Business strategies infused with technology revolutionized the modern marketplace. We are now dealing with a broader and more complicated type of market called the E-Commerce. E-Commerce exists in a non-physical market where vendors use the internet to offer and sell their products and services. Payments and transactions pass through the same platform as well by using internet banking other cashless and online payment methods. There is less customer-business interaction, which saves both time and money as well that could’ve been placed on transportation and office infrastructure should you follow the traditional type of buying and selling.
However, the cost of convenience translates to a lesser customer service experience that the traditional marketplace could offer. A more personalized, customer-business interaction has since decreased, and the overall customer satisfaction after the product or service availed is somewhat lacking in sincerity. Excellent customer service is one of the foundations of trust in doing business with service providers. This is one of the values that the traditional market relied on in the past times, when there is a limited way of advertising their businesses. They rely only on word of mouth marketing, which will only be successful when the customer has a previous positive experience with the seller.
In this competitive market we are in right now, there are many vendors selling similar products. People are seeking ways to “filter” the service providers they are eyeing, and one of the more common convincing strategy to dispel a customer is giving him a bad customer service. According to a market study conducted by Lee Resources, which was cited in HelpScout website, 80% of the companies responded that they offer outstanding and excellent customer service to their clients. Unfortunately, only 8% of people agree with these companies. We cannot deny the convenience of E-Commerce it can give and it is still an effective and continuously growing market industry in the world today. The personal touch that was once have the businesses in the past should still be existent in the form of outstanding customer service.
The continuous growth of the e-commerce platform in the market should also entail an equally reliable partner in overcoming business challenges in this fast paced world. The growth of a business relies on its sustainability and flexibility in a market situation of shifting needs and wants. A reliable business must not be just a product of “market trends”, but rather should be built within the responsibility of quality service provision. Every customer is entitled to an excellent customer service that is sensitive to its needs. A business should be able to give outstanding delivery of its product or service.
However, we consider our era modern and digital in its very sense, there are still many traditional methods of doing business that are being implemented and widely accepted by the consumers. These methods have either proven its adaptability in all market situations, or have secured a reputation as a trusted and reliable way of doing business. There are a number of these ways, like that of what is being used for marketing purposes. Non-online, or offline marketing campaigns like billboards, TV and radio ads and print ads are still effective strategies in most businesses. The traditional way of communicating through the use of legacy system or the POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) has also been a default way in maintaining good customer service satisfaction. Today’s market can be more accurately described as a mixed market type of business, which utilizes both traditional and digital based business methods to cover more customers with varying needs and wants.
Business Tools
A business tool, is the product of applying technology in the business sector. The basic roles of technology within a business it to enhance its strengths to give it leverage and competitiveness in the modern market world. It also increases productivity and ingenuity among employees in their jobs and workplaces. A business tool also aids in performance evaluation to be able to improve the product and service as time goes by. It also enables business owners to make smarter decisions in utilizing its resources and developing more innovations that are both functional and good for long term use. A business tool should become a trusted business partner in terms of its usability and impact on the business as a whole.
A business tool isn’t meant to replace people in business management. It is more of a partner to be able to be more effective in handling a business with ease. Business tools encourages more small business scaled entrepreneurs to enter the market. This in turn will promote healthy market competition where prices are becoming affordable. This is in contrast with monopolistic or the oligarchic type of markets where the sellers control the consumers, which is the exact opposite of free trade we are experiencing right now. Free trade encourages idea exchange to make purchasing a fair experience for both sellers and consumers: the seller knows what the real needs of its customers, and customers get what they want and deserve.
Business tools are proven beneficial in most businesses, whether in small or large scale setting. For the focus of discussion, let us take a look at the business tools in action in the marketing side of the business.
Marketing and Data Analytics
Marketing is an essential part of the business that is as important as the product innovation and development. The role of marketing is to promote the company’s product, or making it visible and accessible to many customers. It utilizes many different marketing strategies that matches the product and its target market. These campaigns include billboards, print ads, TV and radio commercials, websites, blogs, social media accounts, press releases, events and other more modern ways to communicate the product to the consumers.
Often, a good marketing strategy is gauged by the numbers in terms of lead generation, sales and revenue. While these are meaningful numbers and is important in driving the efforts of the marketing people, there is a need for a more specific method of evaluating each of the marketing campaigns implemented. This is to make sure that the company allocated resources for marketing is efficiently used for implementing campaigns that have real impact on lead generation and sales. This need is often answered by the use of data analytics, or the science of gathering data from internal and external sources and systematically studies it to be able to come up with reports about what it may impress based on patterns or correlations identified.
Data analytics reveals opportunities for improvement and growth where it operates. In the past, the method is done manually by marketing analysts, and entails more time and effort on their part. With this time consuming feat, and the huge volumes of data that needed to be analysed, there is a need for a “smarter” way to apply data analytics in a larger scope setting.
Call Tracking Software
A call tracking software encompasses all involved processes and technologies to come up with a powerful business tool that effectively applies data analytics to huge volumes of data and turn it into substantial reports, essential to crucial decision making and performance evaluation. It gives a better perspective on the marketing ROI or Return of Investment, as well as give metrics based reports on the effectiveness of each marketing campaign implemented. It blends historical and present data coming from different sources, whether offline or online, across the company’s communication networks. It serves as a unified system of data management and processing which are easily operated and accessed.
Call tracking systems apply data analytics, a science of gathering and understanding raw and processed data. The reports generate help discover opportunities and potential for improvement and more product innovations. It also enables the marketers make smarter decisions, increase profit, maximize the company resources, and ensure customer satisfaction. A call tracking software can be obtained from reputable business IT service providers, with each package can be tailored to fit the specific needs of a certain type of business. It requires no additional hardware components, and can be integrated with traditional phone systems and computers as well.
A good phone call tracking software is a worthy investment for any business. It is meant to run in a longer period of time for it to gather more data to be analysed. It is better of these data contain historical information as well, and come from sources that have been subjected to different marketing scenarios. It also must be cost efficient by being future ready, with your service provider’s guarantee that it is upgradeable should a more fine-tuned improvement is developed and released.
Who needs a call tracking software?
Call tracking tools are optional integrations in your business system. It depends upon the extent of need and impact it can make on your business operations. Yet there are business industries that rely on the efficiency and speed of delivering report analysis to be able to function better in their business workplace. A call tracking software is also a very reliable tool when large volumes of data are needed to be processed and analysed. Here are 7 people who need a call tracking software in their lives:
1. The Government Agency Secretary
Operating in a national setting, the government is the entity that deals with the most quantity of data. This includes the census, criminal records, government scholastic records, national budget and other financial reports, the constitution, national phone directory, national car registry, etc. it is also where a more advanced process of data analytics is applied due to national concerns on its reports. It needs better data management, and handle people inquiries and concerns. The reports can significantly contribute to a more effective operation and public service by the government agencies.
2. The Health Care Manager
Hospitals and health care insurances also deal with significant amounts of data from patient records, and health plans and packages. In hospitals, call tracking software are particularly effective in data management and retrieval of useful information from call inquiries and feedback to maintain a high standard in giving premium service that a health care requires. It also aids in making accurate diagnosis of illnesses from accumulated patient and medical case records. In health insurances, aside from the facts that the hospital is utilized, a call tracking software is also vital in lead generation. Through effective marketing strategies, inbound calls for inquiries can be further extracted with useful data to come up with a more effective way of encouraging clients to avail their services. More than lead generation, call tracking software help in performance evaluation for its agents for a more personalized customer care service and assistance.
3. The Hotel Manager
The hospitality and hotel industry demands an almost instant way to personalize each travel and stay experience by various types of customers they entertain every day. There is a limited window of opportunity to do this, given the duration of each stay in their facilities. Aside from general services and amenities that were already given in a hotel or resort, premium service comes from the understanding of the unique needs of each individual or family that stays with them. Through call tracking software integrated with phone booking and inquiry systems, data containing personal preferences can be obtained and utilized to generate reports to help give the particular customer a tailored and memorable experience.
4. The Advertiser
Performance analysis of various marketing campaigns is very vital for the work of an advertiser. A call tracking software is essential in conducting marketing campaign trials and see from the reports generated which kind of marketing campaign is more effective in a given business scenario. It enables advertisers to arrive at more effective advertising solutions to its clients that will lead to increased visibility in the market, and be able to attract more customers in the process.
5. The Marketing Analyst
The job of a marketing analyst is the entirety of the function of a call tracking software. But as mentioned, technology is never meant to replace a person or work in the business. It should be understood that the work of a marketing analyst is a time consuming and tedious one, and also very crucial and prone to errors if the data is unreliable. The top call tracking software for the job helps “filter” unnecessary data from the important ones. It is also very helpful in handling large amounts of data that will entail more marketing analysts in the traditional way. But with a call tracking software, the marketing analysts become more productive in their jobs to be able to make sure that the reports they generate are reliable and secure.
6. The Customer Service Manager
Another feature of a sales call tracking software is enabling its user to listen to inbound call conversations. This is most especially helpful in gaining insights from customer behavior and knowing the common reasons of inquiries and complaints. The reports from this data helps in innovation and development of the company’s products and services. On the other hand, it is also a vital tool in making performance evaluation among the customer service representatives that are handling inbound calls. It ensures the quality of the service they provide, as well as points areas of improvement for better relations with customers. It is also useful in making predetermined solutions to common customer problems, and give a more personalized response to every customer they are handling.
7. The SEO Expert
A more modern feature of a call tracking software is making it a companion for SEO, of Search Engine Optimization. SEO makes use of keywords to return more efficient results when performing searches on the internet. The method of SEO is integrated with a call tracking software which is vital in marketing and advertising in the internet more effectively. The data from inbound calls which are associated with corresponding keywords will help the SEO expert assess lead and sales generating keywords, which can be applied in web based marketing campaigns.
Utilizing business tools should be a form of investment for a company, not a liability. It should match the specific needs of the company in the long run to make sure its cost efficiency is maximized. Finding the right business tool for you could be a time consuming and daunting task to do. But it is strongly advised to make a thorough research and comparison first before settling for one. Remember, a good business tool is like a good business partner towards your goals.
Are you ready to be more productive and efficient in your marketing job? Choose from the best call tracking software providers in the market today by evaluating reviews from the professionals, visit CrowdReviews.com’s call tracking software reviews.
John Tovar
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