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Dissecting a Taboo: Phone Numbers in PPC Ads
September 19th, 2007 | | Ad Texts


Creating relevant and effective ad text is one of the most difficult, yet influential things you must do as a PPC advertiser. Within this daily management duty are a myriad of sub-tasks or “flavors” that can affect the outcome of your click-through-rates and conversion rates. Along with this wide world of ad text possibility also comes a flurry of disagreement on tactics. Today I’d like to talk about one of the most taboo tactics – the use of phone numbers in PPC ads.

There are discussions on both the advertiser
side and publisher side regarding the use of phone numbers. The topics range from whether phone numbers in ads are allowed, whether it’s effective, or if it’s merely a way of avoiding paying for clicks. There was even an article published on SEOMoz.org (from YOUmoz) about common PPC mistakes. Lucky number seven was, you guessed it, about using telephone numbers:

Not many people will pick up their phone and dial your number if they see your ad. So what you’re doing is just wasting space that can be used for a good message.

I’d like to officially agree to disagree! A client of mine has actually done quite well using phone numbers. They are in the hydraulic pump service industry and rely heavily on PPC advertising for lead generation. A little over a year ago, someone in our office read an article regarding this tactic and decided to give it a try for my client. August of 2006 was the first full month for using phone numbers in split-testing. There was an immediate jump in both CTR and conversion rate.

Ad Type

Impressions

Clicks

CTR

Spend

Conversions

CPA

Conv. Rate

Without Phone #’s

347459

2373

0.68%

$1711.73

52

$32.92

2.19%

With Phone #’s

186451

1855

0.99%

$1138.50

58

$19.63

3.13%
Since that time, the phone number ad variations have become the “constant” that I test against for new ads. I can say without a doubt that the phone numbers in my ads are not a waste of space. Additionally, these ads have contributed greatly to the continued increase in my CTRs and the ongoing growth of lead generation efforts for this account.

The primary reason for this performance record is that the ads demonstrate that my client is ready and waiting for customers! Show the potential client that no matter how they contact you, you’re not only willing to serve them – you are chomping at the bit for their business!

I’d be curious to hear if anyone else has tested using phone numbers in their ads. Leave me a comment and let me know about your experiences!

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  3. Google Now Including “Real Numbers” in the Keyword Tool Results
  4. Google Voice and Adwords Combine
  5. Dissecting Yahoo’s Network Distribution Settings

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Ad Texts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • http://www.JohnWEllis.com John W Ellis

    One point being, advertisers should do whatever works for them.

    As long as you have numbers to back it up, then it doesn’t matter what anyone else says.

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  • http://www.360training.com Kate Morris

    I have seen the same things in some industries.

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  • http://www.vancouverlaw.net Monty

    I too have noticed a benefit to including the phone number in the ad. While I think it varies by niche, we have found that not only do we get better response from including the phone number, but that often times people call the # without ever having even clicked the ad, thus likely saving us some PPC ad spend, as well as bringing in a very motivated potential client to us.

  • http://www.dupagedreamhomes.com Sherry

    This makes perfect sense to me. A phone number always makes me feel better. If I need to talk to a real person, I could and they are making it easy for me to do so. How many sites do you go to and there is no phone number to be found. I always find that suspicious.

  • http://www.payperclickhelpers.com Cap’ Click

    Agreed. Phone number work well when dealing with services, and when dealing with things in local markets as the area code will further instill confidence in the clicker that “Wow, they are local!”. I have used them in adtext for quite some time and I feel it further legitimizes adtext and gives the user faith that your company is real. Now YSM does not allow it as far I know. Is that still the case? Anyone know? Perhaps a paid search engine editorial matrix is the answer. Anyone know of one?

  • http://www.ppchero.com John

    It seems that the consensus is that you need to judge this practice for your specific efforts/niche. I think Cap’ Click has it right when he says that phone numbers in ads work well for service industries.

    As for which search engines allow phone numbers – as far as I know, Google is the only one (at least that I use). YSM, adCenter, Business.com and others that I use all have policies against using phone numbers.

    I’ll see what I can do about an editorial matrix! : )

  • http://www.ppcforhire.com Jon Clark

    I am actually testing this as well – the client noted the same thing: “no one will call without viewing my website first, right?” I persuaded him to allow me to run a test but I ran into another issue – how do you track folks calling from the PPC ad vs. viewing the number on the website via an organic search?

    Any ideas?

  • http://www.ppchero.com John

    Hello Jon,

    Thanks for stopping by! There are several services available to track phone calls. Callsource.com, estara.com, clickpath.com, etc. These services will give you a custom phone number that you can use in your advertisements (even down to the keyword level!) that will allow you to track where the customer/prospect found your number. This way you can determine if placing a number in your PPC ads actually detracts from your internet marketing and website visibility.

    In my experience, placing phone numbers in PPC ads has actually increased CTR, and thus website exposure. And since clients are seeking a growth in business whether it’s from the website or phone, either way its a win-win situation!

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  • http://www.leadqual.com Paul Lee

    The results you will find will depend on the industry. Also as someone earlier has mentioned it’ll work much better for a local service industry.

    Ultimately the answer to all these techniques is that you must test. Instinct only goes so far but solid data will give you true answers. I’ve run into too many instances where two clients that seem similar will find different results. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense, but we (leadqual) let the data do the answering. So if you are not sure test then test again!

  • http://www.ppchero.com John

    @ Paul,

    You’re absolutely right. The best policy is “test, test and test again.” Let the data be your guide.

    Thanks for commenting!

  • http://www.squidoo.com/anandmistry Anand Mistry

    Hello John,

    I saw address in many PPC ad. So, How can it possible. Can you give me some idea regarding it.

    I searched for office chairs in Google & found bizchair.com ad with address.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Darla-Kay/100001470708816 Darla Kay

    This is true. I think it is much more effective to use the space to put something more valuable. If someone was selling big and tall office chairs for example, it would be better to post more information about the quality of the chairs.

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