Google sent out notification today that they will soon charge $1 per call for the Call Metrics feature in AdWords.  Here is the announcement:

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For the past few months, our larger ecommerce clients have been utilizing the Call Metrics feature that has been out in limited release in the US.  Call Metrics uses Google Voice technology to automatically insert a campaign specific, toll-free phone number in the headline of an advertiser's PPC ads when they appear on Google.com.   When a prospective customer calls the Google Voice phone number in your ad, the call is forwarded to your business phone number that is associated with the Campaign.  AdWords captures the call and attributes it to the appropriate campaign.  (Note:  this is not the same as the "Click to Call" feature that is specific to mobile devices)

This feature has been helpful for us to demonstrate the role of PPC in influencing offline conversions for advertisers who usually experience large or complex orders via phone call.  Unfortunately, Google is now charging $1 per call for this feature.  So, advertisers who experience a high incidence of offline conversions will need to determine whether it's worth potentially thousands of extra dollars per month for the attribution insight.  Some of our advertisers feel that they would have received the phone call anyway since their toll free number is prominently displayed on every page of their website.

Our Google rep put forth the evidence that users are 5 times more likely to click on ads with phone extensions, so it may be worth paying the $1 per call in order to increase traffic volume.  For our ecommerce clients, CTR is already upwards of 10% for many campaigns due to the presence of Product Extensions and Sitelinks, which makes the Call Metrics CTR argument a difficult one to champion.

Of course, everything has a Quality Score spin, and Call Metrics are no different.  Our rep informed us that calls will be "factored into Quality Score" and that advertisers will be "rewarded for call volume" in addition to clicks.  Google will be incorporating a new "bid per call" and historic "phonethrough" rate (PTR) in the calculation of Ad Rank.  We look forward to more detailed information on these and their overall impact on Ad Rank and CPC.

Call me jaded, but I can't help but smile when I hear how advertisers will be "rewarded" for call volume.  More like Google will be rewarded with even more bottom line revenue.  (Quick - time to buy more GOOG?)

If you are considering enabling this feature, keep in mind that you currently don't have the ability to pause it during non-business hours.  So, unless you have 24/7/365 phone support, you will definitely be paying for wasted calls.  We've asked Google to clarify whether there will be a minimum call length before the $1 charge is assessed, and if there will be any way to "schedule" Call Metrics for business hours only.

If the Call Metrics feature make sense for your business, here is how to set it up:

In the "Ad Extensions" tab of each campaign, choose "phone extensions" from the View dropdown and click on "add new extension".  Then simply click the "Call metrics" box  and "save" as follows:

Click on thumbnail for larger imageThat is all advertisers are currently required to do for Call Metrics, but we assume that we will be prompted to enter a "bid per call" just as we would a keyword Max CPC.

To view Call Metrics data, simply enable the "Call Metrics" data columns at the campaign level as follows:

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More detailed call information is currently available in the Dimensions tab by selecting the "Call Metrics Calls" view:

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This pricing development is unfortunate, but not surprising as the beast known as the "GOOG shareholder" has an insatiable appetite, and once again needs to be fed.   It is clear that Google is dangling the carrot of improved Quality Score and Ad Rank to lure advertisers.  

With CPCs and competitors on the rise,  most of our advertisers have chosen to sit on the sidelines for a bit, rather than incur additional significant Adwords charges.  However, we will be watching closely to see if there is ultimately any impact on Quality Score or Ad Rank as a result of our "non-participation" in the coming months.