call tracking shows a prospect researched pricing online, your sales rep can proactively address pricing concerns on the call.

Or analytics may reveal callers from certain campaigns request Spanish language support. You can use this to staff appropriately for inbound calls.

Personalization improves both conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Call tracking provides the data foundation needed to make it possible.

Contact Center Agent Evaluation

For contact centers, call tracking serves an important quality assurance purpose.

Features like call recording allow managers to review interactions and identify coaching opportunities for agents. This helps improve conversion rates over time.

Call analytics takes it a step further by automatically scoring calls based on factors like:

  • Duration
  • Sentiment
  • Speech patterns
  • Verbiage used
  • Pacing
  • And more

This enables benchmarking agents and tracking improvement across groups. Instead of just random call sampling, you get a data-driven framework for systemic agent evaluation and development.

According to research by CloserIQ, conversation analytics boosts agent performance by 15-30% on average.

Sales Team Performance Monitoring

Along with contact center use, call tracking provides invaluable benefits for broader sales teams.

Recording calls allows managers to monitor deal progression and refine coaching. Reps can also self-review calls to improve personal processes.

Call analytics empowers more scaled coaching by surfacing trends like:

  • Which reps perform best on discovery calls?
  • What verbiage correlates with closed deals?
  • Do certain call lengths or talk/listen ratios convert better?

These kinds of insights help managers coach all reps to model behaviors of star performers.

According to research by Gong.io, conversation intelligence improves sales win rates by 10-30% by optimizing rep interactions.

In summary, call tracking powers everything from personalized experiences to improved agent quality and sales effectiveness. The applications are virtually endless.

Choosing the Right Call Tracking Provider

With the basics covered, let’s turn to selecting the right call tracking software and provider for your business needs. Here are some tips:

Essential Features and Capabilities to Look For

At minimum, your call tracking platform should offer:

  • Dynamic number insertion (DNI) – This enables the core functionality of mapping unique numbers to sources for attribution.
  • Call recording – Recording conversations allows monitoring agent interactions and tracking verbiage used.
  • Custom call tagging – Tag calls (e.g. “converted”, “need follow up”) to track outcomes.
  • CRM integration – Sync call data with your CRM for unified analytics.
  • Real-time tracking dashboards – See call analytics and trends as they occur.
  • Call routing tools – Intelligently distribute calls based on source and needs.
  • Conversation analytics – AI-powered analysis of calls for deeper optimization.
  • Omnichannel attribution – Beyond calls, track other interactions like forms, chats, SMS, etc.

Advanced solutions like Mystrika also offer more robust capabilities including:

  • Automated call scoring
  • Contact center performance monitoring
  • Smart IVR surveys
  • Real-time call whispering
  • Custom call attribution models
  • Predictive lead scoring
  • Sales rep productivity tracking
  • Integration with marketing platforms
  • White-labeled reporting

Evaluate which capabilities are right for your use case.

Questions to Ask Potential Providers

Some key questions to ask potential call tracking providers:

  • What channels can you track? Optimal tools will cover all online and offline sources.
  • How does dynamic number insertion work? Ensure it uses customizable parameters for accurate tracking.
  • How many unique numbers are available? Larger pools prevent tracking gaps as campaigns scale.
  • What types of numbers do you offer? Local, toll-free, etc. Support your business needs.
  • What call data is captured? Confirm they track essential details like call length, location, caller ID, etc.
  • What analytics and reporting are available? Seek robust dashboarding to visualize trends.
  • Is call recording supported? Recording is invaluable for conversation analytics.
  • How are call outcomes tagged and tracked? Custom outcome tracking is key for optimizing processes.
  • What integrations do you support? Integration with your martech stack is ideal for unified data.
  • How does pricing work? Seek flexible plans aligned to your call volume needs.

Signs of a Robust Call Tracking Platform

Beyond core features, here are some telltale signs of an advanced call tracking solution:

  • Omnichannel tracking – Unified visibility across calls, forms, chats, SMS, etc.
  • Conversational analytics – AI that analyzes conversations at scale to uncover insights.
  • Real-time call whisper – On-screen insights for agents before calls are connected.
  • Smart IVR surveys – Gather customer feedback within automated phone menus.
  • Predictive lead scoring – Automatically grade and prioritize leads based on historical data.
  • Unified CX data – Integration of call data with your existing martech stack.
  • Custom attribution – Flexible rules to attribute conversions according to your definitions.
  • Sales productivity tracking – Metrics to monitor rep performance and enhancement areas.
  • White-labeled reporting – Reports branded to your business to share safely with clients.

In summary, clearly outline your use cases, requirements, and analytics needs when evaluating providers. And look for advanced features that drive further optimization. An ideal call tracking partner will grow with your initiatives over time.

An Introduction to Sales Tracking Software

Now that we’ve thoroughly covered call tracking, let’s shift gears to discussing sales tracking software. This technology provides similar visibility into your sales processes and performance.

Core Functions of Sales Tracking Tools

While call tracking focuses specifically on phone conversations, sales tracking takes a broader view of managing relationships and deals.

Sales tracking software centralizes data on your connections and opportunities within a CRM platform. This gives managers and reps shared visibility into pipeline and activities.

Core functions of sales tracking solutions include:

  • Contact management – Database of leads, prospects, and customers with detailed profiles.
  • Deal tracking – Visibility into every deal from creation to close/loss, including key metrics and stage changes.
  • Sales productivity tracking – Metrics on rep interactions, call volume, emails sent, demos completed, and more.
  • Forecasting – Predicting future sales based on pipeline health and probabilities.
  • Sales analytics – Reporting on conversion rates, close times, revenue attribution, and other KPIs.
  • Notes and activity tracking – Logging all interactions with contacts for continuity.
  • Lead scoring – Grading leads based on fit to prioritize follow-ups.
  • Document sharing – Storing sales collateral to easily share with prospects.

The unified visibility sales tracking provides is invaluable for understanding bottlenecks and optimizing processes.

Benefits of Sales Tracking Apps and Software

There are many reasons businesses invest in sales tracking technology:

  • Improved sales visibility – Real-time visibility into prospect interactions for faster deals.
  • Enhanced sales productivity – Automation and organization to help reps sell more.
  • Better forecast accuracy – Data-driven forecasts vs. relying on reps’ projections.
  • Standardized best practices – Centrally document playbooks to scale excellence.
  • Optimized lead management – Focus on hot leads first and customize nurturing.
  • Unified sales data – Single integrated platform vs. disparate spreadsheets.
  • Enables sales coaching – Call and activity data to refine rep skills.
  • Informed optimization – See sales funnel weak points to improve conversions.

According to HubSpot, 72% of sales teams using sales tracking software saw improved win rates. The benefits are clear and plentiful.

Types of Sales Tracking (Web, Mobile, etc)

Sales tracking comes in many implementations and formats including:

Web-based CRM – Traditional SaaS platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Zoho, etc. Accessible from any web browser.

Mobile CRM apps – iOS and Android apps to access contacts, see activities, and log interactions on-the-go.

Desktop CRM – Locally installed CRM software accessible without an internet connection.

Spreadsheet tracking – Manual lead and deal tracking using Excel or Google Sheets.

Email tracking – Tools to track open and click rates on outbound sales emails.

Live chat software – Captures prospect-initiated chats and conversion data.

Proposal software – Tracks document versioning and whether prospects opened/signed.

Sales engagement platforms – Unifies calling, emailing, tracking in one sales interface.

Sales acceleration tools – Tracks rep activities and behaviors to model star performers.

Key Features of Effective Sales Tracking

When evaluating sales tracking tools, look for these impactful features:

  • Contact management – Organize leads with tags, owners, stage, details, etc.
  • Deal pipeline – Kanban or list view to visualize deal progression.
  • Task management – Activity tracking and reminders for follow-ups.
  • Document sharing – Send, e-sign, and track sales collateral access.
  • Email integration & tracking – Sync email activity and track engagement.
  • Lead scoring – Automatically grade and prioritize leads for sales.
  • Sales automation – Workflows to assign tasks and send follow-up emails.
  • Sales performance analytics – Individual and team metric tracking.
  • Forecasting – Predictions based on pipeline health and stage likelihood.
  • Custom objects and fields – Tailor data tracked to your sales process.
  • CRM integrations – Unite platforms like email, phone, chat, and calendar.

By centralizing all sales data and interactions in one intuitive platform, sales tracking delivers robust visibility and insights.

How Sales Teams Can Leverage Sales Tracking

Now that we’ve outlined the core features and benefits of sales tracking platforms, let’s explore how sales organizations can apply this technology for maximum impact across their teams and processes.

Understanding Your Sales Funnel Health

One of the most powerful applications of sales tracking is gaining a data-driven view of your sales funnel’s health.

This starts with pipeline visibility – seeing all active deals in your funnel categorized by stage, deal size, owner, etc. Sales managers gain an instant overview of volume and performance.

Beyond just volume metrics, sales tracking provides a probabilistic forecast. By setting a percentage likelihood of closing for each stage, the software forecasts expected revenue.

For example:

  • 10 deals in stage 1 with a 10% close rate = 1 expected to close
  • 5 deals in stage 2 with a 30% close rate = 2 expected to close
  • 2 deals in stage 3 with a 70% close rate = 1 expected to close

This allows managers to predict revenue and growth potential based on the funnel. If close rates dip or deals stagnate in any stage, they can course correct.

Gauging Sales Team Productivity

Another way sales teams leverage tracking software is monitoring productivity.

Activity metrics like calls logged, emails sent, appointments set, and deals created provide visibility into how reps are spending their time. This allows coaching around daily disciplines and identifying low activity levels early.

Analytics can also reveal engagement levels with specific prospects. Managers see who may need nudges to drive opportunities forward or extra assistance tailoring pitches.

And aggregated data points to patterns in behaviors, processes, and messaging across teams. Managers can isolate strengths from star performers and replicate across their division.

The visibility drives focused coaching, motivation, and excellence across all reps.

Automating Administrative Tasks

No sales rep wants to spend their days toggling between spreadsheets, calendars, and generic CRMs. Sales tracking centralizes data and automates repetitive administrative work to free up selling time.

Built-in workflows, for example, enable automating lead follow-up based on behaviors or scoring. If a prospect downloads a certain asset, a task to call them automatically generates.

Templates allow quickly generating repetitive documents like quotes, proposals, and contracts tailored to each deal. This efficiency means more time pitching vs. administering.

And tools like email integration, calendar syncing, and meeting schedulers consolidate key systems in one sales hub. This 360-degree view saves reps from constantly switching apps and tracking data.

Streamlining Communication and Collaboration

The final lever is enhancing cross-team communication and alignment.

Sales tracking acts as a single source of truth, eliminating reliance on individual spreadsheets and statuses. Managers always have real-time funnel visibility rather than waiting for periodic updates.

Platforms like Mystrika take it further by unifying sales and marketing data. Campaign responses, form fills, web visits, and other behaviors automatically attach to contact profiles. This informs better sales outreach personalization.

Andbuilt-in messaging and activity feeds foster collaboration across stakeholders. No more siloed teams or dropped handoffs.

With centralized data and workflows, sales tracking fosters a more connected, efficient sales org. Reps spend time wisely, managers coach proactively, and partners align tightly.

Best Practices for Implementing Sales Tracking

Getting sales tracking software successfully up and running takes more than just purchasing a solution. Here are some best practices to smooth the implementation process:

Linking with Your Existing CRM

If your sales organization already uses a CRM platform, it’s important to integrate the new sales tracking tool rather than replacing outright.

An abrupt platform switch risks disruptions in processes and lost data. Instead, seek a sales tracking solution with robust integration capabilities like Mystrika.

The goal is to establish a bi-directional flow of data between systems. Key connections to enable include:

  • Syncing contacts and companies between platforms
  • Importing deal histories and associate with accounts
  • Embedding court records, support cases, and other engagement data into contact profiles
  • Attaching emails and calendar events to relevant records
  • Forwarding notifications and alerts to users’ primary CRM inboxes
  • Allowing single sign-on (SSO) between platforms

This unified view ensures no loss of sales history or context. And a user-friendly interface with SSO minimizes disruption during the transition.

Choosing User-Friendly Software

Another critical implementation factor is user experience. If reps find the sales tracking software cumbersome or confusing, adoption will suffer.

Seek platforms with these UX advantages:

  • Clean, intuitive interface requiring minimal clicks to navigate and log data
  • Mobile optimization with companion iOS/Android apps
  • Keyboard shortcuts and type-ahead search for efficient data entry
  • Flexible display options (list, kanban, grid, etc)
  • Automated field capture and suggestions to limit manual inputs
  • Customizable layouts and fields aligned to your sales process
  • Interactive walkthroughs, tooltips, and in-app support content

User-friendly software minimizes the learning curve. When sales tracking feels like an assist vs. a hindrance, usage sticks.

Planning Team Training and Rollout

Don’t just buy a solution and toss it over the fence to sales reps. Thoughtful training and rollout boosts adoption.

Ideally provide both live and self-guided training opportunities. Hands-on workshops allow asking platform questions while online courses enable learning at one’s own pace.

It can also help to identify power users across the team early on. Equip them with administrative access to fully explore features and surfaced workflows. Power users organically spread knowledge.

Regarding rollout, consider a phased approach:

  • Start with a pilot group to work out initial kinks before company-wide rollout.
  • Maintain legacy processes (like Excel tracking) during the transition until fully migrated.
  • Build templated reports, workflows, fields, etc in the platform for different sales roles before rollout.
  • Directly engage reps for feedback during rollout and continue refining the platform.

With training and a phased rollout, sales teams will adopt quickly and utilize the platform fully.

Setting Up Key Metrics and Dashboards

The final best practice is planning which KPIs and reporting you need before implementation. This allows matching to platforms with the right analytics capabilities.

Common sales metrics to track include:

  • Sales velocity and cycle time
  • Win rates by rep, campaign, stage, etc
  • Deal sizes by source, owner, product line, etc
  • Activities like calls, emails, demos completed per rep
  • Lead response times and engagement levels
  • Proposal views, revisions, and signatures tracked

Seek sales tracking solutions that allow building dashboards, graphs, and workflows around your unique KPIs. And robust APIs should connect data to broader business intelligence tools.

Well-planned analytics cement sales tracking’s value to managers, reps, and the wider organization. Demonstrating ROI accelerates user adoption.

In summary, approach sales tracking software as a cross-functional initiative rather than just an IT project. Choose solutions matched to your needs, plan the rollout, and rally the team for change. With intentional implementation, sales tracking optimizes frontline and back-office workflows.

FAQs about Call Tracking and Sales Tracking

Let’s wrap up our guide by answering some frequently asked questions about call and sales tracking software:

What industries benefit most from call tracking?

Call tracking delivers value across many verticals, but is especially beneficial for:

Lead generation agencies – Call tracking is invaluable for understanding campaign effectiveness and optimizing client ad spend. Granular call analytics tied to sources provide full visibility into ROI.

Home services – In industries like HVAC, plumbing, and electrical, calls are a primary conversion action. Call tracking enables optimizing spend to drive more high-quality inbound calls.

Healthcare – Tracking calls from digital ads and other sources allows healthcare providers to see which marketing best supports appointments and doctor requests. This drives growth.

Legal – Many law practices rely on calls to generate intakes and new clients. Call tracking provides clarity into the most fruitful referral sources, marketing messages, and ad placements.

Real estate – For realtors, calls are often the precursor to showings and deals. Tracking these calls can illuminate the specific properties and listing sources garnering interest.

Insurance – Insurance carriers and agencies depend on inbound calls to fuel new policies. Call analytics identifies the campaigns, keywords, and channels reliably driving conversions.

Ecommerce – Ecommerce brands track online purchases easily, but calls initiated after website browsing go unattributed without call tracking software. This visibility improves marketing.

What metrics can call tracking provide?

Call tracking platforms provide a wealth of data and metrics to inform business decisions:

  • Number of inbound calls by source and campaign
  • Call length, recordings, and transcripts
  • Call sentiment, outcome, and quality scoring
  • Agent performance tracking
  • Peak calling hours and seasonality trends
  • Identifying blind spots and bottlenecks
  • Marketing channel ROI and optimization opportunities
  • Keyword-level tracking for PPC and SEO
  • Connecting online-to-offline buying journeys
  • Lifecycle call history of individual customers
  • Sales rep conversion rates for calls
  • IVR menu optimization with user flow data
  • Custom call outcome tags and conversion attribution

And the list goes on. Call analytics delivers a 360-degree view of customer interactions and journeys.

How much does call tracking cost?

Pricing can range quite a bit depending on your needs, provider, and call volume:

  • Small business plans – For basic call tracking, expect ~$45-$65 per month. May lack conversation intelligence features.
  • Standard packages – For advanced call tracking with analytics, plan on $150-$300+ per month depending on call volume.
  • Enterprise suites – Full omni-channel tracking and analytics at scale can run $500+ per month. Includes premium features.
  • Call recording add-ons – Expect recording costs around an additional $0.02-0.05 per minute if not included.
  • Number costs – Local and toll-free numbers usually extra around $1-$5 monthly per number.

Overall call tracking is very affordable, often paying for itself many times over through insight-driven marketing optimization.

What are the limitations of call tracking?

Call tracking is extremely valuable, but not a silver bullet solution. Some limitations include:

  • Requires integration work and learning curves when first implementing.
  • Can only track inbound calls, not outbound calls made by the business.
  • Quality very dependent on call tracking provider’s analytics capabilities.
  • Privacy restrictions may limit recording and data usage in some regions.
  • Large enterprises may require complex integrations and custom setup.
  • Data siloed from call tracking platform if not integrated with your martech stack.
  • Requires disciplined tagging protocols and user adoption to capture full value.
  • Nuances of conversations not always fully captured, even with AI analytics.
  • Can’t retroactively track calls before installing call tracking.

Even with these limitations, call tracking delivers tremendous upside for marketers when applied strategically.

How can sales tracking data be leveraged?

Sales teams gain many benefits from leveraging tracking data:

  • Activity metrics highlight reps with low productivity to address
  • Seeing deal progression through stages identifies sticking points
  • Data benchmarks used to replicate behaviors of star performers
  • Win rate data determines areas for skills coaching
  • Tracking sales collateral access optimizes pitch material
  • Email open & click tracking improve outreach timing and content
  • Analytics uncover sales process weaknesses impacting conversions
  • Aggregated metrics surface broader trends to guide strategy
  • Reporting quantifies team ROI and individual rep contributions

And more. With sales tracking visibility, managers gain perspective and tools to drive continuous optimization.

What separates great sales tracking software?

Characteristics of highly effective sales tracking solutions:

  • Unified platform – Centralizes all contact data, deals, emails, and tools so nothing falls through cracks.
  • Mobility – Intuitive and accessible mobile experience for field sales teams.
  • Configurability – Highly customizable fields, objects, and workflows aligned to your sales process.
  • Predictive analytics – Insights to uncover trends and guide strategy beyond just reporting.
  • Conversational integration – Ties call, text, chat, and other interactions to contacts for a complete view.
  • CRM ecosystem integration – Connects customer data across your existing martech stack.
  • Flexible workflows – Automates administrative tasks to drive consistency and free up selling time.
  • User-driven adoption – Interface, learning resources, and change management that ensure user buy-in.

Platforms like Mystrika go beyond basic tracking to deliver advanced capabilities that supercharge sales productivity.

How to get sales team buy-in on tracking?

Some sales reps push back on activity tracking as unnecessary surveillance. Here are tips for gaining internal adoption:

  • Frame tracking as an assistive tool rather than punitive oversight. Managers aim to help reps improve using insights.
  • Provide training and demos for the sales team to showcase how tracking saves time through task automation.
  • Illustrate how accuracy of forecasting, quota setting, and other processes improves with data.
  • Share examples of coaching insights uncovered for star performers through analytics.
  • Start tracking with a subset of volunteer early adopters and spotlight their wins.
  • Solicit continuous feedback during rollout to address concerns and refine the platform.
  • Sell the benefits of streamlined administrative work leaving more time for selling.
  • Suggest participation in shaping which analytics and metrics are tracked.

With education and exhibiting the platform’s ROI, managers can get sales teams onboard with tracking.

In summary, call and sales tracking tools provide unmatched visibility into customer journeys, interactions, and internal processes. Applying tracking intelligence positions teams to optimize at every touchpoint. We hope this guide provided a helpful introduction to maximizing these technologies.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

We’ve covered a lot of ground exploring call tracking, sales tracking, and the immense visibility these technologies provide into customer journeys and marketing performance.

Let’s recap some of the key takeaways:

  • Call tracking offers invaluable attribution by tying offline and online marketing efforts to inbound calls and conversions. This enables optimizing spend.
  • Sales tracking centralizes pipeline data to provide managers transparency into team productivity and forecast accurately.
  • When integrated, call and sales tracking give a 360-degree customer intelligence view that personalizes engagement.
  • Look for advanced platforms like Mystrika with conversation analytics, omnichannel tracking, and ecosystem connections.
  • For call tracking results, focus on core integrations, intuitive interfaces, and conversation intelligence capabilities when evaluating providers.
  • For sales tracking, seek configurable platforms that unify customer data across tools and seamlessly fit your unique processes.
  • User adoption ultimately determines the ROI of tracking tools. Plan training, gradual rollout, executive buy-in, and continuous feedback.
  • Approach tracking as a collaborative initiative between marketing, sales, and customer success rather than a pure IT implementation.

Now that you have a strong foundational understanding, here are some recommended next steps:

Seek Executive Buy-In

First, socialize the benefits of call and sales tracking with company leadership. Secure executive buy-in and sponsorship to ensure stakeholder alignment on the value tracking can provide.

Audit Current Platforms

Next, audit your existing martech stack and identify potential gaps tracking could fill. Look for areas where data is siloed and visibility limited into customer journeys. Tracking can connect those dots.

Map Internal Processes

Conduct an assessment of current sales and marketing processes and workflows. Identify pain points where tracking technology could drive efficiency, automation, and intelligence. Build a business case.

Define Use Cases

With stakeholder input, outline your primary tracking use cases across sales, marketing, customer success, and other groups. This will help match potential solutions to your needs.

Demo Top Platforms

With use cases defined, demo leading tracking platforms that could fulfill your requirements. Focus on conversion use cases, analytics capabilities, ecosystem integrations, and ease of use.

Start Small

When rolling out tracking, consider an iterative approach. Pilot the solution with a small team to demonstrate quick wins and build internal advocates. Use their feedback to refine processes and platform before large-scale expansion.

Review Data Frequently

Schedule regular reviews of tracking insights with department leaders after launch. Ensure the data is informing decisions across the organization. Refine dashboards and reporting to maximize value.

Call tracking, sales tracking, and customer journey analytics are truly game changing technologies for modern businesses that depend on personal engagement. We hope this guide provided a clear overview of tracking capabilities and how to apply them within your organization for increased growth and optimization.

Summary

If you made it this far, congratulations! To recap, here are the key takeaways from our comprehensive guide to call tracking and sales tracking software:

  • Call tracking provides the missing link to attribute inbound calls to marketing campaigns and keywords across online and offline channels. This visibility is invaluable for optimizing initiatives and spend.
  • Sales tracking centralizes pipeline data and activity metrics to give managers increased visibility into team productivity and forecast accuracy.
  • When combined, call and sales tracking offer a 360-degree customer intelligence view to drive personalized engagement.
  • Leading platforms like Mystrika go beyond basic tracking to provide conversation analytics, omnichannel data, and deep integration capabilities.
  • For call tracking, focus on core features like call recording, dynamic number insertion, and CRM integration when evaluating providers. Prioritize conversation analytics.
  • For sales tracking, seek configurable solutions that integrate with your tech stack and align to your sales processes through custom objects, fields, and workflows.
  • Meticulous change management and continuous feedback are crucial when implementing tracking to drive user adoption across teams. Take an iterative approach.
  • Regularly review tracking insights and refine reporting to ensure the data guides decisions across marketing, sales, customer success, and the wider organization.
  • When applied strategically, call and sales tracking become invaluable assets providing unmatched visibility into the customer journey for increased optimization.

We covered a lot of ground here. Hopefully this guide provided a comprehensive introduction into maximizing these powerful technologies. The path to insight-driven growth starts here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is call tracking and how does it work?

Call tracking attributes inbound phone calls to the specific marketing sources and campaigns that generated them. It does this by dynamically inserting unique tracking phone numbers tailored to each ad and visitor. When someone calls that number, it gets routed through a call tracking platform which logs vital data like caller ID, duration, source, etc. This enables connecting marketing efforts to calls.

What are the main benefits of call tracking?

Key benefits include full attribution of online/offline marketing, optimizing ad spend and budgets, personalizing customer experience, improving contact center operations, and illuminating blind spots. With call analytics, you can optimize marketing ROI.

What can you track with call tracking software?

You can track calls from all online and offline sources including Google/Bing ads, social media ads, TV/radio spots, billboards, organic traffic, direct mail, and more. Call tracking matches numbers to sources to provide complete visibility.

How much does call tracking cost?

Costs vary based on call volume and capabilities needed, but expect ~$50-$300+ per month. Enterprise solutions are $500+. Additional costs may include call recording services and local/toll-free numbers. Overall call tracking delivers high ROI by optimizing marketing spend.

What is sales tracking and what are its benefits?

Sales tracking software centralizes pipeline data and activity metrics in a shared platform for transparency into deals, productivity, forecasts, and bottlenecks. Benefits include optimizing processes, informed coaching, visibility to guide strategy, and accurate forecasting.

What core features should sales tracking software have?

Key features include contact management, deal pipeline, task automation, document sharing, email integration, sales analytics, customizable fields/objects, predictive insights, conversational intelligence connections, and an ecosystem of integrated tools.

How much does sales tracking software cost?

Entry-level basic CRM plans start around $10-$50 per user monthly. Robust sales tracking solutions cost $50-$100+ per user monthly. Enterprise tools with advanced capabilities, integrations, and support run $250+ per user monthly.

What metrics can you track with sales tracking software?

You can track all activity and deal progression including calls, emails, appointments scheduled, proposals sent, presentations delivered, conversations had, deals won/lost, sales cycle length, win rates, revenue influence, and endless other customs metrics.

How can sales teams get the most value from tracking?

Key strategies include analyzing productivity metrics to refine processes, leveraging sales analytics for targeted coaching, monitoring deal progression to identify sticking points, using aggregated data to model star performers, and automating tasks to increase selling time.

What mistakes should be avoided when implementing tracking?

Don’t force a single tracking platform across teams without integration. Seek solutions suited to each groups’ needs and connect data. Avoid abrupt transitions from existing tools. Take an iterative rollout approach and maintain legacy processes initially until fully migrated. Involve users early and get continuous feedback.

Hopefully these answers provide a strong foundation on the capabilities of call and sales tracking platforms and best practices for maximizing their impact. Let me know if you need any other common questions covered!