DialogTech and LiveRamp join to make calls a display optimization tool

DialogTech has integrated with LiveRamp as part of a new call data and attribution offering for display ads. The product is intended to enable marketers to optimize their display campaigns to drive more calls and to identify audiences more likely to convert over the phone.

Calls have documented importance in high-consideration categories like home services and insurance. And in contrast to some marketers’ perceptions, call volumes are increasing as smartphones become primary consumer internet devices.

Calls in the DialogTech-LiveRamp partnership become a way to capture audience data and enable better display targeting and retargeting. DialogTech says that call data can be used to find lookalike audiences or to retarget visitors who called but didn’t buy. The data can also be used to identify and avoid audiences that already converted, so they’re not seeing the same ads post-conversion — still a major retargeting problem.

LiveRamp can also provide additional insight into the larger consumer path to purchase (here, calls) and identify other touch points that contributed to calls providing a more holistic view of the customer journey. This is consistent with LiveRamp’s new IdentityLink offering, which builds cross-channel customer profiles.

The LiveRamp partnership similarly enables view-through attribution, where users are exposed to a display ad but don’t click and later call from a different source. According to DialogTech, this enables marketers to “attribute every call conversion influenced by display, even if the lead calls later from a different channel.”

DialogTech argues that call data also makes multi-touch attribution better because, without calls, “marketers lack a clear and accurate view of the customer journey and risk making incorrect assumptions that could cost them conversions and customers.”

DialogTech says that its call data will be available to more than 350 LiveRamp partners.

About The Author

Greg Sterling

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He writes a personal blog, Screenwerk, about connecting the dots between digital media and real-world consumer behavior. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.