The Ultimate Pay Per Call Marketing Guide

For most service-based businesses, the goal of marketing is to generate phone calls from potential customers. Fortunately, there are Pay Per Call platforms that take the complexity out of online marketing by allowing you to only purchase phone calls from people that need your service. Here’s everything you need to know to set your business up for success with Pay Per Call marketing.

Introduction

As a small business, one of your top priorities will always be driving more leads to your company so you can continue to grow and better serve your valued customers. But, if running a business was as easy as being passionate and having the drive to grow, it would be a much simpler task. Of course, as you know, no one would consider running a small business simple or easy.

In order to see success in the modern, digital age, you need to use technology and strategies that your competitors may be intimidated by or too bogged down to make use of. Pay Per Call (PPCall) marketing is one of the fastest growing digital advertising methods out there and is a very strong way to drive high-quality calls to your business. However, many small businesses feel intimidated by the concept of PPCall, as it is thought to have a steep learning curve and appears to come with a higher price tag than other types of paid marketing.

Our hope is that by the end of this guide you will not only better understand why Pay Per Call marketing is the solution you need to grow your business but that you will also feel equipped to get started and be successful.

What is Pay Per Call Marketing

Pay Per Call marketing is a type of digital marketing where businesses pay for inbound phone calls from potential customers. In other words, businesses only pay when a potential customer calls them actively seeking their services after seeing an ad or listing. This is different from other types of marketing where businesses typically pay per impression, conversion, or placement.

Pay Per Call takes advantage of the fact that we live in a digital world where nearly every adult has a phone and is more likely to use that phone to contact service providers when they need something. In fact, 65% of people prefer to contact a business by phone call versus only 24% who prefer a web form.

PPCall is especially effective in situations where a customer wants to speak directly to a person rather than use a chatbot, email, or fill out a form. For example, phone calls are going to be more effective when someone needs to hire a contractor for a home emergency or if they want to talk to a specialist about health insurance in order to get all their questions answered.

These instances provide a great opportunity for service providers to strengthen their customer service skills and be prepared to turn calls into customers because these callers are going to be primed to convert—you just have to get them over the finish line.

The benefit of Pay Per Call Marketing is that you only pay when someone actually calls you, so you know that your advertising dollars are being well spent.

Pay Per Call vs. Pay Per Click

Most marketers know about pay per click—it’s posed as an easy way to connect with new customers online and grow your business. But, it differs from Pay Per Call marketing in many ways. Most notably it differs in lower ROIs, higher levels of competition, more money spent on bad clicks, and lack of human interaction that serves to encourage conversion.

Pay Per Call is generally more effective for businesses that are looking to generate high-value leads or sales over the phone. The benefit of this marketing model is that you only pay when someone actually calls you, so you know that your advertising dollars are being well spent. The downside is that it is usually more expensive than pay per click because the leads you’re receiving are higher quality and you’ll pay for that phone call regardless of whether or not it leads to a sale. However, it’s important to keep in mind that if someone is taking the time to call a business, they are more likely to be ready to purchase the service.

Pay per click, on the other hand, is better suited for businesses that want to drive traffic to their website or online store. With this model, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad, so it can be a more cost-effective way to reach potential customers. However, with the pay per click model, you’ll pay for every click regardless of the searchers intentions and you have a lot less say in whether or not they convert.

Pay Per Call vs. Pay Per Lead

As you may have guessed, the primary difference between Pay Per Call and pay per lead is that the former is centered on driving calls to businesses whereas the latter is about bringing leads to them, generally through form submissions. With form leads, a potential customer will fill out their information and services they are looking for, and then the pay-per-lead network will send that information on to the business if it is a qualified lead.

While there are some benefits to form leads, it’s important to consider that when a potential customer picks up the phone to call, they are significantly more likely to convert. In fact, phone calls are 10 to 12 times more likely to turn potential customers into buyers than form leads. But for some companies, form leads might be the better option as they tend to be less expensive than calls and have a higher conversion rate than pay per click.

Shared Leads vs. Exclusive Leads

In its simplest form, the difference between shared and exclusive leads is pretty simple: exclusive leads are calls that go only to your company, whereas shared leads are sold up to 5 times (sometimes more) to different competing buyers.

Shared Leads

• Often form leads where a potential customer will fill out what services they need and the network will sell that information to multiple companies, resulting in a competition to see who can close the deal the quickest.
• Shared leads are generally cheaper and in higher volume than exclusive leads.
• Customers are able to acquire and compare multiple quotes, which can be beneficial for you if your business has the best value or specialized services.
• Businesses must have an optimal sales process to be successful with these due to the added competition factor that is not in place with exclusive leads.
• Shared leads generally result in lower conversion rates and lower ticket prices.

Exclusive Leads

• These usually occur as a live call transfer, typically in a click-to-call scenario, but can also be online form leads.
• Exclusive leads are more expensive than shared leads because they take away the competition factor.
• Often higher-quality, exclusive leads allow businesses to communicate openly and honestly with customers without the pressure of closing the deal as fast as possible and beating out competitors.
• They give the ability to target certain service areas, whereas shared leads can come from national as well as local calls, which can be helpful for businesses where locality is crucial (e.g. home service providers, auto shops, dental).
• If you can find the budget, exclusive leads are more likely to result in a higher ROI down the line than shared leads.

How Does Pay Per Call Marketing Work?

Pay Per Call marketing is a type of digital marketing where businesses pay for inbound phone calls from potential customers. In other words, businesses only pay when a potential customer calls them actively seeking their services after seeing an ad or listing. This is different from other types of marketing where businesses typically pay per impression, conversion, or placement.

How Does Pay Per Call Work for Businesses?

If you want your small business to get started with Pay Per Call marketing, you may be looking for a breakdown of how the service would work for you. Check out these simplified steps for the process:

• Your sign up with a Pay Per Call platform.
• The network creates high-quality, simple campaigns designed to convert for your company and promotes those campaigns using tracking numbers set to push calls directly to your business when a customer calls.
• A customer calls the tracking number for your services.
• The phone call is transferred directly to your company.
• Your business representative answers the phone and uses their top-notch call answer skills to book the job.
• If the call is valid based on the lead policy of the Pay Per Call platform, you will pay the agreed upon amount for the lead.
• It’s important to note the affiliate will receive the commission whether or not you book the call, but only if the call was a customer actively seeking services you offer.
• Typically the PPCall platform will have a dashboard that allows businesses to track calls and manage your account and campaigns.

How Does Pay Per Call Work for Callers / Potential Customers?

Now that you have an idea how PPCall works for small businesses, you might be curious about what the process looks like for the potential customer. These steps break down what it looks like for callers:

• The potential customer searches online for services.
• The customer finds an ad for the type of services they are looking for.
  • These ads are typically generic, so the customer will see an ad for “plumbing services” rather than a specific business’s plumbing services, unless otherwise specified.
  • One of the goals of Pay Per Call marketing is that the customer should have little to no idea that the ad is through an affiliate company rather than an ad posted directly by your business.
• The customer calls the tracking number on the ad.
• The unique tracking number seamlessly connects the customer’s call to the small business.
• The customer speaks with the business and (hopefully) books their services.
• Once the initial communication has taken place, any follow-up conversations are typically done outside of the Pay Per Call network’s system.

How Do I Set Up Pay Per Call Campaigns?

Hopefully, you have done some research and decided to partner with a company that has a proven history in generating leads and a process that streamlines the getting-started period. It’s worth mentioning that every Pay Per Call platform is going to have differing methods across the board, but the overall setup process should be fairly similar.

You’ll want to establish your service area, your cost per lead, and the services you want to advertise for, and whichever company you end up partnering with should ensure those elements are discussed out of the gate.

Setting Up a Campaign with an Affiliate Network

When you partner with a Pay Per Call network to bring more leads to your business via Pay Per Call, the set up process should be fairly straightforward. Most of these companies have years of experience streamlining the setup process to get all of the info they need from you and set you up for success. They will discuss your long-term goals, the areas you want to target, what types of leads you are looking for, and how they can help you see success.

How to Set Up Pay Per Call Campaigns

Step 1

You select the Service Categories and Service Area Zip Codes you want Exclusive Leads from potential customers in.

Step 2

You set the Cost Per Lead you’re willing to pay for those Leads. The higher the Cost Per Lead the more Leads can arrive.

Step 3

You can edit your Campaign details and control whether they’re active or not, and you can see Performance Statistics and ROI.

What are the Pros and Cons of Pay Per Call Marketing?

Industries that can Benefit from Pay Per Call Marketing

Pay Per Call marketing typically works best with businesses that sell high-value services and require a human touch at some point in the purchase journey. It’s also often successful with businesses that require a longer sales cycle, as it allows them to track and attribute leads in a way that other forms of marketing do not.

PPCall delivers a higher degree of transparency than many other marketing channels, making it an attractive option for companies that are looking to invest in quality leads and that are willing to provide top-tier sales and customer service.

Ultimately, to determine whether or not your company can benefit from Pay Per Call marketing, you’ll want to look at your average cost per job, assess the average cost per lead you will pay a Pay Per Call network, and be realistic about your confidence in booking jobs from calls that are sent your way.

Some of the Industries Succeeding with PPCall

Home Services

Electrician, Plumbing, HVAC, Water Damage Restoration, Mold Removal, Roofing, Pest Control, Appliance Repair

Healthcare

Dental, Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Optometry, Podiatry

Legal & Professional Services

Attorneys, Accountants, Credit Repair, Tax Specialists, Wealth Managers

Automotive

Auto Body Shops, Auto Glass Repair, Towing Services

Pay Per Call Marketing FAQs

What results should I see from Pay Per Call marketing?

As frustrating as it is, the reality of this type of marketing is that you likely won’t know exactly what kind of results to expect until you get started with the process. Every business within a given industry is going to have different growing pains and lead-up times, not to mention the cross-industry costs and ROI are extremely varied.

However, you can take a look at the metrics we’ve collected for some of our most popular verticals to get an idea of important data such as the number of calls considered billable and the average ticket price per industry.

It’s important to discuss openly with your chosen marketing partner to see what data they may have to share with you—if they’re a successful Pay Per Call company, they should have no qualms showing you what they can do.

How much does Pay Per Call cost per lead?

Put simply, the more you stand to make on a job, the more you are going to pay for each lead. For a high-price industry like water damage restoration, where the typical range for a job value is north of $6,000, you’re going to pay a higher price per lead. On the other hand, with industries like windshield replacement, where job costs are a couple hundred dollars, you’ll see much lower costs per lead. It’s important to communicate with your PPCall partner about pricing expectations so as to see the most success with the service.

Of course, the more information you are equipped with before those conversations start, the better prepared you will be to spot any erroneous pricing. While doing a cost analysis of our customers’ cost per lead versus their average ticket price, we were able to determine that for most industries, CPL is about 1/10th the ticket price generated by a new customer. This is a good rule of thumb to keep in mind when looking for Pay Per Call networks as well as a metric you can use to preliminarily estimate (and budget for) what you might expect to pay for each lead.

Although cost per lead varies from industry to industry and you won’t know exactly what to expect until you ask, there are 2 types of pricing models in the Pay Per Call space that you may encounter:

Set Pricing
A more rigid approach, this pricing model is when the Pay Per Call network has a set cost per lead for each industry that does not change. A benefit of this model is that you can easily budget for PPCall services for long periods of time and adjusting your cost per lead is one less thing you have to worry about. But, for many small businesses, flexibility and complete control is a must.

Dynamic Pricing
This pricing model echoes what you’ll see in most pay per click platforms, where businesses are able to adjust their cost per lead based on how aggressive you want to be with getting calls at any given time. From our experience, many of our customers have seen success with this type of pricing model because it allows companies to work with a budget and make adjustments when necessary. Whether that means adjusting your cost per lead to adjust for seasonality or scaling back if you’re already booked up, the flexibility of dynamic pricing is key for many small businesses.

Source: Data reported by Service Direct clients

Is there a way to filter calls?

Most Pay Per Call partners will help you establish parameters at the outset of the partnership that help cut out the calls that are going to be irrelevant for your company. At Service Direct, we work with you to establish a target service area, so that you will almost exclusively receive calls from within the area you service, and an ad schedule to allow you to limit the times and days you would like to pay for calls. We will also work with you throughout the partnership to develop an advertising strategy that limits calls for services you don’t offer as much as possible.

Ultimately, as most people know, there’s no surefire way to make sure the only phone calls you receive are relevant. Once a person picks up the phone and decides to call you, we can’t do anything about whether they want your services or are even in your area. But, an incredibly important facet of our business is that we will never charge you for calls that come from outside your service area or calls for services you don’t offer, which is why we take extra care to work with you and find out these specifics as early as possible.

How exactly does a tracking number work?

A tracking number is either a local or toll-free number that customers will call to connect with you via Pay Per Call advertising campaigns. When the customer calls the tracking number they will be immediately routed to your chosen phone number and they should be none the wiser that the number they originally called wasn’t your direct line. Tracking numbers are essential in this type of lead generation because they allow affiliates to gauge the performance of your campaigns and know when a potential customer is reaching out via their ad versus other, potentially irrelevant searches.

What happens if a customer tries to get back in touch with me via the tracking number?

Systems put in place with your Pay Per Call partner are designed to recognize when a caller ID matches a previous call. When this happens, the system automatically routes the redial back to the original destination and you will not be charged again for the call. Each Pay Per Call network has a timeframe within which repeat calls are not billable, usually between 30-90 days depending on the network.

How does the customer experience change with Pay Per Call?

For most Pay Per Call partnerships, the customer experience will not change at all. In fact, most affiliates strive to make the customer interface process as seamless and natural as possible. Many partners will provide you with additional tools that will help improve the customer’s experience. For example, at Service Direct, we provide opportunities for you to go back and review recorded calls to assess why you did nor did not book the job and make adjustments to your process as you see fit.

Why do I need to partner with a Pay Per Call network?

In order to generate leads with Pay Per Call, you don’t necessarily need to partner with a platform. However, chances are you are looking for ways to bring in more leads without funneling thousands of hours of research and development into advertising strategies. This is where Pay Per Call companies can help you.

Most of these companies have years of experience driving high-quality leads to customers in highly-specific industries. Because of this, PPCall partnerships are as close as you’ll get to a guarantee that those leads you’re looking for are going to start coming to your phones as soon as possible.

You may feel frustrated at the idea of paying someone to bring calls to your company—that’s money that could be going into your pocket, after all. The reality, however, is that most companies charge relatively small commissions in relation to the overall cost of a job. The money you’ll save in the long run by taking so much of the guesswork and time out of Pay Per Call is worth it for most small businesses.

Pay Per Call Network Red Flags

As with most business ventures and partnerships, it’s important to research and consider all of your options before making a commitment. Before you dive into that research, make sure you are aware of some easy-to-spot red flags that might signal when a network doesn’t have your best interests at heart:

The reality of PPCall is
that businesses are still the ones who have to close the deals and make use of every tool the network provides to be successful

What are the Most Popular Pay Per Call Networks?

There are a multitude of PPCall platforms out there and picking one is not always easy. Each Pay Per Call partner will have different benefits and their fit with your business will depend on what industry you work in, how large of a budget you have for their services, and how equipped you are to take on a large volume of new jobs.

Pay Per Call Tips and Tricks

It’s important to remember that every Pay Per Call partner is going to have niche tools and offerings that you’ll want to take advantage of in order to see the full potential of Pay Per Call lead generation. But, on a general scale, there are a few things you can focus on and even begin doing before you jump into a Pay Per Call partnership.

Pay Per Call Best Practices

Be Realistic About Your Service Area

Not willing to drive 100 miles for a job? Don’t include that distance in the area you are attempting to attract with PPCall. Ultimately, you’re going to pay for relevant calls within your service area whether you take them or not, so it’s always a good idea to start small and build out if you want more leads in a greater area.

Consider Seasonality when Budgeting

Depending on your business, there may be a level of seasonality that affects your volume of jobs. For example, many mold removal companies are going to see higher volumes of calls in the late spring, summer, and early fall when there is more moisture in the air and high rainfall in certain areas. Health insurance providers will see a sharp uptick in calls during the open enrollment periods (Nov-Jan) and might be slower for the rest of the year. Planning for seasonality will help you prepare for fluctuations in job volume.

Many Pay Per Call networks will allow you to adjust the aggressiveness with which you are targeting calls, and some will let you pause services altogether. This can be beneficial if you are overbooked and don’t want to pay for leads that you can’t handle or if you want to adjust your aggressiveness during slower periods.

ANSWER YOUR PHONE

This may seem obvious, but not answering the phone is one of the main reasons people fail in Pay Per Call lead generation. We understand that you and your employees are busy and the last thing you want to do when you’re swamped is answer the phone, but the only surefire way to get every lead possible is to answer the phone every time. What if the one call you missed or chose not to answer could’ve been a high-value job or a client that would’ve had multiple jobs for you? The potential missed opportunity cost will never be worth not answering the phone.

Home Contractor Survey

In a survey we conducted of 559 homeowners, 64% of respondents said that answering the initial phone call is important when booking, and 35% believe it is the most important thing when booking. View Entire Survey

Train Employees for Effective Phone Skills

It’s worth the time and money you might spend training your employees to not only answer the phone efficiently, but to also have the skills necessary to close the deal. You’d be surprised how many jobs aren’t booked due to poor call-answer skills: 78% of customers have backed out of making a purchase due to poor customer experiences.

Make sure your CSRs are ready and willing to have a conversation about the price of your services. Here you can find some insights we’ve gleaned from working with thousands of home improvement contractors, but many of the tactics/advice apply to any service category.

Remember that Success is Ultimately Up to You

Whether it’s answering your phone every time it rings, training your employees in top-tier sales techniques, or using every single tool a network provides, there are a number of things you can do to set yourself up for success with PPCall marketing. But that’s the key—success is up to you and only happens when you take the time to learn where you can improve and what works best for your company.

Home Service Call Performance Report

Simply improving your Call Answer Rate has a dramatic impact on the amount of Potential Customers you have an opportunity to convert into Booked Appointments. View Home Service Call Performance Report

Reporting Tips

Many Pay Per Call companies will provide in-house tools to track key metrics and easily find areas for improvement. These metrics include call answer rate, booked appointment rate, and cost per booked appointment, as well as other data. This is what we mean when we say “don’t set it and forget it”—there’s a reason we refer to it as a Pay Per Call partnership. As much as you, the small business, are learning and gaining new leads from the Pay Per Call ads, we, the network, are also always learning how we can provide more accurate, high-quality results.

Get the Most Out of Pay Per Call

• Use call tracking to identify shortcomings in your employees’ communications with customers and have regular training sessions on how to improve customer service.

• Do cost analyses, especially at the beginning of your marketing journey, to ensure the Pay Per Call model works best for you and is not putting you in an undesirable budgetary situation.

• Make sure you are using every aspect of your PPCall platform’s offerings and don’t hesitate to ask for tips on how to use some of the tools if you’re unsure.

• Track your data over varied periods of time, not just monthly or quarterly but yearly as well. You might be surprised to see how your metrics have improved over the year and your employees might want to see it as well!

Service Direct mySD Platform

Service Direct’s mySD Platform enables the tracking of Leads including the stages of Call Answer, Booked Appointment, Job Win, and Revenue. This allows for a clear calculation of Return On Investment. Learn More about Service Direct

Converting Calls to Leads Comes Down to You

In the end Pay Per Call marketing success is up to you, your employees, and your call center (if you have one). When a PPCall company brings you a potential customer who is actively seeking your services, the company is providing you with all of the necessary pieces to put together a job, but it’s on you to do the necessary preparation to ensure you are booking every lead possible.

Training employees in customer service is key to turning calls to leads, especially because many of the calls will be from people ready to convert—you just need to help them take the final leap. Plus, depending on your industry, this customer could be in a stressful situation—water damage restoration, health insurance, legal, etc.—making compassion, clarity, and communication even more essential.

Of course, it’s important to remember that unless you are a sales super hero, you’re unlikely to book every job. Sometimes a customer is going to change their mind or be unwilling to commit, and that’s okay. In these situations all you can do is not beat yourself up about it and look into the situation to ensure you or your employee did everything possible to encourage conversion. After all, Pay Per Call is a little bit like building a house: you have all the tools and materials, you just need to work together with the platform, the customer, and your own team to put everything together in the best way possible.

Ready to Try Pay Per Call Marketing?

Service Direct has been providing clients with exclusive Phone Leads for over 16 years and we continually expand and improve our services, recently launching Form Leads.