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Anyway, on some of the high traffic pages that normally do well I noticed a few prominent ads with quite compelling text and a phone number. I know there's an argument that searchers are in "click mode" and know that the website is only a click away, but one has to ask the question, is it actually working for advertisers and are more of them starting to do this?
I had a look at few other popular pages on my site and noticed some other advertisers who normally had the usual sales copy have instead started putting up phone numbers. Should we worry about this or am I just being cynical?
I came across a thread on Google Groups discussing this very issue, and in particular was intrigued by this:
We use our phone number in every ad on Adwords. Phone orders usually out number Adwords generated orders but don't tell Google. The conversation always starts with something similar to "I found you online and I have a question." The answers of course are referenced in the website in multiple places but the consumers want to cut through the search and talk to a live person. Take Adwords tech support as an example.
the consumers want to cut through the search and talk to a live person
I can't see it ever becoming a huge trend.
As an advertiser we would only do this if in makes sense from a CPA point of view, if we get a sale online it costs us £20 if they call in it's much higher, so ideally we want to minimise the number of phone calls we get. I would imagine that it is similar for most businesses so those who are adding their phone number to their ads are the ones not doing the math, and more concerned with saving a few pence where it is visible, instead of focussing on ROI.
I can't see it ever becoming a huge trend.
I hope you're right. I must admit to not fully understanding how it works on the AdWords side of things. I presume advertisers are doing their own testing on this. I also don't understand why sales via phone cost more?
Would I be correct in thinking though that if including a phone number worked for the advertiser, they could potentially increase their bids safe in the knowledge that some sales via phone wouldn't result in a paying for a click? This would presumably knock out the advertisers that would make money for publishers. Could they also not offer some sort of a discount for telephone orders, thereby sealing the deal?
As I said, I might be barking up the wrong tree with all this and worrying about nothing.
Could they also not offer some sort of a discount for telephone orders, thereby sealing the deal?
Way ahead of myself again, actually just come across one offering a 30% discount to call this number! Hmmm....
I also don't understand why sales via phone cost more?
That human answering the phone expects to be paid. The website taking an order does not.
FarmBoy
Would I be correct in thinking though that if including a phone number worked for the advertiser, they could potentially increase their bids safe in the knowledge that some sales via phone wouldn't result in a paying for a click? This would presumably knock out the advertisers that would make money for publishers. Could they also not offer some sort of a discount for telephone orders, thereby sealing the deal?
As Farmboy said the person answering the phone generally costs more than the click.
This is a risky tactic on search, and even riskier on content, if someone is not looking for my service, I take a chance that they will click through to my site out of curiosity when I advertise on the content network, realistically what are the chances that having seen an ad on a site you will phone up to order, quite small really, so in fact they are taking up valuable ad copy space by putting the telephone number in instead of something selling the site.
I really wouldn't worry about this taking off, it's something most advertisers test at some point or another, the only time I have seen it success is when putting ads up for "contact xys company" searches on the search network.
Thing is - it hurts google too.
Those putting their phone number in there, might well be forwarding the call to a sweatshop in a low wage country. The staff might be the least of their worries, as is the connection to the sweatshop thanks to VoIP.
Don't assume sweatshops cost a lot of money to hire. Just look at where your captcha defeating comment and forum spam comes from: by far the most I get are from countries not known for their high wages.
To me phone number in the ad copy == cheating the system.
We've had threads on this topic before. I can remember several observations that have been made in the past:
1) A phone number gives credibility to the advertiser (it suggests that the advertiser is a real business, not just a guy in a basement), which increases the likelihood of a click;
2) Most users would rather click on an ad than call a salesperson;
3) Since Google gets paid by the click (just as we do), it's unlikely that Google would permit phone numbers in ads if a significant number of clicks were being lost to phone inquiries.
1) A phone number gives credibility to the advertiser (it suggests that the advertiser is a real business, not just a guy in a basement), which increases the likelihood of a click;
So a basement guy can't get a 800 number that's connected to a call center ?
Moreover the type of crap ads I've seen it on don't aim to get reputation, they have none, nor any intention of getting it.
Maybe somebody out there uses it for the right things, but I've not seen any of those yet.
2) Most users would rather click on an ad than call a salesperson;
3) Since Google gets paid by the click (just as we do), it's unlikely that Google would permit phone numbers in ads if a significant number of clicks were being lost to phone inquiries.
phone number in the ad copy == cheating the system
Remember that on the advertisers' side of things, AdWords is set up to reward ads that achieve better clickthrough rates.
If posting a phone number (or a URL, for that matter) diverted many clicks, the lower CTR would result in the advertiser being charged more for the same exposure. If there's anything unfair here it will tend to be a self-correcting situation as the system adjusts to charge more for the lower-CTR ads.
Meanwhile the savvy advertiser who obsessively tests her ads to improve her CTR might well be appearing on your site for a fraction of the CPC of the phone-number ad. You'd have no way to know that just by looking at the ads, though.
Remember that on the advertisers' side of things, AdWords is set up to reward ads that achieve better clickthrough rates.
That's a great point.
I'm not impressed by Google's choice of advertisers. Seems they only attract ever worse advertisers
In my experience, AdSense works great for some niches but not for others. My advice is to use AdSense if it works and ditch it if it doesn't. (I've done both, depending on the site, and it's saved me a lot of stress.)
1) A phone number gives credibility to the advertiser (it suggests that the advertiser is a real business, not just a guy in a basement), which increases the likelihood of a click;
2) Most users would rather click on an ad than call a salesperson;
3) Since Google gets paid by the click (just as we do), it's unlikely that Google would permit phone numbers in ads if a significant number of clicks were being lost to phone inquiries. "
Exactly.
The purpose of an 800 number on any advertisement isn't always going to be a call to action, but rather a prop up of the brand or product.
The 800 number phenomenon still reverberates in todays market as an effective tool of gaining both consumers(offline) and adding to your brands credibility.
Some of us would say the opposite only because we are taking a different angle in the manner when we should be focusing on user behavior.
Advertisers now need to focus on the success of adding 800 numbers to their campaigns by tracking the source and conversion per call (or conversion online with a source key).
ASA
That human answering the phone expects to be paid. The website taking an order does not.
Who says that they all have a human interface?
What about a site which advertises on ad-words selling a specific product; For example lets consider something like dvd packs.
The advertiser uses Adwords to advertise something like this: "Cut Price DVD's - first 500 phone callers get the discount - toll free" A simple call to action. I have seen this before.
The user encounters an automated system - no humans. Just like a shopping cart the whole process is automated minus the adwords cost.
Saw a popular local fast food chain in my country advertising prominently their phone no. on the ad with a call to action.. Call for X % discount on your order.. rather sneaky..
Green_Grass,
I hadn't seen your comment before posting about similar experiences.
There you go ASA. Maybe there are more of us who have observed this practice. I for one would be interested in hearing from them.
[edited by: Scurramunga at 10:34 pm (utc) on Mar. 19, 2009]
"We've had threads on this topic before. I can remember several observations that have been made in the past:
Advertisers now need to focus on the success of adding 800 numbers to their campaigns by tracking the source and conversion per call (or conversion online with a source key).
Tracking conversion as a result of phone calls?
[edited by: Scurramunga at 10:35 pm (utc) on Mar. 19, 2009]
Unless we have the tools to monitor every country/state/province in real time, we won't really know how common or uncommon it is.
Very true. Went through each page and at one point there was phone numbers on every third page. Now I can't find any. Perhaps stressing about nothing!
[edited by: Scurramunga at 12:59 am (utc) on Mar. 20, 2009]
I'm still not convinced that this isn't a bad thing.
What if an ad said:
"50% Discount to the first 20 callers who dial this ######## <phone number>"
Depends on the ad.
Well at a guess the phone number isn't a product description, it's presumably there for the benefit of either those geniuses who can memorise phone numbers or the odd one or two people who might opt to phone rather than click. Admittedly, they're most likely a small minority but in these days of declining income, every little bit counts. Personally, I think it's a practice that should be banned in the same way that drawing attention to ads isn't allowed for AdSense publishers.
We've generally found that having phone numbers in ads doesn't lower CTR (or your earnings). Based on what we've seen, users don't tend to break out their phones and call the number before clicking on the ad to get the full story
In other words, if seeing the phone number is compelling to the users, they'll click on the ad to learn more.
ASA
OK, I've checked in with some experts.
Thanks, I'm sure that if this practice would lower publishers and Google's cut by bypassing the usual clicks, it would be in Google's best interest to do something about it, and I'm glad to learn it was on your radar.
I once was worried about those numbers, but decided against micromanaging this kind of stuff. I figured the advertisers would actually suffer lower CTR and may have to pay higher EPC for their traffic.
