The

Complete
Guide to
Pay-per-call
Brought to you by the creators of CallThread, Soleo’s

premier pay-per-call platform, with additional insights

from leaders in the performance marketing eld.

© 2021 Soleo Communications, Inc.

All Rights Reserved.
Introduction Pay-per-call is the fastest-growing "
segment of performance marketing,
Marketers have always been challenged to
mostly due to the unrivaled return on
nd the best way to spend their advertising
investment (ROI) it provides.
dollars. In 2021, after a global pandemic and

staggering budget cuts, marketers are under

more pressure than ever to nd the channels

that drive the highest and most consistent

return on investment (ROI) for their Dan Gallagher

advertising budget. President & CEO at Soleo

Lead generation is now the top priority for

marketing teams, according to a survey of

thousands of marketers across the globe. Pairing

this priority with the need to demonstrate ROI, it

makes sense that 64% of marketers plan to increase occurs. The bottom line: performance marketing

their spend in performance marketing in 2021 in drives a higher return on investment (ROI).

order to generate quality leads.

Pay-per-call, a performance marketing method

Performance marketing is a lead generation where advertisers pay a xed price for quali ed

strategy where advertisers only pay when a call-based leads, is a lucrative strategy for service-

conversion event occurs. Performance marketing based businesses that need high-quality leads. In

has been on the rise for years, replacing traditional this guide, we will help you decide if pay-per-call is

advertising methods and growing to represent $6.8 right for your business. We will introduce you to

billion of ad spend each year. some basic principles, highlight key bene ts,

illustrate successful industries, and compare pay-

Why? Performance marketing enables marketers to per-call to other forms of performance marketing.

precisely target their ideal consumers, track their ad

spend and only pay when a measurable action

Read more: How to start a Performance Marketing Program

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 02

Table of Contents
04 Introduction to Pay-per-call
06 How pay-per-call works

07 Where do calls come from?

08 The do's and don'ts of pay-per-call

09 How much does a call cost?

10 A note on seasonality in pay-per-call

11 Compliance and pay-per-call

14 Why Choose Pay-per-call

14 Top bene ts of pay-per-call

17 Pay-per-call compared to other performance marketing models

21 Pay-per-call results by industry

23 Getting Started with Pay-per-call

23 Decide how you will receive calls

24 Decide how to structure your campaign

27 Choose your pay-per-call partner

28 How to Manage Your Campaign

28 Evaluating call sources

30 Managing your partner

30 Why CallThread

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 03

 Introduction to
Pay-per-call
Target consumer
With pay-per-call, advertisers pay for each
Specify the kinds of buyers you want (e.g. new
quali ed inbound phone call they receive
customers, homeowners, people over the age of
from a third-party. These call sources can be
65). A good pay-per-call partner will be able to
publishers, a liates, networks, and other
drive calls that t narrower pro les within your
lead-generators. A call is considered quali ed
business category.
if it meets the advertiser’s requirements and

ful lls a predetermined duration requirement.

Serviceable geographies
You manage your own pay-per-call campaign
Identify the states or zip codes your business
by setting a variety of campaign parameters.
services or that you want to target. Your pay-per-

call partner will lter out any leads calling from

outside your set geographies.

Call pacing requirements

CA M PAI G N PA R A ME TE RS I NCLUDE :
Limit the number of calls you want to receive in a

Business hours month, day, or hour. Your partner will not send you

Establish the hours you are available to receive more calls than you are able to handle for that

calls. Your pay-per-call partner will only send you period.

calls during these hours.

Bid

Business category Set the price you are willing to pay for a call that

De ne the speci c services you o er (e.g. HVAC lasts a speci ed duration (a typical call duration is

repair, bed bug fumigation, debt consolidation). A between 90-120 seconds but varies by industry,

good pay-per-call partner will use ad targeting category and time of year). Work with a pay-per-

techniques and Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) to call partner who can recommend a competitive bid

drive calls that match your speci c business in your category and adjust bids for seasonality and

category. scalability as needed.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 04

Top performing industries

The industries that see the best return on investment with pay-per-call are service-based businesses

that require a phone call at some point in the sales cycle. Some of the top performing industries in

pay-per-call include:

Insurance Home services Senior services

• Auto insurance • Appliance repair • Hearing aids

• Final expense insurance • Bathroom remodel • Medical alert

• Home insurance • Blinds • Stairlifts

• Health insurance • Cable and internet • Walk in tubs

• Life insurance • Carpet and ooring

• Electricians Other

Financial services • Heating and cooling • Addiction rehab

• Credit repair • Home security • Auto service and repair

• Debt consolidation • Insulation • Dentists

• Mortgage • Lawn care • Florists

• Mortgage re nance • Locksmiths • Legal

• Tax debt • Pest control • Mobile phone services

• Plumbers • Online education

Travel • Roo ng • Real estate

• Airline tickets • Satellite • Storage and moving

• Hotels • Wildlife removal • Tech support

• Motels • Solar • Veterinarians

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 05

How pay-per-call works
Here’s how a basic pay-per-call campaign works:

1. You begin by de ning the details of your D EF I N E

o er with your pay-per-call partner Set campaign parameters
(either a pay-per-call network or direct

with a variety of a liates).

2. Based on the guidelines of your o er, your

pay-per-call partner will generate calls in

PRO DU CE
your category, typically by advertising a

tracking number. The tracking number will Partner generates calls

be used to identify them as the source

and will automatically forward the call to

your business or to a designated call

center.

ROUTE
3. An IVR is typically used to lter calls and
Quali ed call sent to you
can be provided by you, your partner, or if

coordinated, both. When a call matches

your campaign requirements, the caller is

seamlessly connected to your established

business line.
I N VEST

4. When the call reaches the predetermined Only pay for quali ed calls
duration, it becomes billable, and you pay

your partner your agreed upon bid price.

Read more: Pay-per-call Explained: How it Works

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 06

Where do calls come from?
A liates, publishers, and networks use a variety of

channels to promote their tracking number

including:

Online Carrier tra c

These channels include SEO, SEM, social media, These channels include voice search calls, directory

programmatic, display advertising and other lead- assistance calls (calls that come from consumers

generation techniques that use the internet. who call directory assistance), and intercept tra c

(calls that come from consumers who call a

O ine business that is no longer in service and opt to

These channels include print, radio, television, connect to a related business).

outdoor advertising and direct mail.

Call transfers and their regulatory restrictions

With most inbound calls, the consumer nds the tracking number through the above channels,

chooses to call, and then is connected to the advertiser’s line directly. However, some pay-per-call

providers o er transfer calls as well. Transfer calls can be inbound (the consumer calls the third-party

call center which quali es the call before transferring it to the advertiser’s business) or outbound (the

third-party call center reaches out to the consumer via SMS messaging, AI chat or by phone, typically

after the consumer lls out a lead-gen form). TCPA and other national laws and regulations restrict

how these calls are managed, so it’s best to proceed with extreme caution until you have a deep

understanding of how to handle this tra c.

Read more: Understanding Di erent Types of Calls

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 07

The do's and don'ts of pay-per-call
When you rst get started with pay-per-call, it can As you start out, these tips are meant to help you

be hard to know what kinds of calls to allow and protect your brand from competitors and

what practices you should adopt so you get the compliance threats as well as provide your callers

best tra c possible for your budget. with a positive consumer journey while you develop

synergies with your pay-per-call provider.

This chart gives you an idea of the basic best

practices when running a pay-per-call campaign.

Do: Don't:

Remain compliant with TSR, TCPA and CCPA Accept outbound calls, transfers, or SMS
restrictions

Prohibit use of your trademarks Jeopardize your brand’s reputation

Prohibit use of branded bidding Compete with your internal marketing e orts

Specify the advertising channels you allow Accept calls from unknown sources

Establish the process for approving ad Allow pubs to incentivize tra c with
creatives unapproved promotions

Monitor the quality of your call tra c Set it and forget it

Use the duration to qualify calls and Intentionally disconnect calls before they
disconnect unquali ed calls reach duration

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 08

How much does a call cost?
Price per call is in uenced by several factors and than auto insurance calls: there’s more auto

can uctuate depending on your industry, desired insurance businesses willing to pay a premium for

billable duration, competition in the pay-per-call calls than appliance repair businesses, and the

space, and the time of year. competition drives a higher price. You can expect

your prices to uctuate based on the competition in

In general, the higher the average cost of your your industry sector as well.

service to the consumer, the more the call will cost

you. For example, a call for appliance repair is The price of your calls will also be impacted by

cheaper than a call for auto insurance because your desired duration, which should be the amount

one-time appliance repair service is less expensive of time you need to qualify the call on your end

than long-term auto insurance. But there’s another before you are charged. A 90-second duration

reason appliance repair calls are less expensive generally costs less than a 120-second duration.

Sample of average prices by industry

This graph demonstrates the range of prices for several business categories based on 2019-2021 CallThread data

Appliance repair

Auto services

Home services

Travel

Cable & internet

Senior services

Pest control

Insurance providers

Financial services

Home security

Low cost High cost

Average price

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 09

A note on seasonality in pay-per-call
Many industries are also impacted by seasonality. Work with a provider that has a good pulse on the

For example, the health insurance industry is busiest pay-per-call competition in your category, so they

during open enrollment in November and December can help you anticipate and navigate uctuations in

while home improvement businesses have a higher call price to keep your bid competitive.

volume of inquiries in the summer months.

Please note that when you start a pay-per-call

If your industry has a busy season, you can expect campaign, there is a general ramp-up period with

your pay-per-call competition to steepen whenever your provider. We recommend starting a campaign

the peak season for your business occurs. This can up to 3 months prior to your peak season, so the

a ect both the price per call and/or the required campaign is running at scale for your busy season.

duration of your bid.

Annual consumer demand in the pest control, Medicare, and home security verticals*
*based on 2019-2021 search trend data to demonstrate how seasonality can a ect demand depending on your industry. Search volume

not to scale.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Pest control Home security Medicare

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 10

Compliance in National Brands have a lot at stake "
pay-per-call when selecting a supplier, so it’s
important that brands are highly
The pay-per-call industry is regulated by
selective in partnering with
laws and regulations that protect the
companies that have well de ned
privacy of consumers. Although most of
compliance programs to support
the statutes and restrictions will pertain to
their lead generation methods.
the actions of your publishers, advertisers

have been liable for the acts of their

a liates in certain cases. This means Shelly Daigler

your brand could be held nancially Chief Legal & Compliance O cer at Soleo

responsible for the wrongful actions of

your call sources.

To protect your brand from threats in the lead gen

industry, it is important to understand when

compliance issues are triggered and to ensure your

pay-per-call partner has de ned programs to

proactively address these issues and mitigate risk.

The most relevant laws and regulations in pay-per-call include:

• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) • Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act
• California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
• Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) Act (HIPAA)
• Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC) • Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) Pornography and Marketing Act (CANSPAM)

Read more: Compliance and Publisher Vetting in Pay-per-call

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 11

Protecting your brand

In general, look for a network that thoroughly To further protect your brand, ensure your network

vets all its call sources, reviews and approves has established integrations with quality control

a liate creatives, and screens calls for quality vendors such as those that focus on authentication

assurance – both to improve your conversion of consent or run litigation scrubs from known

rates and to ag threats such as robocalls. predatory litigators.

"
Today, marketers are faced with increasing data and privacy challenges – which is exactly why you

need consent-based marketing practices in place to protect your brand. If you’re unfamiliar with the

term, consent-based marketing is the practice of only contacting consumers that have given prior

express, written consent to be contacted - ensuring that only prospects who have actively

expressed interest in hearing from you make it into your funnel.

Marketers across industries are using lead certi cation tools like TrustedForm to implement

consent-based marketing and stay compliant with increasing privacy laws and regulations, validate

lead data, and ensure they’re only contacting people who have actually raised their hands to be

contacted. TrustedForm provides data along with its certi cates, validating points such as website

origin, lead age, time on page, typing speed, veri ed consent language, and more.

By implementing technology that allows you to lter through these data points from compliant leads,

you can increase the quality of leads that ow directly into your CRM -- making your sales team

happier in the process.

Tracy Laney

Financial Services Sales

Director at ActiveProspect

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 12

Protecting your brand when it comes to

outbound calls and transfers

It’s always a good idea to partner with a network

that has a documented compliance program, but if “The TCPA has created more millionaire

your campaign will accept transfer calls, there are Plainti ’s lawyers than any other federal

some particular considerations you need to statute. Don’t fall victim to predatory lawsuits

address. or nd yourself labeled a robocaller—always

assure you (or those calling on your behalf)

Outbound calls of any kind are subject to comply have the necessary level of consent.”

with the TCPA which restricts certain Eric Troutman

telemarketing practices using voice calls, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs
SMS, fax, and auto machine dialing Czar, TCPAworld.com
(robocalls) when communicating with

consumers.

When businesses are permitted to contact

consumers for purposes of telemarketing, they must

abide by the regulations outlined in this statute,

including obtaining and maintaining proper consent

records. In addition, outbound call sources may not

contact consumers on the national Do-Not-Call

Registry.

Be sure you understand the regulations around the

TCPA or work with a partner who does.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 13

 "There are millions of leads out there, the real

issue is quality. If you work with the right

partner that has the right tools and

technology, you'll get much higher quality

leads - and those leads convert so much

Why Choose better into quality customers."

Pay-per-Call Neal Polachek

Founder of ThinkLikeAnApp

based leads turn into customers, and conversion

Top bene ts of pay-per-call rates can be even higher depending on your

Pay-per-call is a great way to get quali ed leads for industry. Additionally, most businesses feel that if

your business. With pay-per-call, you get all the they are able to talk to a potential customer on the

bene ts of performance marketing, with some phone, they have a better chance to persuade them

additional advantages. to buy their service.

High-intent leads Increased return on ad spend (ROAS)

Callers are often ready to buy a product or Even though the initial cost per lead is generally

schedule an appointment at the time of their inquiry. higher in pay-per-call, calls are 10-12 times more

This is because they are usually past the likely to convert than other forms of leads, so you

researching phase of their customer journey and can expect your return on ad spend to be higher as

are prepared to make a purchase. 25-40% of call- well.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 14

Additionally, call-based leads turn into the best your business must do is convert the calls into sales.

kinds of customers – they convert 30% faster,

spend 28% more, and have a 28% higher retention Targeting for your most pro table services

rate than customers who come from other forms of A pay-per-call campaign can target your ideal

leads (Forrester). This means your business can consumer pro le, so you can speci cally focus on

experience a more immediate ROI that continues to the services (like auto repair or termite fumigation)

pay consistently in the long run. or customer segments (like U65 or insured drivers)

you want to grow. Your pay-per-call partner will

Maximize your brand’s reach attract the right consumers through ad targeting

Pay-per-call leads are usually consumers who are in and then present an automated front-end menu to

the top or middle of the marketing funnel and who further lter these calls.

do not already have a brand in mind when they’re

searching for your services. For example, a pest Simple lead ltering

control brand might produce bottom-funnel leads In addition to targeting the callers you do want,

by bidding on keywords like “termite inspection,” pay-per-call also makes it easy to lter out calls you

but pay-per-call providers would bid on keywords don’t want (such as customer service calls) using

like “termite inspection reviews” or “best termite front-end IVR menus, so your sales agents are

removal companies” to refer consumers to their focused on the calls that will bring your business the

brand partners. So with a good pay-per-call most incremental value.

campaign, your brand can talk to consumers that

you might not reach otherwise. Easy-to-measure results and quality

By using tracking numbers along with call

Access to call generation experts recordings and transcriptions, it’s easy to evaluate

Working with a quali ed, experienced pay-per-call your campaign’s performance and ensure you’re

provider allows you to crowdsource your call-based getting the quality leads you want. This also allows

leads from experts in call generation. Your partner, you to identify the call sources and geographies

who has expertise in your industry, will earn the that generate the most quali ed and valuable calls

consumer’s attention and trust and connect the so you can and optimize your marketing spend

consumer to you when they’re ready to convert. All accordingly.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 15

Predictable call volume and budget

The pay-per-call model makes it simple to project

how much you’ll need to spend to receive the

number of leads you need to meet your business

goals. With call pacing, you can specify the

maximum number of calls you want on an hourly,

daily, or monthly basis. This helps you keep your

sales teams and call centers busy without

overwhelming them or over-spending your budget.

Leads on demand

Once your campaign is up and running, it’s easy to

ramp your spending up or down. If your campaign is

successful, you can increase your budget or expand

the geography. If, on the other hand, your campaign

is o to a slow start, it may make sense to adjust

your bid based on your competition or broaden your

focus.

Convenient lead handling

Not all callers have the same needs, and calls for

certain services may require a specialized sales

agent. With Interactive Voice Recording (IVR), you

can easily route phone calls to the right person or

sales team. This makes it easy to ensure that your

highest-value leads are handled by your most

pro cient agents.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 16

Pay-per-call compared to "Only paying for quali ed calls "
provides brands with a exible,
other performance
scalable, and safe way to increase
marketing models lead volume while executing brand-
Di erent mediums of performance marketing yield speci c tactics."
di erent results. This is because the consumer is at

a di erent stage in their customer journey when

they use di erent channels, making them more or Kelly Kern

less likely to convert into a sale. The right Digital Media Sales Executive

performance marketing strategy for your company

depends on several factors including your cost-per-

lead (CPL) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) targets,

the product or service you’re trying to market, your

target consumer, and the customer journey.

This type of performance marketing is best used

To help you decide if pay-per-call is the right with the goal of increasing brand awareness among

approach for you, we’ll compare it to four other your target audience because it gives you a wide

common performance marketing models: pay-per- reach (thousands of views) for a relatively low cost.

impressions, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, and pay-

per-sale. Pay-per-call is much more e ective in generating

measurable leads and is superior in direct response

Pay-per-call vs pay-per-impression campaigns where the goal is to increase sales, not

In a pay-per-impression model, advertisers pay just awareness. It is also easier to demonstrate the

based on how many impressions, or views, their ad value of your ad spend, since calculating ROI on

receives, usually in increments of 1,000. Common brand awareness is notoriously di cult, particularly

forms of advertising that use this model include when compared to tracking calls and sales.

display advertising and some social media

marketing.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 17

Your targeting capabilities are also better with pay- the cheapest performance marketing lead you can

per-call since it is intent-based targeting, not buy, aside from impressions.

interest-based – you target people who are actively

looking to buy your service rather than those who Although clicks are relatively cheap, the burden of

are interested in something related to your service. converting the clicks into leads falls on you and your

landing page. With pay-per-call, consumers are

Pay-per-call vs pay-per-click already converted into leads for you.

Pay-per-click advertising charges advertisers for

each click to their website. Common tactics for this

model include paid search, some in uencer

marketing, and some social media marketing.

Pay-per-click can generate awareness, and clicks

have higher intent than impressions. Clicks are also

Average ad conversion in pay-per-call vs pay-per-click Pay-per-call Pay-per-click

based on WordStream benchmarks and 2019-2021 CallThread data

Appliance repair

Auto services

Home services

Travel

Cable & internet

Senior services

Pest control

Insurance providers

Financial services

Home security

Conversion rate 25% 50% 75%

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 18

Pay-per-call leads are also more likely to convert

into sales. When someone clicks through to your

website, they may be ready to buy, but they may

also just be researching without an intent to buy

now – or worse, clicked your ad by mistake. On the

other hand, when someone calls, they are typically

in the nal stages of their research process and are

closer to making a purchase.

Pay-per-call vs pay-per-lead
Pay-per-lead is a model where you pay for the

contact information of a quali ed prospect. The

most common source of these leads is a form ll on Remember: there is typically

a website. more urgency with people who

call than purchased form leads.

Pay-per-lead is a good option for businesses that

want leads for a moderate price and need a lot of

primary information upfront, but don’t mind

reaching out to the leads on their own.

With pay-per-lead, the advertiser has the burden of need their questions answered and if satis ed, are

reaching out to the lead, nurturing them, and ready to purchase. For these reasons, pay-per-call

making the sale. Leads could be days old by the time leads are more likely to convert than form lls.

that happens. With pay-per-call, the nurturing and

conversion process typically occurs immediately. Outbound dialing also has compliance regulations,

so it’s best to know these laws before you get

There is also more urgency with people who call. started with pay-per-lead.

Consumers that ll out a form are willing to wait for

a response, whereas consumers that call usually

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 19

Pay-per-call vs pay-per-sale
The pay-per-sale model is typically used for Pay-per-sale has the highest price tag, and only

businesses that require some sort of service makes sense for businesses looking for customers

installation like cable, internet and home security, that drive long-term value and those that have

although it can also work in nancial and legal recurring revenue streams.

services as well.

It can also be di cult for pay-per-sale advertisers

For the pay-per-sale model, the advertiser pays a to nd a liate partners since most a liates already

third party to complete a sales transaction on their have o ers for calls, clicks, and leads. Pay-per-call

behalf, or they pay for each referral that turns into a delivers a higher quantity of leads at a more

sale. reasonable price, and the pay-per-call model

provides a better return on investment for a wider

This form of performance marketing has the lowest variety of businesses.

risk since the advertiser only pays for completed

sales.

Pay-per-call vs other performance marketing methods

Top bene ts Pay-per-call advantage

Pay-per-impressions Low-cost brand awareness Advanced targeting

Pay-per-click Low-cost tra c High-intent leads

Pay-per-lead Upfront qualifying info High-urgency inbound leads

Pay-per-sale Lowest risk Low cost quali ed leads

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 20

Pay-per-call results by industry
Call duration

Apart from return on ad spend (ROAS), which varies It’s important to note, though, that some businesses

among advertisers based on their budget and need less time than others to qualify callers and

business goals, call duration is perhaps the best key schedule a service appointment.

performance indicator (KPI) of a pay-per-call

program due to its correlation to sales conversion. Below are the average call durations by industry

We can predict that, the longer a caller stays on the from CallThread’s network over the last three years,

line, the more interested the caller is in the to give you a benchmark for your pay-per-call

advertiser’s service and the more likely they are to campaign’s average call duration.

buy.

CallThread’s average call duration in a sample of industries

based on 2019-2021 CallThread data

Appliance repair

Auto services

Home services

Travel

Cable & internet

Senior services

Pest control

Insurance providers

Financial services

Home security

Average duration 5 10 15
(minutes)

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 21

Billable call conversion rate Remember:
Pay-per-call conversion rates are determined by Calls convert and become
dividing the number of calls that meet the duration billable when they ful ll the
by the total number of calls delivered. Advertisers duration requirement.
use the duration period to weed out callers that do

not match the business’s needs or do not have a

high intent to purchase. Therefore, high conversion

rates indicate higher quality calls that advertisers

predict will turn into customers.

The graph below shows you a benchmark of how

many calls you can expect to convert from your

pay-per-call provider, based on several leading

business categories.

Average call conversion rate in a sample of industries

based on 2019-2021 CallThread data

Appliance repair

Auto services

Home services

Travel

Cable & internet

Senior services

Pest control

Insurance providers

Financial services

Home security

Conversion rate 25% 50% 75%

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 22

 Getting started with
pay-per-call
Once you decide that pay-per-call is the

right strategy for you, there are three

general steps you’ll need to complete to set

up a successful pay-per-call program.

Step One: Decide how you

will receive calls
The rst question you will need to think through

before setting up your pay-per-call campaign: who

will answer the calls?

Many of the national brands that use pay-per-call

You need to set up the resources to handle the calls campaigns route their calls to contact centers.

delivered to you. Call sources become frustrated if There are situations, however, when the call is best

the calls they generate are sent to voicemail, routed to individual stores or franchises, or a hybrid

especially if these calls can be sent elsewhere. Due model that uctuates based on time of day or day of

to this concern, most pay-per-call providers specify week. Some businesses even nd success qualifying

in their agreements that unanswered calls will be calls with an answering service before sending

billable, even if they do not reach the duration along the consumer information to the appropriate

requirement. destination.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 23

Step Two: Decide how to
structure your campaign

This is when you decide what kinds of calls you want. These are the questions you’ll need to answer

before you can set up a campaign with your provider:

What is your budget? What is your bid? What are your goals?

What are your hours and What kind of calls do you Will you have an IVR menu?
targeting restrictions? want?

Do you have channel Will you allow call Will you require a dedupe
restrictions? recordings? period?

What is your budget?

The answer to this question will help you determine Ultimately, you want your bid to be competitive so

your bid price and call pacing requirements. You’ll that the best pay-per-call a liates and publishers

need to determine the overall budget for your are incentivized to send their high-quality calls to

campaign either by month or by day. your campaign. If your bid price is too low or your

duration requirement is too high, consider adjusting

What is your bid price? these parameters until you get a conversion rate

To answer this question, you’ll need to determine that meets your requirements.

how much you are willing to pay for each call based

on your campaign budget, and you’ll need to set When in doubt, ask your pay-per-call provider what

your billable duration requirement based on how a competitive bid in your industry should be. At

long you need to qualify a connected call. Your bid CallThread, we help all our advertiser partners keep

is also impacted by your competition which may their bids competitive as market prices change with

uctuate throughout the year. competition and seasonality.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 24

 2021 average bid prices by industry*
*allow for uctuations based on current competition and time of year

High

Home security Financial services

Auto insurance

Price
Senior services

Pest control
Cable, Satellite,
Internet

Auto services

Low

Low Billable duration High

What are your campaign goals and success problem you solve for them (e.g. - HVAC repair or

metrics? termite extermination). Also consider the days that

Determine how you will measure the success of your call center or businesses are open and the

your campaign before it starts, and communicate amount of sta necessary to handle the call tra c.

your goal with your provider. For example, at

CallThread, we optimize our calls based on our What kinds of calls do you want?

partners’ cost per lead (CPL) or cost per acquisition Decide if you will allow transfers from outbound call

(CPA) goals. sources or if you want to restrict call tra c to

inbound calls only. Transfers can be warm (a third-

What are your hours and targeting party call center has already quali ed the caller and

requirements? will introduce your agent to them) or cold (the third-

Consider your ideal consumer and where they live party will qualify the caller but transfer them

(e.g. - the zip codes you service), who they are (e.g. without an introduction). Transfers can come from

- homeowners or insured drivers), and what inbound generation methods or outbound dials.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 25

When you rst start with pay-per-call, we concerns about HIPAA or other privacy laws, you

recommend restricting your campaign to inbound can ask your provider to disable call recordings for

calls until you’re familiar with the compliance your campaign.

concerns surrounding transfers.

Will you require a dedupe period?

Will you have an IVR menu? Deduping is a process that providers use to ensure

An IVR menu is an automated front-end menu that advertisers are not charged for multiple calls from

greets new callers and is used to lter and direct the the same caller in a set period of time. The dedupe

call to the proper destination. Your pay-per-call period is typically set for a rolling 30 days but can

provider may use IVR menus to lter out calls that be less based on the type of service and the ad that

do not meet your target consumer pro le. When is being used to attract the consumer.

working with your pay-per-call provider to

con gure an IVR, keep the customer experience in

mind – too many questions and key presses can lead

to call abandonment.

Do you have channel restrictions?

Let your pay-per-call provider know if there are any

type of call sources you do not want. These may

include social media ads, display ads, email

marketing, and so on. Also let your provider know if

you need to approve the creatives or ad copy they

use for landing pages or display ads.

Will you allow call recordings?

Many pay-per-call providers use call recordings to

optimize their call quality and will give their

advertisers access to these call recordings as

needed. However, if you are in an industry that has

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 26

Step Three: Choose a pay-per-call partner
To increase your reach and the volume of calls you When choosing a pay-per-call partner, look for the

receive, it’s a good idea to work with a large pay- following considerations:

per-call network rather than manage a variety of

a liates and publishers directly. A pay-per-call Dynamic campaign management

network works with numerous call sources to create Ensure you have control over your campaign

a large volume of quali ed call tra c for their parameters

advertisers’ campaigns.

Reliable call volume

When you work with a pay-per-call network, all of Ensure they have consistent call volume to meet

your calls come from a trusted, quali ed source. An your business goals

established network uses algorithms, lters, and

front-end menus that identify the time of day, Compliance measures

search intent, and geography of each call that's Ensure they have call source transparency and a

generated. When a call meets your campaign rigorous vetting process

parameters, the network seamlessly connects the

live call to your business. Call tracking, real-time reporting, and analytics

Ensure you have access to the metrics you need to

Working with a pay-per-call network gives you measure your campaign’s success

access to a wider span of a liates and publishers

while giving you the con dence and security you Proven success in your industry

need in knowing the calls have been vetted by a Look for a partner that has helped businesses

reliable, trusted source. similar to yours

Networks can also pace calls to your contact Reputation

centers more e ectively since they have a larger Look for a network that is well-known and

volume of calls. respected in the eld

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 27

 How to Manage
Your Campaign
As a general rule of thumb, a national pay-

per-call campaign takes about three months

As you manage your campaign, be "
sure to track conversion rate and
to ramp up to CPL goals. During this ramp-up
average call duration. These key
period, you should expect frequent
metrics will be the rst to alert you
communication with your provider. After this
when a program is performing well
period, you can work with your provider to
or if you should make changes.
scale your campaign as needed.

Sarah Fitzgerald

Customer Success Team

Manager at Soleo

Your pay-per-call provider will use the rst few

weeks of your campaign to begin their advertising

process, con gure the campaign, and optimize their

call generation methods, so you should expect

Evaluating your call sources
lower call volume during this period. Once your campaign is up and running, be sure you

have access to the metrics you need to measure

Your pay-per-call provider will also use this time to your success. Work with your account manager to

closely monitor the calls for quality and use their understand which call sources, channels, and

ndings to tweak their campaigns so they deliver geographies are driving the most value for your

calls that match your target pro les. business. Review your call sources based on

conversions, reliability, and compliance; then

After this ramp up period, you should be able to allocate more of your budget to your high-

increase or decrease your budget to receive more performing sources to get the best leads for your ad

or fewer calls as needed. spend.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 28

Conversions Reliability

How many of the calls convert? Review both the How many calls are your call sources generating? A

pay-per-call conversion rate (the percent of reliable source delivers a consistent volume of calls

delivered calls that become billable) and your sales that meet your call pacing requirements.

conversion rate (the percent of delivered calls that

turn into sales) to determine the value the call Once your provider has had the chance to ramp

source creates. Provide consistent feedback to your campaign, you should be able to increase or

your partners regarding sales numbers and decrease your call pacing as your business needs

progress against CPL/CPA goals, so they can change.

optimize their campaigns accordingly.

Compliance

Are the calls you are receiving compliant? Monitor your calls for:

• Fraudulent callers who have no intention of purchasing service

• Calls that violate your channel restrictions

• Incentivized tra c, or callers that are expecting to receive a speci c price or promotion

If you work with a network, they will be monitoring their call sources for compliance. For example, at

CallThread, our dedicated customer success managers rigorously vet our call sources and closely

monitor their calls using call recordings and transcriptions to ensure we deliver compliant tra c to

our partners.

If you accept transfers, be sure to work with a provider that has established quality controls on this

tra c.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 29

 Why CallThread
Managing your partner
CallThread is Soleo's performance marketing
The best way to manage your pay-per-call
platform that pairs our proprietary call
partner is to choose a provider is transparent
management technology with our expansive
with you as needs arise. Consistent,
pay-per-call network. The net result is a
two-way communication are crucial to the
consistent volume of highly quali ed inbound
success of your pay-per-call partnership.
leads directed right to our customers and

managed proactively by our team of experts.

Even with the most compliant partners,
We service national brands and regional
there is a chance that some unquali ed calls
businesses across a variety of categories. Our
slip through the cracks and into your call
goal is to help our advertising partners improve
centers. Be sure you understand the kinds of
their return on ad spend and generate more
calls that are refundable, if any. For example,
sales through quality inbound calls.
CallThread allows our advertisers to receive credits

for fraudulent calls, misdials, duplicates within the

dedupe period, and other similar circumstances.

Monitor your calls and le disputes as necessary.

Be sure your partner provides you with consistent

reporting that is easily accessible to you your

reporting needs. CallThread o ers real-time

reporting dashboards, access to detailed call

records and a de ned dispute process to meet

these concerns.

The Complete Guide to Pay-per-call 30