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IfByPhone vs. Moongoose Metrics for Google Analytics Call Tracking part 1

My Cliff Hanger Intro

So, I had a professor in college, Kent Lundin, who was an internet marketing enthusiast. He created 2 classes for the university based on the subject. One was a crash course on Google adwords and analytics. The other one which I took my last semester was “Created an online business” where we had to build a website and do some form of transaction before the semester was over.

I remember during one of the classes, we started talking about local businesses and internet marketing. My professor stopped the conversation and said…”If a person could find a way to track phone calls from keywords searched on the web, they will make a lot of money, and local internet marketing would become a serious power house for local buisnesses.”

The Companies

Well, they did it. I think he was hoping one of the students would find a way to make the millions, but Ifbyphone and mongoose metrics pulled it off. You beat us to it and you came up with some pretty cool company names!

So as a student who remembered the wishes of an old professor, I felt that I needed to do a bit of research and get on the boat with one of these companies to help myself and my clients. So, I did just that and here is what I found

Mongoose Metrics

These guys are the one that google personally endorsed on there analytics blog. This is all they focus on. As far as services they offer…

  • dynamic numbers for keywords
  • tracking in multiple analytic platforms
  • call recording
  • geo location
  • ppc integration for campaigns and groups

Ifbyphone

These guys do a whole lot more than just call tracking. They are like the guy in the trench coat that sales everything you can imagine from watches to statue of liberty lighters. There services include…

  • store locater
  • click to call
  • dynamic phone number tracking for keywords
  • virtual receptionist
  • conference calling
  • find me
  • voice broadcasting
  • PPC tracking

Who I Chose And Why

Before I start on this I really need to explain something…I was a door-to-door salesman for 3 years. Now, I know that might sound a bit cheesy, but Security Systems and Pest Control Services sold door-to-door is big, big money. I have friends that make 100,000-400,000 during a 4-5 months of sales.  In the area I went to school this stuff is big and competitive.

During my stay as a door-to-door salesman, I came across about every sales technique in the book. And if there was one I hated more than anything is was the, “I am never going to let you know what the price of this service is.” See, in this sales technique, you try to get in every feature and you use every “spin selling” (I will write about spin another time) pitch and don’t give pricing until a person is ready to sign up. I hated it, and I never ever used it.

So If you visit ifbyphones pricing page you will see that you can read about the features and see the price. Very, very nice.  Also, when I contacted them about reseller opportunities, they were very fast at telling me what I could sell at and what commission I would get from every account. I got a hold of them the same day I called, they sent me all the information that I needed and were very easy going.

Now with Mongoose Metrics it was a different case. When you click on their pricing page you are promoted to set up a meeting to learn more about pricing.  I called on a friday, I was told a representative would get with me during normal hours.  Monday, I received no call, I called again and was told the same thing. I didn’t get a call until Tuesday, during the call I was told that they didn’t have time to talk to me and we would have to talk Wednesday at 9 a.m. Well, 9 am came and went. I received a call at 10 (durring which I was trying to enjoy my county parade). The man on the phone said “sorry, I was busy” I told him it was ok and I was interested in their service as a reseller and woud like to know what the pricing is.

Then the guy started quizzing me and saying things like…”Well, first let’s explore why our services would give you a competitive advantage over the competition.” He told me they had zero competitors…hmmm…and then when I mentioned ifbyphone he said they don’t even consider them a competitor because they were on a different level. I asked what that level was and he began to talk about services both companies offered (so he new about them in detail). He wouldn’t give me the price for over an hour.  He kept wanting to compare “apples to apples” finally, I just asked what the price was and he shot it out to me so confusing and so fast that I couldn’t even understand it. So, I said, thanks and I would love an email or a price sheet so I can really see what you are offering at what price…He said he would send me something like that after we got of the phone and set up a time to call back on the following Monday.

A couple days later I get a call (not on Monday) wondering where we left off. By that time I had signed up and integrated ifbyphones service into my website. He had forgot to email me pricing and had clearly shown that customer service and support where not priorities.

What I Learned

  • Mongoose Metrics is supposedly a great company…I probably will never use their services
  • ifbyphone was very fast at getting me the information that I needed
  • ifbyphones’s prices are substainally less for the basic keyword tracking service
  • I didn’t ever get what mongooses reseller plan was….still guarding it
  • ifbyphone lets you sell the service to your clients for less than they sell it on the site. If you have 3 clients your personal service price moves to a very low monthly cost.
  • I was told that mongooses interface is much better
  • So far integration with ifbyphone has been very fast and effective.

I haven’t been with them long so after I feel like I have a good handle on everything I will bring part 2 of this post and do a in-depth at the set up and integration of their various services.

I don’t think that it is necessary for people to give pricing on their website. If you can and it makes since…I would for sure.  Many industries can’t do this…but, when people call for your pricing, let them know what they want to know…or you might get a blog post written about the experience. I wish both companies the best in the future and hopefully mongoose metrics can re-adjust their approach and stand up to the level that Google Analtyics team put them out to be.