Act-On goes mobile — and old-school — hooking in phone calls to marketing automation

Marketing automation platform Act-On and Ifbyphone announced a partnership today that integrates Ifbyphone’s call tracking with Act-On’s technology, helping marketers add good old-fashioned phone calls to their digital marketing metrics.

But that’s not as old-school as it seems, Ifbyphone’s VP of partnerships says.

In fact, it’s a direct result of new-school marketing.

“Search inquiries and digital marketing generate billions of inbound calls to businesses in the U.S. alone every month,” Ifbyphone’s Josh Mallamud said in a statement. “Data-driven marketers must be able to leverage that call data in lead analysis, scoring, and nurturing if they wish to truly optimize marketing’s impact on revenue.”

What that means is that Act-On customers will be able to monitor and track phone calls alongside other metrics such as website visits, email opens, and ad clicks, helping to build a better, more holistic view of return on investment for campaigns. Essentially it ties the last mile connection — you or me picking up the phone and directly calling a company — with the originating source of that engagement.

That’s old-school in the sense of using mobile devices for actually talking — how 1980s — but new-school in that digital marketing, done right, leads to consumer engagement with companies. And there’s no greater sign of engagement than an interested prospect dialing your phone number.

This will play extremely well to Act-On’s client base, who are mostly small- and medium-sized businesses. Many of them have physical addresses and a desire to connect with local consumers, according to the VentureBeat Marketing Automation Index, where it is a top 10 pick.

The partnership will enable “customers to more effectively measure the impact of their multi-channel marketing programs,” Act-On’s Gal Josefsberg said, adding that it will enhance “a marketer’s ability to tailor campaigns based on prospect interest.”

Ifbyphone’s platform, called Voice360, has now processed over one billion minutes of voice engagement for its customers, the company said.