One of the best technologies to come down the pike in recent years has been call capture, a system by which you can buy 800 numbers to track the source of your lead generation. This is a growth industry, with many technology companies vying for the lead spot in providing call capture software and systems to customers in many different vertical markets.

Some of the markets where the technology is increasingly producing stunning results for those willing to apply it are:

• Real estate marketing
• Mortgage origination
• Online marketing and coaching
• Any marketing campaign that uses phone-generated leads

How it works

Without getting into the technical details of how a typical system works, the outcome is something like the following:

1. The marketer purchases or subscribes to call capture software, usually a hosted web application that acts as a control panel for the marketing campaigns set up to use the system.

2. In the best systems, the marketer can buy phone numbers like web marketers buy domains. Ideally, each phone number will only appear in one advertisement venue, so the performance of that campaign can be tracked closely. The cost for phone numbers varies from $5 to $20 per month, depending on the company and the volume of calls.

3. Next, the marketer advertises in several publications using different call capture phone numbers. For instance, one number may be used for Craigslist ads, another for a particular print publication, and another on the company website.

4. Then you sit back and watch the results to measure performance and collect leads from each source.

Information collected in call capture

Different call capture systems collect varying amounts of sales intelligence and contact information from a lead. Most provide the number the lead called from, even if their number is normally blocked. Most also provide systems for requesting specific information, often in return for free downloads, website access, or other goodies you want to provide.

You can offer free access to search your MLS listings if they go to a specific extension and say their name. Or you can offer a free home valuation in return for leaving their email address with you. There are as many ways to collect valuable marketing intelligence as there are marketers to think of them.

That’s the great thing about a good call capture system. It allows you to apply your own marketing creativity to your own business. You get the ability to measure the effectiveness of your marketing dollars and funnel your resources only into the campaigns that are working for you.

Kevin Harper is a writer, web developer, and SEO specialist covering real estate marketing and real estate call capture systems and software.