For advertisers, tracking clicks is easy, but tracking calls resulting from online ads can be a hassle.
A solution from Seattle-based Marchex lets advertisers monitor how many calls a mobile ad generates, helping them track calls like other services track clicks.
In a new partnership announced today, Marchex will provide their call analytics and performance-based click-to-call advertising product to the world’s largest advertising group, GroupM.
Using Marchex’s system, advertisers can track when a consumer calls a phone number from a mobile ad and then analyze that call to determine better ad buys in the future.
GroupM’s digital media platform, Xaxis, and its mobile-first advertising business, Light Reaction, will integrate Marchex’s products into current advertising programs.
“Mobile is really complex and as consumers continue to use their devices to look for goods and services, mobile is becoming more mainstream for advertisers,” Marchex CEO Peter Christothoulou said. “Most of the transactions [started on mobile] actually happen offline, particularly through click-to-call”
The performance-based aspect of Marchex’s click-to-call model, marketed by Xaxis and Light Reaction as M-Call, means that clients only pay for calls placed, not impressions or other metrics often used for tracking the success of online advertisements.
Marchex Call Analytics will let advertisers track how well certain ads are doing by generating unique phone numbers for each campaign. Those calls are also analyzed to measure how long customers stay on the line, how long it takes them to navigate menus and other metrics to improve performance down the line.
This is the first time a major advertising network has provided call-tracking functionality for advertisers, incorporating click-to-call mobile campaigns with the rest of their digital campaign.
“Consumers want to engage online, in a storefront or over the phone,” said Marchex marketing head John Busby, “and this is a way for Light Reaction and really all of GroupM to be able to provide products to their advertisers that meet all of those different ways that consumers connect with brands.”
The new services are available to Light Reaction and Xaxis clients in North America initially.
Publicly-traded Marchex started pivoting to mobile-focused advertising around 2008, but the turn hasn’t been fast enough for some investors.
The stock has not recovered much since a sharp fall late last year — after a deal with Allstate fell through. The stock is down 59 percent in the past year, and the company is now valued at $200 million.
The company raised money earlier this year by selling 200,000 domain names to GoDaddy for $28.1 million.
