Pay-per-call.
Define the conversation.
A performance acquisition model built around calls that meet agreed campaign criteria. The useful starting point is what your team can answer and convert.
What is pay-per-call?
Pay-per-call is a buying model in which an advertiser pays for calls that satisfy the campaign’s agreed billing rules. Those rules may include product interest, eligible geography, connection requirements, a duration threshold, or other qualification criteria. The exact definition belongs in the campaign terms.
An inbound call describes the way a consumer connects. Pay-per-call describes the commercial model. A ringing phone alone does not establish qualification, and a duration threshold alone does not establish a sale.
Build the rules before buying volume.
- Product and market: specify the offer, eligible states or service areas, and exclusions.
- Billable call: agree how connection, duration, duplicates, misroutes, and exceptions are handled.
- Routing and hours: choose the destination, operating schedule, time zone, concurrency, and daily limits.
- Feedback: define the disposition codes and review process that connect a call to its eventual outcome.
Ask how a consumer reaches the call and what expectation the advertisement or landing page sets. A mismatch between the consumer’s request and the buyer’s offer can undermine an otherwise valid connection.
Measure beyond cost per call.
Compare billable spend with qualified conversations, quotes or appointments, and acquired customers. Review unanswered and abandoned calls separately: insufficient answering capacity can make an appropriate source look unproductive. Start with a test your team can fully answer, then review performance by source, geography, and time of day.
Scale Club discusses availability, qualification, pricing, and volume for each campaign. There is no universal rate or guaranteed outcome across products and markets.