The Benefits of PPC Advertising for Small Businesses

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PPC (Pay-per-click) marketing is an online advertising model that can be a useful tool for small businesses to reach their target audience and produce leads and sales. The following are some major advantages of PPC advertising for small businesses:

Personalized Marketing
Businesses can target particular audiences using PPC platforms based on variables like location, age, gender, interests, and search intent. As a result, companies can produce highly targeted advertisements that are more likely to be pertinent to their target audience and, consequently, more likely to result in sales.

Cost-Effective
Since PPC advertising is cost-effective and only charges for clicks on ads, small businesses can take advantage of it. By doing this, companies can avoid wasting their advertising dollars on customers who have no interest in their goods or services. A daily budget can also be set by businesses on many PPC platforms, giving them control over their spending.

Measurable Outcomes
PPC platforms give organizations access to comprehensive metrics and reports that show how many clicks, impressions, and conversions their ads are generating. This information can be used to improve Return on investment, test multiple ad copy and targeting options, and optimize marketing campaigns.

Quick Results
PPC advertisements can generate clicks and leads almost immediately, giving businesses quick results. Businesses that need to create maximum leads or sales, such as those that offer seasonal goods or services, may find this to be especially helpful.

Enhanced Brand Recognition
Users will still see a company’s brand name and message even if they don’t click on PPC ads, which can aid in promoting brand recognition and awareness. For businesses that are just getting started or operate in a crowded market, this can be especially crucial.

Flexibility
Because PPC advertising is flexible, businesses can change their ad campaigns as necessary. Businesses can quickly make changes to improve their results if a specific ad or keyword isn’t performing well. Businesses can also pause their advertising campaigns if necessary and pick them back up later.

PPC advertising can, in conclusion, be a powerful tool for small businesses to reach their target market and produce leads and sales. It offers flexibility, increased brand visibility, targeted advertising, cost-effectiveness, measurable results, and quick results.

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Not all web agencies are working in their clients’ best interests.

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Who you choose to be your Google Ads web agency is an important decision. Choose well and you’ll benefit from a growing business but choose poorly and you’ll end up wasting money and losing business opportunities.

Google Ads can be confusing, and some web agencies like to keep their clients in the dark. They hide behind technical lingo and web industry speak to justify exorbitant fees for little gain. Beware of those who waive setup or management fees just to hook you up. Make sure that they put the effort needed into setting up and managing your account from the start. Advertising is expensive, so you’ll need a sound strategy and a comprehensive set-up to ensure your account is tightly controlled to avoid wasted clicks. Investing in a quality set-up and management at the start can save you thousands of dollars in the long run. Here are some useful clues to know if your account is well managed or not.

Your Account. Make sure that the Google Ads account belongs to you and not your web agency. You should have access to your account at all times. Do not buy into the concept of monthly report in which you will be assured that it tells you everything you need to know. It’s a lie. Sometimes, those reports provide no cost information and focus on the number of clicks received but not what those clicks cost. Often, the majority of clicks are put to Display Advertising because it costs a lot less than Search Advertising where you should be putting the bulk of your spending so that you can get your company’s name in front of people searching for your products and/or services. Make sure your account is paid with your credit card. This way you’ll know how much money is invested in your advertising.

Search Terms. Your web agency should be putting the bulk of your advertising spending on top performing keywords that are highly valuable to your business by applying the 80-20 rule which is to assume that 80% of all traffic to your website will come from just 20% of your keywords. These are the keywords that are more likely to convert. You want to ensure that you often show for these keywords. This way, you won’t miss business opportunities.

Top Position. If you’re not seeing your ads until page two or even three of Google, you’re missing out on valuable business opportunities. You want to ensure your ads are showing in the top three positions. Ideally, in the second position which cost less money than first. The fewer competitors potential clients have to crawl through before they come across your company, the better!

Wasted Clicks. If you get calls that have nothing to do with your business, it’s because your web agency is being lazy and only bids on broad terms, irrelevant search terms or is not adding negative keywords. It results in wasted clicks that chew through your advertising budget.

Change History. There is a quick and easy way to find out how much work your web agency is putting into your account. It’s a feature called ‘Change History’ which tells you how many changes occurred in your account month by month or in other words, how much work is being done each month. Since you are paying a monthly fee, you should be seeing changes made to keywords, ads and extensions, bids and budgets, not just bids.

Account Management. No automation program can understand the competitive landscape and intricacies of your industry as well as an actual person who has experience and can formulate a strategy or game plan to differentiate you from your competitors. There is no substitute for hard work.

Traffic. Understand that focusing on bringing more traffic to your website doesn’t equate to bringing more business. Some web agencies will get you more traffic and they will deliver on their promise. But they won’t deliver on your expectations. Because what you really want is more leads and revenue. Not more traffic. And more traffic doesn’t naturally lead to more leads. It has to be relevant and qualified traffic to lead to more leads. More often than not, the money they are spending on Google Ads is wasted on irrelevant, invalid clicks that chewed through your advertising budget with very little to show for.

Quarterly meeting. It’s critical that you meet with your web agency on a regular basis to be presented campaign results, being able to add input, and change strategy if needed.

In a nutshell, Google Advertising can be an excellent source of leads, but only if your account is properly handled. Otherwise, you’ll waste a lot of money and end up with nothing. Don’t wait another month to call us for a free confidential audit if you think your account isn’t being properly handled. Because each month is another month of squandered funds and missed business opportunities.

Amauta Marketing

 

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Monetize your advertising investment with call tracking

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To know if your Google Ads campaigns are efficient, you should be able to measure the conversion rate. That means you should be able to verify if your ad campaign leads to a conversion action, either filling out an information request form, or giving you a telephone call.

Offering just a phone number is not enough…

If customer phone calls are important to your sales, it would be an advantage to track exactly how an Internet user finds your number and makes the call. They can find you either through a Google search, or perhaps having seen one of your online ads. But how effectively is your advertising generating phone calls? You can track whether a customer has performed a keyword Google search, and called the phone number listed on your website, or you can track whether a call-only ad has generated a phone call.

But what if a potential customer calls you three weeks after having jotted down your number on a piece of paper? How do you determine that the conversion is a result of your Google Ads campaign?

… you need to trace the calls

Today, Google Ads has a solution: a JavaScript snippet to be installed on your website. This free feature identifies the calls made from the call number on your website following a Google Ad search. Every time an Internet user dials your number, the call is being automatically transferred to a Google generated number. One call, one unique number.

You can then know the origin of each call, link it to an ad campaign, and measure the conversion rate. You can easily evaluate the return on your investment (ROI) by comparing the number of potential clients reached and the cost of your ad campaigns. You can also have access to a monthly historical log to help you evaluate your web marketing strategies.

This call tracing formula is not often proposed when discussing advertising investment. Even though it is extremely efficient. Talk to us, as we know all there is to know about it.

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6 ideas to improve the conversions of your PPC campaigns

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The optimization of your PPC strategy is essential to maintain or improve your ad campaign’s performance on search engines. Knowing what steps to take or where to start can be confusing, so here are some tips on how to optimize your PPC campaign:

 

  1. Keywords

In a PPC campaign, keyword selection is paramount. To choose your keywords, focus on those that appear in the largest volume of search. It is best to limit yourself to 15-20 keywords per ad group. Poorly chosen keywords can cost you money, so it is a good idea to have a web marketing expert to help you. To learn more, read our blog posting on keywords.

 

  1. Search words vs. negative keywords

It is important to regularly review your list of search words and the keywords being used by Internet users. You could be surprised by what you find.

You want to be vigilant about what search words you DO NOT want to be targeting in order to optimize your ROI. This is called negative keywords, which lets you exclude search terms from your campaign in order to only target the right customers and increase clickthrough. This list of negative keywords can be shared among all your Google Ads campaigns.

We recommend that you list all the negative keywords you want: such as products or services close to yours but you don’t offer, words linked to job postings, names of your competitors, scandals or sensitive subjects you don’t want to associate your company with.

 

  1. Ad Testing

In all marketing initiatives, testing is recommended to maintain effectiveness. Web advertising allows testing opportunities like no other medium. You can create 3-4 banner ads (with different visual and copy elements) for the same keyword groups and then see how their clickthrough performance compares. You can then get a better return on investment. Repeat this process as often as needed, and remember, Google Ads uses an ad rotation system that shows the ads that are performing best throughout your campaign.

 

  1. Geotargeting

This may seem logical, but do not forget to indicate the geographical area in which you wish to have your ads shown. If you only provide services to the Montreal area, it doesn’t make sense to target the whole planet. If you analyze the Geographical Report and conclude that some Internet users are coming from locations that you do not want to target, you can exclude those locations (city, region, country etc.) the same way you do for negative keywords. This avoids wasting your advertising budget.

 

  1. Conversions

Conversions are considered customer actions that your company believes are valuable. They can include purchases, signups, downloads, web page visits or lead generation. To optimize your tracking of conversion actions, consider the following questions:

  • Does your conversion follow-up work?
  • Does the conversion action align with your company’s most important KPI (Key Performance Indicator)?
  • Is the conversion tag on the correct page of your web site or is the Google Analytics corresponding to the correct page and action?
  • Are you tracking too many conversions?

Web marketing experts recommend you follow no more than two conversion actions on Google Ads. For example, for an e-commerce website, it could be sales (a primary KPI) and shopping cart add-ons (a secondary KPI).

In contrast, with Google Analytics, you can follow secondary conversion actions like newsletter signups, downloads of a catalogue or activity on a chat.

The problem with following too many conversions is that each one has a different value; therefore, the overall picture can give a distorted perspective on your actual return on investment of your advertising dollars.

  1. Budgets

A PPC budget requires monitoring and regular adjustments which means you should allocate your budget according to the ad campaign or keywords performance. Keep in mind, often the name of your company or your brand has a high conversion rate, but this doesn’t mean you should invest more on these keywords. The more targeted for conversion, the better.

Bonus Tip: Bing Ads now offers a tool to estimate conversions based on your budget to make it easier and quicker to optimize your budget.

 

Final Advice

Improving and optimizing your PPC campaign is an on-going process based on Internet users behavior and search trends over time. The more you carefully target your keywords and ads, the more you improve your campaign’s performance and optimize your budget.

If you don’t have the time, patience, or knowledge to manage your Google Ads campaign, Amauta Marketing is here to ensure the best possible return on your investment based on your budget.

 

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You would like to optimize your website referencing? Discover Google search console and its features!

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Google Search Console – does it sound familiar? It’s simply Google Webmaster Tools with a new name. Now is the time to get to know the preferred tool of SEO experts, a tool which also provides you with invaluable data on your website’s performance in search.Designed for beginners to advanced users, this powerful tool does a lot, including detecting errors during the reading of your pages and send you alerts by email when these errors are detected. You will also see the search keywords used by Internet users to get to your website.

Link your Google account and your website to the Search Console! Nothing’s easier, you only need to click on « Add a property » and type your website, blog, or mobile app’s URL. You will then have access to all reports and data.

Here is a list of Google Search Console’s most important reports:

1) Search Analysis Report
With this report, Google shows you how often your website appears on Google search engines. You can filter and regroup statistical data of your website by category for search request by keyword, date, equipment type (desktop, laptop, mobile) country, page or request type (image, video, web). By analyzing this data, you will be in a better position to understand your website and how to make it perform better.

The chart will indicate the number of clicks by page from your website in Google search results since last month. As well as clicks, you will have at your disposal the following data:
• Impressions: number of links to your website that are showcased in Google search results even if the Internet user has not scrolled the page to make it visible.
• CTR: number of clicks divided by number of impressions. If a data line doesn’t contain any impression, CTR is represented by a hyphen since it is a zero division.
• Position: average positioning of the best ranked result on your website. Thus, if your website is shown 3 times, in 2nd, 4th and 6th position, position #2 is the one indicated.

Clicks, impressions, position and CTR value vary depending if you decide to regroup the results per site or page. You can also filter your data for better comparison, as an example, the number of clicks from country A compared to number of clicks from country B.

2) Explore your content with the Googlebot feature
You have the ability to submit your website content to Googlebot, or web crawler, to know how Google sees your pages. Googlebot will check how it displays on various browser and equipment. All code (more often html or Javascript) is screened by Googlebot as well as linked resources (like images, CSS style sheets and other files). This process aims to optimize the look of your page and create a better interpretation of your content. It is important to check that Google and Googlebot are able to access your URL content to ensure it is properly referenced in search results. If the crawling of your URL is finished, it means that Google has been able to get in touch with your website and all is fine. On the other hand, if the crawl is only partial, you are able to click on the report to get more details on errors and correct them to optimize your web referencing in the blocked results report.– Added Benefit: Search Console will send you by email, a Googlebot errors report and as well as the statistical crawling results.

Did you know that your website crawling errors can block the display of your pages in search results? This report will give you the details to why Google cannot crawl the URL and which http errors occur.

This report includes two types of errors:
– Website level: this section shows the main errors over the last 3 months which have blocked Google access to your website.
– URL level: this section list all specific errors met during the crawling of specific pages either on a computer or mobile device.

3) External and Internal Links Reports
– External Links: These links are detected by Googlebot during the indexation of your website and it correspond to the links originating from other websites pointing to your website.
– Internal links: The right linking strategy can boost your SEO, so pay attention to this report on you website internal links. The Googlebot needs to see your site structure clearly in order to return accurate results.

4) Mobile Usability Report
Google provides a mobile optimization tool to check if a web page is responsive i.e. adapted to mobile devices. You will be able to see the page in a screenshot as if you were seeing it from a cellphone. The test results include a list of all mobile usability problems detected, including: the display screen is not properly configured or at fixed width, content size is not adapted to the display screen, typeface is too small (the user has to zoom) or the interactive elements are too close. In responsive web design, it is not recommended to create websites with Flash because it is not compatible with the majority of mobile equipment.

Need help analyzing all this data provide by Google? Amauta Marketing can do it for you and make sure that your website reflects all the best SEO practices, gets excellent results on Google search, and is highly usable so Internet users get the optimal experience with your brand.

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Fibrobec entrusts Amauta Marketing with a strategic mandate

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Fibrobec, the most important manufacturer of fiberglass boxes for pickup trucks, have chosen Amauta Marketing to develop a web marketing campaign to improve its reputation and elevate its web presence. The Beloeil company has recently won the Bronze Award at « Les Médaillés de la relève » in the entrepreneurial succession category. It is the first prize Fibrobec has won in a business competition and the management wishes to build the resources to repeat this success. “Following a record year in 45 years, we wish to support our growth by implementing a new products marketing and development strategy over the next three years. We hope that our web marketing campaigns created by Amauta Marketing will accelerate our breakthrough into the American market”, explained Frederic Albert, CEO of Fibrobec. Amauta Marketing is tasked with implementing a web advertising strategy to help and assist Fibrobec in the development of the American market.

 

About Amauta Marketing Inc.

Amauta Marketing is a Google Partner Certified web marketing agency based in Montreal (Quebec). Through custom web strategies and a focus on results, it allows its clientele to increase their web visibility and maximize return on their investment. Amauta has delivered a list of web projects with strong added value for prestigious clients such as 1-800-GOT-JUNK, Bell Canada, Mega Bloks, Birks, Le Club d’Investisseurs Immobiliers du Québec, Salades Sensations and Averna. For more information please visit: www.amautamarketing.com

 

About Fibrobec Industries inc.

Founded in 1972, Fibrobec/SpaceKap is the most important manufacturer of fiberglass boxes for pickup trucks either for commercial or leisure purposes. The Beloeil company has more than fifty employees and since 1992 has produced SpaceKap, the transferable service body, created with the collaboration of famous automobile designer, Paul Deutschman. The company offers products answering the needs of general contractors, electricians and plumbers but also of all trades looking for a transferable and versatile service vehicle. Over the last forty years, Fibrobec/SpaceKap has produced and delivered almost 250,000 units of its popular pickup boxes in North America. Fibrobec/SpaceKap owns a branch in Quebec City and distributes its products through an important network of North American dealers. For more information, please visit: www.fibrobec.com

For additional information, please contact:

Hernan Cespedes                                            Julie Bourbonnière
Amauta Marketing                                          Media relations, Fibrobec
(514) 907-2131, poste 12                               (514) 993-8530
hcespedes@amautamarketing.com            jbourbonniere@sitrepcom.ca

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New from Google Ads: Call transfer tool finally available in Canada

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Canadian marketing professionals finally have access to a tool already available in the United States: call transfer. This means they will be able to measure in-coming calls generated by a Google Ads campaign.

 

The Smartphone: an essential communication channel of the digital age

Numerous studies have shown that telephone contact is the preferred communication channel for many prospects to contact your company. So, following up in-coming calls generated from a web marketing campaign is crucial for business owners to achieve a complete picture of the effectiveness of their marketing tactics.

According to a DialogTech study, mobile in-coming calls are on the rise, in particular those from landing pages and organic searches.

 

3 ways to generate calls from Google Ads 

  1. Call from ad exclusively and call extension
  2. Google call transfer number as displayed on your website
  3. Click on displayed telephone number on mobile web site

With Google call transfer numbers, Canadian marketing professionals have the ability to measure calls they receive from sponsored ads.

Local telephone number is preferred by prospects

By using a Google call transfer number as a call extension or in a Call only ad, Google assigns a unique telephone number to the ad. This can be a toll-free number, or a local number displayed in an ad while being displayed on tablets, laptops, or desktops.

If the ad is shown on a smartphone (iPhone or Android devices), a clickable call button is displayed.

Business owners can then analyze their in-coming calls with regional code caller, call duration and then record the conversions.

Google call transfer number displayed on your website

“Even though call extensions and call ads are very efficient, many clients or prospects want to better know your company by clicking on a Google ad and learn more on your proposed products and services on your website” declared Amit Agarwal, Chief Product Officer, Google Ads.

The website call conversion feature is powerful since it automatically transfers calls originating from a Google call transfer number from your website. You can then identify, and measure generated calls from a click from a Google ad. When an Internet user clicks on your website telephone number or dials directly from their phone, you can assign a conversion value to the call or a keyword of the ad that has attracted the client.

A rigorous follow-up for more conversions

It is possible to index calls of more than 5 minutes for example, which can allow you to automate and optimize keywords bidding, generating better quality calls. Factors such type of device used, location and time of call are integrated.

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What’s the future of web advertising?

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Twenty years after the launch of the first banner ad, web advertising continues to be a key marketing tool. Growing consistently, in 2014, it accounted for the largest portion of advertising expenses with double-digit growth.

 

The emergence of web advertising

On October 27, 1994 web advertising was born on the Wired magazine website. Wired would never have imagined it would one day be responsible for the majority of revenue for its Website. Since then, banner ads are seen everywhere and have become a key part of any business.

 

Web advertising, what is it?

Web advertising is a marketing tactic for companies striving to make their website profitable. It is first and foremost a tool to promote their products and services on the web. This type of advertising is aimed at a particular audience i.e. Internet users and offers an excellent return on investment (ROI) for the advertisers.

It is highly recommended to work with specialized companies such has advertising networks or web agencies for the management of your ad campaigns. They are considered a bridge between companies (wishing to run an advertising campaign) and editors (owners of websites offering their display space to the posting of banner ads).

Banner ad, the standard format in web advertising

A web advertising campaign often takes the form of banner ads, either as a graphic, a sponsored link, or as copy.

Sample of technologies associated with banner formats

Pop-up : following a click on a banner, a new window opens as an advertisement. This very intrusive format can be blocked by browsers.

Pop-unders: a banner opens on the web page following a mouse over. This format gives more information to the Internet user without being intrusive.

Rich media : indicates Javascript code usage, Flash, sound and video in banner ads, allowing more interactivty.

 

Web advertising’s different methods of payment

PPC corresponds to a proportional payment method based on the number of clicks on a banner ad.

CPM corresponds to payment method based on the number of displays. It is often used on high-traffic websites (over a million-page views per month).

CPV corresponds to the number of visitors having clicked on the ad and then made a purchase of the proposed product or service.

 

Retargeting: the future of web advertising?

Retargeting is about targeting an Internet user based on the websites they have visited, the searches performed and other web actions. This web advertising method allows you to utilized data collected such as gender, age, country, etc. This new very complex buying process is turning the web advertising world upside down by offering a less intrusive and ultra-targeted marketing tool.

 

Finally, it seems that we see fewer and fewer banner ads and more integrated web advertisements with better targeted messages. This means less intrusive advertising on the web and more relevant, quality banner ads. With retargeting and its precise information system, we are getting into the advertising technologies era in which advertising impressions will be treated individually with help of algorithms. Real time bidding and retargeting are henceforth part of the game.

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Measure and analyze your call-tracking to maximize the return on your investment

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Did you know that 43% of conversions are from the telephone? And that 65% of companies consider their call service as the most profitable source of quality prospects.

The majority of your potential clients gets in touch with your company by telephone. And often, the people who contact you directly by telephone have an urgent need for your products or services. All this underlines the importance that companies measure and track calls originating from their PPC web campaign.

What is Call-tracking?

Call-tracking is about assigning a unique phone number that you can add to your website or promo material. Then, from this number, you can record your incoming calls and all dates linked to these calls. You can also choose different telephone numbers depending on the communication method your prospects use to reach your company. This multiple number technique allows you to analyze your communication campaign results based on channels used. This call-tracking solution allows also to display with dynamic fashion your call numbers on your website based on Internet user source of visit.

Why track your calls from Google Ads?

  • To measure precisely the return on your investment (ROI) on buying referencing
  • To efficiently manage calls from PPC campaign
  • To follow calls generated by a campaign or a specific keyword

When you know the origin of your telephone prospects it allows you to make wise strategic decisions and more effectively determine your marketing budget and sale strategy. Without telephone data, companies limit themselves to only the data analysis through web forms. It results in important off-line prospects with no follow-up and lost sales.

The benefit of tracking calls from Google Ads: Which keywords drive conversions?

More than half of marketing professionals say that growing the number of incoming calls generated by their web advertising campaigns (Google Ads) is their priority, since telephone calls have a higher conversion rate. Using a tool to track the number of incoming calls not only allows you to know precisely which keywords have led to calls, but it also allows you to measure the return on your investment (ROI) of your web advertising campaigns. You can then focus on using the keywords that effectively convert more offline prospects and remove keywords that are performing poorly in the context of a PPC campaign. 

What data is obtained when a call is tracked?

We track the duration of each call; we record the conversation and we report a variety of data such as geotargeting (geographic zone of the issuer), device type used to make the call (smartphone, landline) and more.

Here’s how call tracking works in 4 steps:

  1. A prospect does a web search, sees your ad and clicks on it.
  2. They are then redirected to a landing page on which is displayed a unique telephone number that we can track (such as a Google Ads Call Extension)
  3. The Internet user then clicks (or calls) the number at this step the call is transmitted to your company.
  4. Once the connection with your company is established, data on the caller is collected, including the keyword that led to the call, the duration of the call and the originating ad campaign.

Determine the number of calls generated by each of your advertisements

We all know, it is easier to demonstrate the return on investment of your web conversions with Google Analytics in particular versus those acquired by offline tactics. A call-tracking software allows you from then on to easily track the return on investment (ROI) of your telephone conversions as a result of a PPC campaign. You then have a clear picture (web and offline) of your PPC expenses.

Improve your customer service by tracking your calls

Another advantage of call tracking is that through the analysis of your calls you’ll also know the expectations and interests of your clients and prospects. You’ll see their common questions and how well your company provides answers. As well, you will discover how your prospects came to find out about your company and through the recording of the calls, you’ll see how effectively your sales team communicates with them by telephone. You can then improve your customer service by meeting their expectations while optimizing your customer acquisition campaigns.

You would like to know more about call-tracking?

Amauta Marketing is now offering this new service, get in touch with us and speak to an expert at (514) 907-2131 or visit the dedicated section of our website.

 

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