Top Call Tracking Metrics for Tech Companies: Insights and Tools for Software Development Firms

Did you know there are at least 15 major call tracking metrics to improve your business? And it’s not even about the industry you’re in, but rather about how granular you are.

Any tech company relying on phone calls – whether B2B or B2C – has one surefire way to improve their call flows across the board: call tracking and analytics. Without call tracking, you’re left in the dark, not knowing your callers, where they’re coming from, and their expectations for this interaction. You might only know the general likelihood of why people call customer support or the marketing department, but these are insufficient to stay effective.

In this regard, call analytics software can grow your software development company exponentially, collecting valuable caller insights on the fly while qualifying the caller for the best sales or customer support operator. Likewise, call tracking software can analyze every call against historical records so you can see how it fits into the bigger picture.

Read on to learn:

• How to choose call tracking numbers so more people call you
• How dynamic number insertion can help you track call campaigns
• Which 15 call tracking metrics to use for your call campaigns

Without further ado, let’s explore the call tracking metrics your tech company might need to evaluate and improve your call flows, starting with dynamic phone numbers as the backbone of your call campaigns.

Local, International, and Vanity Call Tracking Numbers

Before you can even measure inbound call tracking metrics, it’s essential to choose the right call tracking numbers for your campaigns: local, international, or vanity. Likewise, you’d likely want to make inbound calls toll-free for callers; otherwise, there’s little chance you’ll get many calls.

• ‍Local Call Tracking Numbers. Since customers prefer local brands over international ones, choosing local phone numbers for local campaigns might make sense, especially if you also operate in the field or have offices in your target locations.‍
• International Call Tracking Numbers. International phone numbers make your call campaigns available worldwide. You’ll be operating across time zones, so ensure you can process calls effectively 24/7. For example, you can use this software comparison overview to choose the right call software for your international business.‍
• Vanity Call Tracking Numbers. Vanity call tracking numbers are local or international phone numbers with memorable words or phrases representing your brand or ideas. Numbers like 844-PHONEXA, 1-800-FLOWERS, or 1-888-TECHBIT can boost brand recognition and make it more fun for the caller.

Dynamic Numbers Insertion (DNI) for Multi-Channel Call Tracking

Another important call tracking technology you can harness is Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI), which effectively assigns unique phone numbers to different traffic sources. For example, if you’re generating calls from a landing page, email, and affiliates, you can use dynamic call tracking to trace every call back to its source.

For the caller, it’s as smooth as can be. When they dial your unique number, they connect where they intended – be it a sales or customer support department – or the IVR handles the call first. Either way, DNI tech is a great asset for gathering important call tracking metrics. Without it, you can’t pinpoint the call source and must rely on guesswork.

Top 15 Call Tracking Metrics to Get the Most Out of Inbound Calls

As you know, call tracking starts when a consumer discovers your ad or phone number and continues until the end of the conversation. Some data, like location and whether the caller is new or returning, can be collected with IVR, conversational AI, and trackable phone numbers and links, used in real-time to pave the optimal conversion path for the caller. Other data, like satisfaction scores, allows you to analyze your campaigns strategically against previous performance and historical insights.

The value hierarchy of call tracking metrics varies depending on the specific campaign, but it usually boils down to whether your call acquisition campaigns are profitable. With that in mind, below are the top 15 call tracking metrics, ranked from most to least important.

1. Call ROI

Whether you’re an affiliate generating calls for advertisers or a company acquiring call leads for your own sales department, you must stay profitable to keep your software development agency afloat in the long run. Not all your campaigns need to be profitable at all times, but since callers are usually bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFu) customers, your average ROI across call campaigns should exceed 100%.

Call ROI (%) = ((Calls Revenue - Calls Costs) / Calls Cost)× 100

For example, if a customer group or agent consistently shows negative ROI, consider how to change that. Ultimately, you need to double down on what brings profit and close unprofitable traffic channels and campaigns.

2. Call Conversion Rates

Unlike ROI, an overarching metric, call conversion rates provide a granular perspective on what happens during a call. Your ROI might be high, but your conversion rate might be low – or vice versa.

If, all else being equal, one channel or sales rep converts three times more inbound calls over a few months, you might need to improve call scripts or reduce workloads for some reps.

3. Call Volume

The volume of calls you generate might be the most important metric not directly tied to money. The more inbound calls you receive, the better, but it’s equally critical to understand how those calls are distributed over time and across channels.

Knowing the call volume and conversion rate for different call tracking numbers might help you switch to calls that work best. You might assume local numbers perform better for regional campaigns, but if international numbers outperform them, use those instead.

By analyzing call volume by traffic channel, campaign, location, and time of day, you can identify your best and worst marketing channels and determine the optimal number of live operators needed at any given time. Sudden spikes or drops in call volume also reflect emerging trends or issues worth monitoring.

4. Cost Per Call

Cost per call is a key metric for pay-per-call campaigns, allowing you to calculate how much it costs to acquire a single call and, combined with ROI and conversion rates, which campaigns pay off.

CPC = Total Call Costs / Total Number of Calls

However, a low cost per call doesn’t mean you’re doing great – it only means your marketing is cost-efficient. Always analyze CPC alongside other call tracking metrics, showing how many calls result in sales and how big those sales are.

5. Call Source

If you’re generating calls from multiple sources, you need to know where specific callers come from to calculate ROI by traffic source and double down on the most profitable call sources.

Gone are the days when IT companies received a bunch of lead forms, had to call people back, and then couldn’t get a hold of them: the contact rate was pathetic, and the lead quality wasn’t always great. But when you’re driving calls, you’re getting closer to the business objectives much quicker. You’re connecting the consumer directly with the call center they can do business with.

Knowing the call source is crucial for attributing inbound calls to the right affiliate. Plus, understanding which sources generate which calls lets you tailor your marketing (and creative materials, if you’re an advertiser) to specific audiences.

6. New and Repeat Callers

Another related yet distinct metric is new versus repeat callers. Knowing whether a caller is new or already aware of your software development firm is valuable for customizing their journey. For new callers, you might start from scratch; for repeat callers, you might factor in their engagement history when configuring their current journey.

7. Call Duration

Call duration is an important metric reflecting caller engagement. While an overly long call doesn’t always equal success, analyzing duration against outcomes can indicate how long calls should ideally last.

Short calls – say, 30 seconds – often reflect a marketing mismatch or a mistaken call, while longer calls usually mean a customer asks detailed questions about your product, indicating high sales potential. 

Besides, knowing the exact call duration is necessary for qualifying inbound calls. In affiliate marketing, most companies only pay for calls exceeding a minimum time, typically 90 seconds, to filter out irrelevant or fraudulent calls.

8. First Call Resolution (FCR)

First Call Resolution helps you understand which callers will likely convert on the first call and how to address their requests faster.

FCR (%) = (Number of Issues Resolved on First Call / Total Number of Calls) × 100

People hate being bounced around or forced to call back, so a high FCR typically means happier customers, better retention, and higher ROI. Similarly, agents with higher FCR scores are likely your top performers.

9. Caller Demographics

Knowing the age, gender, location, income level, or occupation of callers is critical for developing accurate buyer profiles and customer journeys. It’s also key to staying cost-effective when buying calls – knowing the details lets you focus resources on what matters.

The good news is that with advanced IVR systems and conversational AI, you can collect tons of demographic data even for shorter caller journeys. Likewise, such phone call tracking systems can solve simpler requests independently without redirecting the caller to a live operator.

10. Peak Call Times

Knowing when callers are most active helps you allocate extra resources for those hours or adjust call routing to minimize queues. For example, you might allow the system to distribute calls to less relevant sales reps during peak hours if the queue is too long.

11. Call Abandonment Rate

Reflecting the percentage of callers who hang up before their call is resolved, the Call Abandonment Rate correlates with how well sales agents process calls and how effectively your call routing system is designed (e.g., whether callers reach the best-matching operators).

Call Abandonment Rate (%) = (Number of Abandoned Calls / Total Number of Inbound Calls) × 100

Abandoned calls are lost opportunities – a metric showing your unrealized potential. Identify and fix operational bottlenecks to minimize abandonment so they no longer hinder the caller experience.

12. Average Time to Answer (ATA)

Showing how long callers wait in a queue before being answered by an agent or processed by IVR, ATA reflects how well-optimized your call processing system is and how well-staffed your call center is.

Average Time to Answer (ATA) = (Total Wait Time for Calls Answered / Calls Answered)

Long queues mean you must adjust call routing, adopt automation solutions, let IVR or conversational AI handle more calls independently, or hire additional operators.

13. Call Sentiment Score

Call Sentiment Score is a complex metric quantifying a caller’s emotions, tone of speech, and purchase intent, which a live operator or AI can track during a call.

With phone calls, you’re typically trying to generate a customer further down the sales cycle than a potential web lead who has just submitted their data on a website and may or may not be contacted.

When AI scores sentiment, it assigns numerical values to voices, phrases, pitch, and volume, then calculates an average score (e.g., 0 to 100). Over time, this helps you learn to handle irritated or frustrated callers better.

14. Call Transfer Rate

Call Transfer Rate measures the percentage of calls transferred from one agent or department to another, reflecting how well you distribute calls and how capable your agents are at processing them. Naturally, you’d aim to transfer as few calls as possible.

Call Transfer Rate (%) = (Number of Calls Transferred / Total Number of Inbound Calls) × 100

A high transfer rate often means agents lack the information or skills to handle calls or don’t receive adequate caller insights beforehand.

15. Average Handle Time (AHT)

Average Handle Time shows how long it takes to resolve a call, from start to post-call data recording and related tasks. With caveats (e.g., AHT rises if call time increases), it helps analyze operational efficiency and caller experience.

AHT = (Total Talk + Hold + After-Call Work Time) / Total Calls Handled

More often than not, AHT is analyzed together with call processing quality. These call tracking metrics accurately display your cost-efficiency in handling inbound calls.

An important aspect of closing more B2B sales is having a shared understanding among all the players who influence the purchase decision. Chances are, in some conversations, the decision-maker brings in three other people for the next demo, and they’re all discussing their needs. If you’ve got those recordings, you can review those sales calls to identify what those other people are asking and how marketing influences people who are coming into the room at a later or earlier stage. Use those sales calls to define who the influencers are in the decision, document it, and review it with sales. Make sure that the shared pool of meaning is there. Then, sales will have a bank of resources to use. 

The Path of a Phone Call and Collected Call Tracking Metrics

Step 1. A Lead Interacts with Marketing Content

Whether you’re an advertiser or an affiliate, most leads’ journeys begin with discovering and interacting with your content – a PPC campaign, a blog post, or a social media post.

The key here is that the asset displays a unique DNI phone number – local, international, or vanity – that helps identify the source. This information might be enough to apply the right strategy to a particular caller.

Here are some call metrics you can collect at this stage:

• Source attribution – the campaign that triggered the call
• Keyword performance – the keywords that triggered the call (for PPC or SEO campaigns)
• Lead-to-call conversion rate – the percentage of ad viewers who make a call

Step 2. The Lead Initiates a Call

Once the lead initiates the call, your call management infrastructure records it and prepares to process it. Further steps may vary depending on whether you use VoIP, telecom infrastructure, or other call center software.

Here are some call tracking metrics you can collect at this stage:

• Call volume: The number of calls generated during a specified period
• Caller demographics: The caller’s area code and device type

By processing call volume and demographic data, you can analyze nuanced call tracking metrics like peak call times and locations, focusing efforts on profitable areas and preparing operators for busy hours.

Step 3. IVR Qualifies the Call to a Matching Sales Rep

Depending on your system, the caller may connect directly to a customer support or sales agent, or, ideally, an IVR system that further qualifies them by asking pertinent questions.

IVR is essential, whether it only supports touchpad selection or includes conversational AI that analyzes intent and provides contextual responses based on answers, tone, or sentiment. 

For some queries, IVR can resolve them independently, freeing resources for calls needing human assistance. Once qualified, the caller connects to a matching sales rep or joins a queue if all reps are busy.

Here are some call tracking metrics you can collect at this stage:

• Caller’s data: General and industry-specific details (e.g., for auto insurance, driving records, or claim history)
• Call queue time: The time queued calls wait before connecting to an operator

Based on these metrics, you can improve call routing. For example, if call queue drop-off is high, you might need more operators or better distribution mechanisms.

Step 4. The Sales Rep Processes the Call

When the call reaches a matching operator, they may already have the caller’s info and a suggested solution, thanks to integrated systems with real-time data transfers. Whether or not they get a head start, operators collect the data needed to resolve the request.

They can gather any caller data, much like conversational AI, as long as it serves the caller’s best interest. With an advanced system, they won’t repeat questions asked earlier.

Here are some call tracking metrics you can collect at this stage:

• Call intent – the purpose of the call
• Call sentiment – a live evaluation of the caller’s mood by AI and operator
• Keywords – specific words spoken during the call
• Call transfers – the percentage of calls transferred to another department or agent
• Hold time – the time the caller waits on hold during the call
• Call status – whether the call is active, on hold, or processed

The call tracking metrics you record depend on your goals. For example, you might only track talk time, silence duration, hold time, and call transfers when evaluating agent performance.

Step 5. Call Tracking Software Records the Call and Logs the Outcome

Once the call ends, advanced call tracking software for business can record the total duration of the call, the outcome (sale, lost, follow-up, etc.), and possibly post-call survey responses. From these, you can derive metrics like FCR or agent performance ratings.

With all call tracking metrics in place, analyze this batch against historical data for this caller type and others. The process repeats for every inbound call, giving you a clear picture of your campaigns.

You can also simulate call campaigns with this data. For example, if expanding into a new market, run simulations – adjusting parameters until you achieve the desired outcome – at no risk beyond subscription costs. Test until you pinpoint the best campaign design for your business.

If you’re using a true end-to-end tracking solution, you’ll likely know what conversions must look like to achieve your needs. But if and when they don’t, be ready to make changes and adapt to ensure that you’re not just hoping things will change when you’ve done nothing to facilitate that change.

Automate Call Tracking to Grow Your Call Profits

In call tracking and analytics, one thing that can make a huge difference is your choice of call tracking metrics to evaluate call campaigns. Whether you’re relying on call analytics software or manual supervision, much depends on which call tracking metrics you’re using in the first place.

• A study by Forrester on phone calls found that calls convert 30% faster than web leads, and callers spend 28% more and have a 28% higher retention rate. So that’s pretty much an exponential growth number. If you spend a million dollars on PPC or media buying or whatever, it’s evident that you’ll be better off trying to spend that money to generate calls than web leads.

Last but not least, there’s only one way to process more inbound calls without losing quality: call tracking & routing automation, and granular insights into the process. Whether you generate calls via a website, paid ads, or pay-per-call marketing, the call software largely determines how well you process all the call tracking metrics and turn callers into paying customers.

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