Still harming your business by restricting it to pay-per-click leads? That’s the trap many advertisers fall into, cutting off an extra stream of qualified prospects and, thus, revenue.
In contrast, pay-per-call lead generation enables you to generate purchase-ready traffic, rather than relying on impressions and clicks that are far from actual purchases.
The best thing is that you can set up a steady stream of inbound phone calls with pay-per-call tracking software like Phonexa, not only acquiring high-intent consumers but also analyzing their journey before, during, and after the call.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about pay-per-call lead generation and the software you need to stay ahead of the game.
What Is Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation?
Pay-per-call lead generation is a business model where affiliates generate phone calls for advertisers in exchange for a flat commission on qualified calls that match the advertiser’s ICP: region, age, source, and industry-specific parameters like the caller’s credit history.
Pay-per-call lead generation drives the highest-intent customers for companies and industries where calls are a significant source of leads, such as home improvement, insurance, or legal services.
| “When phone calls convert 30% faster, spend 28% more, and the retention rate is 28% higher, you don’t need to generate as many as you would web leads. Many people are accustomed to generating hundreds of thousands of web leads, but phone calls are not considered equal. Calls are more valuable, so you don’t need to generate as many. So businesses are leaving money on the table if they’re just neglecting them altogether.” – David Pickard, CEO at Phonexa, from Phonexa’s Amplify webinar series |
Whenever calls overwhelm your company’s line, you need an IVR solution – Phonexa’s Call Logic product – to pre-qualify leads. It handles calls live by leveraging AI call agents – not only do they enable personalized caller journeys, but they also ensure advanced fraud protection and unlock the ping-post calls technology for dynamic bidding on the calls you need.
Phonexa’s Call Logic gives you full control over inbound phone calls. Not only does our dashboard present you with complete call information, such as the lead type, call length, and outcome, but it also allows you to play the call recording or read its transcription to address possible blind spots.
Here are some more essential features found within Phonexa’s Call Logic:
| Call capping | If a buyer has a limit on the number of pay-per-call leads they want to purchase, call capping comes in handy to limit the quantity of leads they can receive. |
| Call whispers | Alerts your buyer that the phone call is coming from your campaign. This way, they can prepare for the engagement. |
| Automated tagging | Tags phone calls according to their properties to streamline real-time campaigns. |
| Email notifications | Sets up email notifications for missed lead calls if the buyer is not answering. |
What Are the Benefits of Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation for Advertisers?
- Higher conversion rates: The chances of building strong relationships and persuading a prospect to become a customer are significantly higher in a live conversation.
- Quality lead generation: By qualifying leads based on call duration, geographic location, caller intent, and other relevant criteria, advertisers receive only relevant pay-per-call leads.
- Enhance mobile traffic: Mobile research accounts for 48% of all phone calls, making pay-per-call lead generation suitable for products or services targeted at mobile users.
- Measurable ROI: Insights into call volumes, call durations, conversion rates, and other key metrics enable advertisers to accurately predict ROI and focus on the most profitable phone calls.
What Are the Benefits of Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation for Publishers?
- Higher revenue potential: Pay-per-call leads generate higher payouts than the traditional pay-per-lead (PPL) method, as their conversion rates reach 50%, whereas PPL conversion rates are only around 2%.
- Flexibility in marketing strategies: Pay-per-call ads work well with any marketing avenue, including websites, emails, social media, etc.
- Performance-based monetization: Publishers earn commissions immediately after pay-per-call leads qualify or the call exceeds 90 – 120 seconds, which adds consistency.
- Enhanced tracking and optimization: Call tracking software pulls data from publishers’ campaigns, enabling campaign optimization and maximizing ROI.
Top 5 Industries for Pay-Per-Call Marketing
The more urgent and complex a niche is, the higher its demand for pay-per-call marketing. Simply put, if people require a quick consultation before purchasing a product or service, they’re likely to become pay-per-call leads.
These are the top 5 industries suited for pay-per-call lead generation:
| Home services | Plumbing, HVAC, pest control, security installations, roofing, and electrical services |
| Legal advice | Mass tort, car accidents, injuries, debt relief, and property disputes |
| Financial services | Mortgage, payday loans, insurance, student loans, and health insurance. |
| Healthcare services | Routine checkups, dental care, specialty care, rehabilitation, and physical therapy |
| Emergency services | Emergency repair, roadside assistance, towing, and water damage restoration |
How To Get Started With Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation [Outside of Affiliate Marketing]
1. Identify Your Target Audience
You don’t want to spend time, money, and effort on somebody who is not interested in your product. About 91% of customers will purchase only from companies that recognize their pain points and provide relevant offers.
Your target audience is already out there looking for you – now, start looking for them. If you target homeowners for emergency plumbing repairs, you might want to focus on regions with high homeownership rates and position yourself as a quick and reliable service.
As your ideal customer profiles (ICPs) are in place, you can reveal the subsequent steps of your pay-per-call lead generation, from selecting the right keywords to choosing the most effective marketing channels.
Take a product tour to see how Phonexa can help you streamline your lead generation.
2. Choose the Right Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation Platform
If your pipe is flooding your neighbors, you won’t search Instagram for a solution – you’ll open Google, type “plumbing services,” and opt for one of the local brands at the top of the search results.
Therefore, when considering pay-per-call platforms, it’s essential to examine channels that yield the best results for specific pay-per-call campaigns.
Options include:
- Paid search
- Organic search
- Mobile search
- Social media
- Display ads
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to which platform is best for pay-per-call campaigns. You should decide based on your specific industry, target audience, and the type of engagement you aim to achieve, combining it with relevant statistics and insights.
3. Plan Budgets and Bid Strategies
Pay-per-call campaigns are among the most cost-efficient in performance marketing, which becomes apparent when you calculate your ROI: subtract your projected cost per lead (CPL) from the projected return per lead.
Next, align your bid strategy with your business objectives and target audience. It comprises choosing the correct service categories and locations for your advertisements and setting your CPL.
4. Produce Engaging Ads
- Use a tone of voice that’s relevant to your audience
- Grab attention with a promise, intrigue, or provocative statement
- Present benefits that resonate with your ICP
- Utilize images that support your key message
The ad should end with a visible phone number and a CTA. The former gains effectiveness as you infuse it with a sense of urgency, using phrases like “Call Now” or “Get in Touch Today.”
5. Track and Analyze Results
Tracking and analyzing marketing performance is a crucial part not only of pay-per-call lead generation but also of marketing campaigns you are willing to scale. A case study from Nestlé demonstrates that by using marketing data analytics, their team reduced the time spent on marketing reporting by 80%, allowing them to allocate more time to productive work.
| “Put everything in one place – that’s what we tried to do. Phonexa is about tracking everything – the call outcomes, the source of the calls, the route that call went through, which publisher did it come from, which IVR model did it go through, which buyer bought the lead, and what happened next – and then reporting on everything to the point where you can then analyze it in real-time.” – David Pickard, CEO at Phonexa, from Phonexa’s Amplify webinar series |
How Much Should You Pay for Pay-Per-Call Leads?
Industry, competition, quality, size of your target audience, and other factors determine pay-per-call lead prices. In sectors such as finance, healthcare, legal services, and home services (including plumbing and HVAC), where job value is typically high, businesses pay more per lead; companies with lower-value jobs, such as windshield replacement, have lower CPLs.
This formula will help you calculate your CPL
Pay-Per-Call Leads vs. Pay-Per-Lead: What To Choose
| Aspect | Pay-Per-Call Marketing | Pay-Per-Lead Marketing |
| Payment Structure | Businesses pay for inbound phone calls from potential customers | Businesses pay for each lead generated via form submissions and links |
| Lead Quality | High-quality leads as customers usually have a higher intent to purchase | Lead quality may varyLeads might be in the earlier stages of the buying journey |
| Conversion Rates | Higher conversion rates: 25-40% of leads turn into customers | Potentially lower conversion rates compared to pay-per-call |
| Return on Ad Spend | Generally higherCall-based leads are more likely to convert | Can varyDepends on the effectiveness of the digital campaign and lead nurturing |
| Customer Value | Call-based customers tend to spend more and have higher retention rates | Customer value can be lower compared to pay-per-call |
| Industry Suitability | Especially effective for service-based industries requiring direct interaction | Suitable for a wider range of industries, particularly where direct interaction is less crucial |
Effective Pay-Per-Call Traffic Sources
These traffic sources have the highest chances of converting users into pay-per-call leads:
- Google Ads utilizes contextual targeting, reaching users based on their current and previous search intents. Marketers achieve this through keywords, such as “emergency plumbing services,” which, in this case, present ads to users who are in immediate need of a plumber.
- Social media, in turn, utilizes behavioral targeting to connect you with a specific audience on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Notably, social media enables effective targeting based on location, which, for instance, can direct locals to your insurance company.
- SEO is the most cost-efficient traffic source that drives organic visitors to your website. Marketers utilize the power of SEO primarily through keywords, optimizing content for popular search queries, such as “local plumbers” or “quick payday loan.”
- YouTube has long become one of the most potent affiliate traffic sources. By creating engaging videos, YouTubers can encourage their viewers to interact with banner overlays or act upon CTAs in descriptions.
Traditional channels like radio, print, and direct mail, have declined and are now better suited for targeting specific demographics. For example, TV or newspaper ads effectively promote health insurance, which is highly relevant to the age groups that consume respective types of content.
Compliance in Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation
The U.S. laws regulate pay-per-call lead generation through the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which requires obtaining explicit consent from individuals before contacting them via phone for marketing purposes. It minimizes unsolicited and potentially intrusive marketing calls, which, as Congress interprets it, is a way to respect consumer privacy and preferences.
So, in the unfortunate case that pay-per-call leads claim you’re hitting them without consent, iClaim by ValidRecord helps you address that. It captures and pulls up shareable conversation recordings to handle complaints or regulatory inquiries, thereby avoiding further disputes.
Boost Your Pay-Per-Call Lead Generation with Phonexa
Digital marketing is getting increasingly complex, and it’s almost impossible for advertisers and affiliate networks to withstand the competition without third-party solutions.
Phonexa is an all-in-one performance marketing software suite that consolidates tools for generating and distributing leads in its proprietary system:
- Call Logic tracks and analyzes calls, alongside providing you with IVR technology for custom caller journeys
- LMS Sync handles your web lead management and upgrades your business with a Ping Tree that can convert your leads into profit, including originally declined leads
- Cloud PBX facilitates uninterrupted inbound and outbound calls and call scoring to enhance your agents’ productivity
These and other Phonexa technologies operate within a single dashboard, which means that you don’t have to switch between multiple systems to optimize your lead stream.
Get Phonexa’s all-in-one performance marketing software suite at a single price today:
| LMS Sync | Lead management system |
| Call Logic | Call tracking and distribution system |
| Cloud PBX | Cloud phone system |
| Lynx | Click tracking software |
| E-Delivery | Email & SMS marketing software |
| HitMetrix | User behavior analytics and CRO software |
| Opt-Intel | Email suppression list management solution |
| Books360 | Automated accounting software |
Book a demo to see how Phonexa can help you transform your pay-per-call lead generation efforts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use pay-per-call leads generation?
While the pay-per-lead approach generates a broader stream of generic web leads, the pay-per-call approach focuses only on qualified leads. Thereby, if your target audience is very specific, it’s more profitable to pay only for high-intent pay-per-call leads, instead of buying random web leads in bulk.
How does a call qualify for a commission?
Whenever a lead qualifies based on the call’s length, time, date, caller’s location, and sometimes also the call’s outcome, an advertiser pays a commission to the publisher and the affiliate network.
How does the customer experience change with pay-per-call?
The consumer experience with pay-per-call advertising is typically smooth, similar to direct business calls. Customers can one-click dial a company through a banner to connect to the voice agent, which further directs leads to relevant advertisers.
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