Mapping the Call Genome: A Conversation with Marchex
Call analytics continues to advance in lots of ways as the phone call becomes the “new click.” The latest move comes from Marchex which last week launched Real-Time Call DNA. Today I had the chance to catch up with the company to find out more.
An extension of it’s Call DNA product, this lets advertisers visually map and analyze what happens within inbound phone calls to their business. This goes beyond traditional call reporting metrics such as call duration, source, and other basic metrics.
Deeper analytics are achieved such as subject matter and dialogue. But that’s still nothing new to Marchex (and a handful of other call analytics players). What’s new here is the ability to measure these attributes without recording the actual phone call.
From the company’s description:
Specifically, here’s how Real-Time Call DNA works: the moment a consumer clicks to call a business from an ad, data about that call is captured and analyzed in real time, without transcribing or retaining any content. A visual map of the call displays, for instance, how many rings it takes before a call is picked up and how long a caller is placed on hold. It also shows when a caller speaks and an agent responds, and classifies the type of call based on proprietary algorithms that can scale and analyze hundreds of millions of calls across a variety of industries.
Advertisers can access the data and insights and sort calls by classification through the user interface or API. How many calls are conversations? Wrong numbers? How many callers hang up because of long hold times? Advertisers can then view the visual map of each call and optimize their campaigns to drive more calls from customers with real purchase intent.
The benefit of not recording is to comply with security protocols. This is important in privacy-centric industries like financial services and healthcare. It’s both a legal issue, and one of public awareness and comfort. Both are important in today’s environment.
“Calls from consumers to businesses often contain sensitive, private information,” Marchex SVP of Product and Engineering Ziad Ismail told us. “Real-Time Call DNA reveals the value of consumer calls without the security and privacy risks that come with recording them. This visibility is an opportunity increase ROI on click-to-call campaigns.”
By applying technology to get around this legal and political roadblock, Marchex has opened up these high-value verticals where it couldn’t previously apply the full extent of its call analytics. This will help it continue to work the call monetization opportunity.
We’ll be talking to Marchex and a handful of call monetezation and analytics players in a superforum that takes place during our upcoming Leading in Local: Interactive Local Media conference, December 3-5 in San Francisco. Hope to see you there.
