Although a recent mobile campaign from Holiday Inn Express resulted in a small number of qualified leads, the hotel brand still saw a substantial ROI by using click-to-call advertising.

Through targeting consumers by their device’s location, the Holiday Inn Express in Logan, UT aimed to drive hotel reservations. The company worked with LogMyCalls on the campaign from July 18 – 28.

“It points to the absolute necessity for using click-to-call with some form of call tracking and the ability to listen to calls for content and quality,” said Carlton van Putten, vice president of sales and marketing at ContactPoint’s LogMyCalls, St. George, UT.

“The problem in the industry is that anyone doing click-to-call needs to realize that there is a huge blind spot and are making mistakes with the cost to leads,” he said.

Missed call
LogMyCalls set up a Google click-to-call campaign for the Holiday Inn Express with local ads that targeted mobile searchers in the area.

The campaign cost $332 and Google charged the company for 60 calls.

Out of the total leads, LogMyCalls found that 29 of the calls were completed and made to the hotel, representing 48.3 percent of the original 60 calls.

Additionally, LogMyCalls used analytics to find that nine – or 15 percent – of the original 60 calls were certified leads with consumers looking for information to either book a room on the spot or inquiring about a price.

Six calls or ten percent of the leads that Holiday Inn Express was charged for ended in a room reservation, showing how although click-to-call can be used by hotel brands to drive reservations, it can also be misleading.

LogMyCalls claims that the acquisition cost of the campaign made up approximately 35 percent of sales, meaning that although the campaign did not generate a high number of qualified leads, the initiative still made a substantial ROI for Holiday Inn Express.

Search on mobile
With consumers searching more on their smartphones and tablets for quick information, incorporating mobile search into a brand’s overall marketing mix is critical.

For example, a recent forecast from BIA/Kelsey predicts that by 2015 local searches made on a mobile device will surpass desktop searches (see story).

Using click-to-call is especially important for hotel brands looking to drive foot traffic with consumers who are looking for a last-minute stay.

According to a study from Four Points by Sheraton, 74 percent of consumers surveyed said that smartphones are the No. 1 device that they bring while traveling (see story).

“[Click-to-call] is a natural action because it is a phone after all,” said McKay Allen, inbound marketing manager at LogMyCalls.

“Our data shows that when someone completes a search they have already done their research before on their mobile device,” he said.

“Mobile searches are a different animal so therefore the responses are going to be more immediate.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York