Call tracking can provide countless benefits to almost any type of business. It’s also one of the most misunderstood marketing tools. We’ve put together a list of common call tracking misconceptions and why they should be dispelled. If you’re hesitant about using call tracking for your business, make sure it isn’t for one of these fallacies:

1) It’s Expensive

Call tracking is a long-term investment that reduces your wage bill, increases lead generation, and makes your business more profitable. It allows your business to stop wasting marketing dollars and start putting them towards only those strategies with strong ROI. Understandably, businesses with little experience of the benefits of call tracking may approach it with caution, which is why flexible pricing plans and plenty of support is essential to make the transition.

2) It Will Confuse Customers

It’s unlikely that a change of phone number will even register with most customers in 2015, the majority of whom use smartphones with click-to-call buttons, or simply look up the number on the website. Even if a customer has your former number saved on their phone, it can be redirected. The chance of losing a customer due to a change in contact details is vastly outweighed by the opportunities for generating new business. And you don’t even have to change your number. If it’s an important part of your brand, you can still take advantage of call tracking by rerouting the multiple numbers to the same line. You can still collect the same data, and maintain any long-standing ad campaigns featuring your original number.

3) Vanity Numbers Aren’t a Good Look

As we’ve seen, smartphones facilitate click-to-call technology that may appear to make customized numbers a bit old hat. But call tracking with multiple numbers isn’t about vanity - it’s about data. Having a different number for billboard, radio, television, print and online advertising will help you keep tabs on where the majority of your business is coming from.

4) It’s Bad for SEO

This particular canard originates from the theory that Google will list multiple phone numbers in a search. But you don’t have to list every single call tracking number on your directory listings or partner sites, or even on your own website. If there’s only one number you want internet searchers to find, simply omit the others from your online content. The point of call tracking is to draw data principally from offline ad channels. Online data - searches, site traffic, keywords - is easy to gather because the internet was designed that way. Call tracking technology is an attempt to bring offline data collection and market research in line with the rich analysis enabled by online activity.

5) It’s Hard to Set Up

Nope. It’s easy to set up, and there’s no hardware or system upgrades to worry about. Get the full lowdown on call tracking solutions here.