Unlocking the potential of contact centers through call tracking software

Contact center vs. call center: What’s the difference

Before elaborating on call tracking, let’s clarify a possible uncertainty between the terms contact center and call center. Sometimes used interchangeably, but, these two have different meanings.

A call center routes exclusively call to a sales department. A contact center mainly processes emails, on-site chats, social media, call tracking apps, enabling cross-channel communication and omnichannel marketing.

The difference between a call center and a contact center doesn’t affect call tracking, which is equally effective for both. For call centers, call tracking becomes the centerpiece of lead processing; for contact centers, it maximizes the value of the most profitable customer source – phone calls.

What is call tracking for contact centers

One of the coolest things about today’s contact centers is that they don’t need much infrastructure capacity, because they can operate from the cloud. Cloud computing uses modern technologies – including call tracking, distribution, and analytics. This technology enables us to close more sales with minimum investment and maximum customer satisfaction.

How call tracking works

A business uses unique call tracking numbers for different marketing campaigns to dissect the caller’s journey and transfer all important customer data to a relevant sales rep before the call. With caller insights, such as demographics, psychographics, age, gender, budget, history of purchases, and more, the agent is much more likely to convert the caller.

In practice, a contact center representative may instantly provide a ready-made solution for a particular customer, growing customer satisfaction rates and likely the business’s bottom line.

The same principle applies to customer support. Whoever asks for help seeks an instant and specific answer – only knowing the caller beforehand.

Call tracking steps for contact centers

From the first ad display until conversion, every call-reliant business encounters three major milestones.

Assigning a call tracking number to a traffic source

 A call tracking number is a unique trackable phone number – local or international, assigned to a specific traffic source to connect the caller and the traffic source. The established connection makes it possible to track the caller’s journey and transfer actionable insights to a relevant sales rep before the call, giving the latter a head start in the conversation.

Not all telephone tracking numbers are the same, though. For traditional traffic sources, you will need static numbers, such as phone numbers printed on the leaflets. For digital traffic sources, you will need dynamic numbers, which change for every caller while unmistakably routing callers to the destination point.

Also, call tracking phone numbers can be international, or national. Whatever call tracking numbers you use, making inbound calls toll-free is important, as even the most high-intent callers won’t be happy paying for the call. Assuming your business runs digital marketing campaigns, you need around four dynamic toll-free numbers for 1,000 website visits.

Distributing callers to the right sales or customer support reps

Not to deal with floods of calls, most contact centers integrate interactive voice response (IVR), a system you must have experienced when calling banks or mobile operators. 

With call tracking and analytics, IVR qualifies the caller while collecting personal data through a series of questions with suggested answers. Also, IVR can solve some requests such as independent transactions of live agents.

Distribution-wise, you are free to set any pathways that reflect your business goals, the needs and wants of your callers, and other specificities. For example, taking calls based on location usually means a higher quality of service and fewer calls for agents from unpopular areas.

Converting callers and conducting post-call analytics

The pinnacle of the caller’s journey is your sales attempt. Luckily, call tracking software has already put your sales reps in an advantageous position, as they know the caller through and through and have possibly found the best solution to the caller’s problem.

Whether converted or not, the calls are recorded so you can get back to them for post-call analytics or reassessment. For example, you may need a call recording in controversial situations or whenever you want to track the performance of a specific agent.

Conclusion

With the continued advancement of technology, we can expect call tracking software to become an essential tool for call centers and contact centers to stay competitive and provide excellent customer service.