Use Analytics to count visits and form enquiries by hour and weekday over several months, then compare that with your phone log. Staff the phone for calls, answer forms first thing, and schedule ads to match.

When people actually get in touch

Most small businesses staff the phone during opening hours and assume that is when customers are looking. Often it is not.

People research when they have a spare moment: on the bus, at lunch, after the children are in bed. They phone when the business is open and they are free at the same time, which is a narrower window.

Analytics records the hour and weekday of every visit, and of every form sent if the form is set up as a goal. Few owners ever look.

Within a few months of data the pattern is usually plain, and it often sits outside the opening hours.

Where to find the hours

The third is the one most small sites are missing. Visits show when people look; only goal completions show when they actually ask for something, and the two often peak at different times.

Counting enquiries, not visits

If your contact form leads to a thank-you page, turning that page into a goal takes a few minutes. Every form sent is then recorded with its date and hour.

A form that shows its thank-you message on the same page needs an event instead, which whoever built the site can add.

Use at least three months, preferably a whole season, and read weekdays and weekends separately. One busy week tells you about that week.

Turn on the setting that excludes known bots, and confirm the view's time zone, before trusting any hour in the report.

The phone keeps its own record

Analytics knows nothing about people who read your number and dialled it.

Your phone system's call log does, and so may your phone company. Count incoming calls by hour for the same months and put the two patterns side by side.

Calls from ads appear in AdWords too, if call extensions with call reporting are switched on. Each call is listed with its start time and length.

Count the missed calls as well as the answered ones. A cluster of missed calls at one hour is the plainest sign that the phone is staffed at the wrong time.

Where the two patterns differ is where the decisions are.

A worked example

A water taxi with two boats carries passengers between a harbour, a few island docks and a waterfront hotel. Bookings come by phone and through a form on its website.

The office phone was answered from nine to five on weekdays. Outside those hours calls went to the skipper's mobile, which he could not answer while running the boat.

Goal completions by hour showed most booking forms arriving between eight and eleven at night, the evening before a trip.

The call log showed the heaviest calling between six and eight in the morning, from people wanting a boat that day.

People plan tomorrow's trip in the evening, at a screen, and decide on today's in the morning, on the dock.

The office shift now starts at half past six, and the overnight forms are answered before seven. The site says evening requests are confirmed by seven the next morning.

The call extension now shows only while someone can pick up. Nothing about the boats changed; the phone is simply staffed when it rings.

Answering forms first thing

Forms sent at night are read in the morning, and how fast that first reply goes out matters more than the hour the form arrived.

Make the overnight forms the first job of the day, before the phone gets busy. An enquiry answered at eight is still warm; by mid-afternoon the customer may have booked elsewhere.

Say on the form page when replies are sent, so evening visitors know what to expect.

The days of the week

The weekday pattern often matters as much as the hourly one. Forms sent over a weekend all land on Monday morning, which can make it the heaviest hour of the week for whoever answers them.

If weekend forms pile up, a short check on Saturday or Sunday evening may be worth more than an extra hour on a weekday.

Read the two patterns together. They show the week as your customers live it, rather than as the staff roster describes it.

Scheduling ads by the hour

AdWords can run ads on a schedule and raise or lower bids by hour and day.

Do not simply switch ads off outside opening hours. If evening visitors send forms, evening clicks may be among your most useful.

Do restrict whatever relies on someone answering, such as call-only ads and call extensions, to the hours the phone is staffed. A call that rings out is a paid click with nobody on the other end.

Timing email

Email to existing customers can follow the same pattern. Send when your own visitors are reading, which the hourly report has already shown.

Most email is opened on phones, much of it soon after it arrives, so the hour of sending decides where in someone's day the message lands. Check the newsletter tool's time zone before trusting its schedule.

The counter-case

A business with a handful of enquiries a month will not see a reliable pattern by the hour. By weekday may be the most its data supports.

One with someone on the phone all day anyway has less to change in staffing, though the timing of ads and email still applies. And seasons and holidays move the pattern, so look again when the year turns.

Where the numbers are big enough, though, read when enquiries arrive, compare it with the phone, and staff, schedule and send to match.

Before the next roster

  1. Make the thank-you page a goal in Analytics.
  2. Turn on bot filtering if it is off.
  3. Build an hour and weekday report for goals.
  4. Pull three months of calls from your phone log.
  5. Compare the two patterns side by side.
  6. Move staff hours to match the calls.
  7. Limit call extensions to staffed hours.

Step four is what turns the rest into decisions. Analytics sees forms but not calls, and the gap between the two patterns is where staffing changes come from.

The same report, read around a single broadcast, is covered in measuring a radio ad with the hourly report.

Frequently asked questions

Can Analytics show when enquiries arrive?

Yes, if the form leads to a thank-you page set up as a goal. A custom report of goal completions by hour and weekday then shows when forms are sent.

Why compare forms with phone calls?

Because Analytics records forms but not calls, and the two often peak at different hours. The difference shows when to staff the phone and when to answer forms.

How do I include phone calls?

Count incoming calls by hour from your phone system's log for the same months. Calls from ads with call reporting also appear in AdWords with their times.

Should ads stop outside opening hours?

Not necessarily. Evening visitors often send forms, so those clicks can be useful. Limit call-only ads and call extensions to the hours someone answers instead.

How much data do I need?

At least three months, preferably a full season, with holidays excluded. A business with only a few enquiries a month may only see a reliable pattern by weekday.

When should business emails be sent?

When your own visitors are reading, which the hourly report shows. Check the newsletter tool's time zone setting before trusting its schedule.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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