The importance of call tracking in the cloud or saas contact center can not be overstated. Call tracking keeps track of data that comes with a telephone call, which can be very important for marketing and advertising. This white paper will help you understand how call tracking can help improve your ROI.

1. THE IMPORTANCE OF CALL TRACKING
IN THE CLOUD CONTACT CENTER

2. THE IMPORTANCE OF CALL TRACKING IN THE CLOUD CONTACT CENTER
During the economic recession companies began thinking outside the box in order to save money. Contact centers were
included in this thought process, and business leaders began thinking outside the traditional contact center setup.The recession
brought to light the shortcomings of traditional, on-premises contact centers and skeptics of cloud contact centers soon began
to see the benefits and made the switch. Companies today see the drastic reduction in total cost of ownership, the flexibility of
the hosted solution which can grow with ease and without the need for more capital and lengthy deployments of new software,
hardware, and the hiring and training of new agents.This entire infrastructure is now in the cloud.
Companies that rely on contact centers to push their product aren’t losing out on the key software features that help them
run an efficient operation. Call tracking, for instance, is still a vital piece of the puzzle that fits perfectly in a cloud contact center
solution.
The basic function of call tracking is to keep track of data that comes with a telephone call, a very important step in evaluating
the performance of telephone campaigns in marketing and advertising.
Call tracking includes data that can allow a supervisor to see the number associated with the call, where it comes from, how long
the call takes from beginning to end, and other information, including if an outgoing call went to a busy signal or an answering
machine or connected with an actual live person. It can also include the number of rings it took to get to that busy signal,
machine, or person.With this data and other features attached to call tracking software, supervisors can achieve greater visibility
into the contact center process and make arrangements, where needed, to improve the service.
WHAT IS CALL TRACKING AND HOW DOES IT WORK?
One of the major goals of companies using call tracking technology is to narrow in on buying behaviors. Looking toward a
technology such as call tracking to shore-up inefficiencies and take away the guesswork makes total sense. Call tracking has been
around for more than a decade, but not until recently has the technology advanced to a level that focuses on a client’s behavior
that leads to them calling to your contact center.
Integration between call tracking technology and online paid search services such asYahoo Search Marketing and Google
AdWords has provided an easy-to-read analysis of what is going on with customers and their interaction with contact centers.
Integration with call tracking continues to be a valuable customer relationship management software and web analytics solution
for calls generated through online activities. Call tracking takes on a whole new life when looking at what can be derived from
Web-related calls. For instance, what keywords did the client use to get to the contact center? Which page on the website was
the client on when the call was made?
One thing is certain – call tracking does much more than just record how many calls were made and from who it came from
or went out to.The mechanics behind call tracking includes passing the call from the telephone provider through a proprietary
phone system that tracks the data in the call (though not the conversation). Call tracking in standard T1 digital phone circuits will
utilize a Time-division multiplexing system. In addition,Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) delivery is gaining popularity.
WHY IS CALL TRACKING IMPORTANT FOR THE BOTTOM LINE?
Companies are spending little on their call tracking solutions and coming out winners. Spending a “little” might be a loose
interpretation of the costs, which can sometimes go into six digit monthly figures, but the bottom line is return on investment,
and it is sometimes quite large.Take into account how advertising and telemarketing strategies utilize the perks of a call tracking
solution.
ADVERTISING STRATEGIES
Word of mouth only goes so far.At some point, almost every successful company has shelled out a pretty penny on advertising.
However the issue with advertising is that upwards of 80 percent of the money spent is misdirected. Call tracking allows
companies to direct their advertising dollars to the right place, and it lets companies know when an advertising strategy is
working and when it isn’t. It’s as easy as using a number in one advertisement of the campaign and a different phone number in
another advertisement.

3. So, if you were to take your advertising budget and divide it into four equal parts and advertise in four different mediums, you
can use call tracking to assign a different number to each type of medium. If you used one number in your local paper, and
another number in billboard up the road, you could track which number is getting more play and redirect more advertising
funds to that medium.
TELEMARKETING STRATEGIES
Call tracking data can also be used by telemarketers to tweak campaigns, but it can also be used to tweak the performance of
the telemarketer.The metrics will show what calls were placed to whom, at what time, and the outcome of that call—whether
a sale was made or not. It also helps to determine which telemarketing script is working best. Call tracking can help you here
too, just look at the metrics laid out by the call-tracking interface.
Just as it is recording all the “invisible” data that many people don’t think about, some call tracking software allows for the
recording of calls for supervisors to playback and judge performance of the agents handling the sales. Customer service gets a
leg up with call tracking as telemarketers can also use call tracking to log customer inquiries.Those inquiries can be placed in
the queue for an automatic call back at a later date when the answer to the question is known, which is more of auto-dialer
function, but gets its start in call tracking solutions.
THE CALL TRACKING FEATURES
Geographical Call Routing – Call tracking solutions allow you to route your calls by physical location.This can be
achieved by using a zip code or a geocode.This technology allows all callers to call one number, and based on their location,
the call is routed to the nearest business for the closest agent to assist. Surveys show that customers want to talk to
someone as soon as possible. Geographical call routing uses technology that bypasses the machine interface whereby the
customer has to enter information before they can be routed to the right location.The call routing does it automatically.
Call Recording – All calls can be recorded with call tracking features.As mentioned in the telemarketing strategy, this can
lead to excellent customer service as agents’ performance is monitored and perfected. Improve not only your agents’ call
handling skills, but hear for yourself what your clients are saying and how your scripts are working on them.
Custom Audio/Ring Tones – Sometimes, the caller doesn’t need to talk to an agent directly and a simple custom audio
recording will suffice. Inbound callers can receive any number of dynamic messages that suit the promotion they’re calling
about.
Real Time Reverse Match – The more an agent knows about who they are about to talk with, the more likely they will
know how to approach that potential client/customer.The agent can know the name of the contact and their address before
they’re even connected. Depending on the customer’s history, they can also have previous items purchased at their fingertips
too.
Real-Time SOAP/Web Service Data Transfers – Reams of data that’s months old has its place, but sometimes
there is a need for real-time simple object access protocol (SOAP) to give supervisors a snapshot of what’s going on for
that day.The interface should be customizable to allow supervisors to see only the relevant data that can help him/her make
decisions that affect your campaign.
Integrated Voicemail – Callers need to feel that their time is valuable. If all the agents in the contact center are engaged,
a voicemail service available through many call-tracking solutions allows them to leave a message for callback.The integrated
voicemail is another means of improving customer satisfaction.
Real-Time Notifications – This has many applications, but is yet another feature that boosts customer service and agent
awareness. In some solutions, the notification feature tells the agent that he/she has missed a call or has a new voicemail. In
other solutions, the real-time notification will alert an agent of where a call is coming from before they answer.
Dynamic QC/CRM Surveys – Quality control doesn’t end with a sale or a recorded message. Surveying clients is a
valuable means of improving processes.The statistics realized in post-call quality control surveys can lead to a more
highly effective campaign because it arms the company with valuable information directly from
the customer who has experienced the campaign.

4. WHY CONNECT FIRST WHEN IT COMES TO CALL TRACKING?
Connect First became an award-winning SaaS cloud contact center solutions provider by offering the technology that
businesses need to thrive. Obviously, one of those needs is call tracking, which Connect First is uniquely positioned to offer.
The features listed above can all be found with Connect First’s call tracking and InteractiveVoice Response (IVR) solutions.
Connect First’s solution is suited to companies that want their calls to flow transparently through a call tracking platform that
can record the important metrics that companies can analyze to get the maximum amount of visibility into their telemarketing
strategies and advertising campaigns.
Connect First’s hardware uses carrier grade,Tier 1 facilities in its call tracking and routing system.The call tracking software
system records the important information from the calls before transferring the call to the suitable route. It’s at this point that
if geographic routing is implemented, the information from the caller’s data will determine where the call will be routed next.
And if for some reason that call cannot be completed, the caller is not left in the lurch – they’ll be put through to a custom
audio message or voicemail, and a real-time notification is sent to an agent.
Through flexible routing, call delivery, and scheduling, Connect First can create an efficient flow of inbound calls and provide
the most cohesive quality assurances that contact centers require. Some contact centers require more advanced flow
functionality and complex telemarketing campaigns. Connect First has a team of engineers that can bring the most cost-
effective call tracking and IVR solutions that these types of contact centers require.
CONCLUSION
The perks of using call tracking technology have been obvious to those who have used them, and the push toward adopting
this technology is only going to increase as more and more marketing campaigns see added value and return on investment.
Connect First pushed ahead of the curve on this technology, and is a perfect example of a cloud contact center infrastructure
solution that is helping companies attain visibility through its solutions, as well as the flexibility that a hosted contact center
can provide to a growing company.Advanced call metrics, used in the right way, can improve any company’s return on
investment. Connect First offers a cost-effective solution that is flexible and feature rich.
ABOUT CONNECT FIRST
Connect First is an award-winning SaaS telecommunications and cloud contact center software provider that focuses on
customer satisfaction and elegant hosted solutions. Connect First offers a robust platform, designed and supported by a
team of highly experienced engineers, designers and business analysts, and backed with personalized in-house customer
care. Solutions include Cloud Routing, Inbound ACD, Outbound Dialing, Call Tracking, InteractiveVoice Response (IVR),Voice
Broadcast, Disaster Recovery, Predictive Dialer, Real-Time Telemetry, CDR Reporting, Live Agent Chat and more.Through
a consultative approach with each customer interaction, Connect First builds customized solutions to meet the needs of a
discerning customer base.