Google AdWords has always offered local, national and global ad distribution based on the search terms entered into the Google search engine. Either banner, text or media-rich ads can be triggered to appear as "sponsored links" on the Google search results screen. Last January, ads with a "Click to Call" links began to appear in those Google search result webpages served to mobile devices with the capability to initiate a phone call by clicking on that link.
Businesses who receive such calls, of course, want to be able to measure some parameters about these calls, such as geographic source, the activating link, purchase follow-throughs and so on. This month, Google, working in conjunction with Ipsos, the French marketing research company, and the Mobile Marketing Association, the global trade group, launched the OurMobilePlanet website to enable businesses to track and show trends for mobile activation of these "Click to Call" links.
Surveys done in 2011 on the use of smartphones and other mobile devices for web access and ad click-throughs show that initial contact through a link leads to further contact for well over half of all users surveyed. Data showed that local businesses experienced many more personal visits that began from an ad click-through on a mobile device. With use of the reports possible from the OurMobilePlanet website, businesses can explore the success rate of advertising campaigns, both local and beyond, that were run through AdWords.
With this launch of a means to monitor and analyze the use of mobile devices for Internet-initiated contact, business now have access to custom reports based on many parameters, including country of origin for the call, click-progress within a website, and the action of purchase using a mobile device. As of now, only the choices for these data parameters are available to create custom reports -- standard reports based on obvious parameters are not yet implemented.
The lesson for local businesses is that new customers can now be acquired through a sensible combination of Google AdWords, reports from OurMobilePlanet and business websites customized for mobile devices to include a clickable phone number on every page, even if only on the page footer.
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