Integrating Phone Calls with Google Analytics Data

April 7th, 2010 | Posted by Jake Dietrich

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Here at Three Deep, we are constantly thriving to provide actionable insights for our clients. For those who are unfamiliar with our company, we are a very data-centric organization. The name Three Deep actually refers to our discipline of looking past surface-level data, and digging three levels deep into the data at hand to provide the highest quality feedback possible.

We have recently developed a way to tightly integrate phone conversions with web analytics data to paint a more accurate picture of our clients’ marketing efforts, right down to the ROI.

The idea was sparked when we identified a disconnect between the online and offline conversion data of lead generation clients in our home improvement vertical. Nearly every lead generation website (regardless of industry) includes a phone number as a point of conversion, but we never really had a concrete way to tie this to online metrics.

Our solution involves dynamically writing the phone numbers on a given website based on the traffic source and/or medium. This is done with the help of the Google Analytics cookie (_utmz to be exact) and a bit of JavaScript on the website.  The JavaScript extracts the visitor’s traffic source and medium from the cookie, which is then used to determine the phone number that displays on the site. Therefore, this can be applied to any traffic source or medium, and since multiple tracking phone numbers can be directed to the same phone number, the number of different sources tracked is essentially unlimited.

This solution is most valuable for PPC traffic, as it helps provide more accurate data for metrics including the actual number of conversions, cost per conversion, and conversion rate.

From a referral standpoint, the level of granularity is unlimited considering that referrals (such as banner ads or email campaigns) can be tagged with URL tracking elements for each unique campaign.

This can also be used to effectively measure search engine optimization efforts. Not only will this provide a more accurate count of conversions resulting from organic traffic, but the JavaScript mentioned above can be used to extract the actual search term used to find the site (this can be done for paid search traffic as well).

To take this one step further, this information could be fed into a CRM system along with the lead itself, providing the sales staff with more information about the visitor’s intent, their stage in the buying process, and so on.

You may be wondering how all of this data is consolidated. Don’t worry, Three Deep has a solution for that too. We are pleased to announce that we are currently in the process of developing a consolidated business intelligence reporting platform that will combine data from over a dozen data sources to provide some of the most accurate and insightful reporting in the interactive industry. Be sure to follow Three Deep on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates!

Related posts:

1. Google Analytics: Inferring Conversions with No Goals
2. Inheriting A Google Analytics Account
3. AdWords on Your Mobile Phone (Google’s G1/Android and the iPhone)
4. The Mad Analyst: Google Analytics vs. the World