Google Shakes Up Business Profiles: Call and Chat Reporting Going Away

Demonstrating yet again its knack for catching business owners and marketers off guard, Google recently announced the sunsetting of Google Business profiles’ call and chat history functionality. These changes, seemingly aligned with a wider effort to consolidate Google’s products and focus elsewhere, will finish by July 31, 2024. Of course, this will change how many businesses interact with leads, but don’t despair. With planning and the right conversation analytics tool in place, you can take this latest Google switch-up as an opportunity to take your marketing efforts to a new level.

What’s Changing on Google Business Profiles?

Google Business Profiles, formerly Google My Business, have been a crucial tool for companies to manage their online presence and engage with customers. The profiles allow businesses to display important information like hours, location, and services and interact with customers through features like messaging and call tracking.

Now, however, Google is phasing out two key features:

1. Call tracking, which allows businesses to see data on calls received through their Google Business Profile, including call duration and frequency.

2. Chat history, which gives businesses access to records of customer conversations from their profile’s messaging feature.

Why the Change?

Like other updates to its products, Google has offered a minimal explanation for its decision. However, industry experts speculate that it may be related to privacy concerns and data protection regulations. By removing these tracking features, Google could be aiming to reduce the amount of personal data it collects and stores about users’ interactions with businesses.

Another possibility is that Google is streamlining its Business Profiles to focus on core features that it feels provide the most value to both businesses and consumers, notably NAPW (name, address, phone number, and website) details. Such a move helps the platform easier to navigate and manage for business owners, especially those with limited marketing experience.

Impact on Businesses

So what does this all mean for businesses? Well, a few things:

1. Fewer customer insights: Without Google Business Profile call tracking data, businesses will lose valuable information about customer engagement through phone calls. This could make it more challenging to measure the effectiveness of their local SEO  in driving phone inquiries and overall leads. Additionally, companies need to be able to readily sort out obvious spam or misdials based on call length data.

2. Limited customer service capabilities: The loss of chat history may hamper businesses’ ability to provide seamless customer service from a mobile device. Additionally, they won’t have easy access to previous conversations for context.

3. Potential need for third-party solutions: Some businesses may turn to external call tracking and chat management tools to fill the gap left by Google’s changes. This could lead to additional costs and complexity in managing customer interactions.

4. Customer engagement pivot: Businesses may need to adjust their customer engagement strategies, potentially placing more emphasis on other communication channels or encouraging customers to reach out through different platforms.

Alternatives to Minimize the Impact

While the removal of these features presents challenges, businesses can take several steps to adapt:

Step 1: Implement alternative tracking solutions

With Google removing native call tracking features from Business Profiles, businesses should consider adopting third-party call tracking services or comprehensive customer relationship management (CRM) systems. These solutions can not only replace the lost functionality but also provide enhanced capabilities.

For instance, platforms like CallTrackingMetrics offer advanced call attribution features that go beyond Google’s basic tracking and can potentially lead to a competitive advantage. These tools can provide detailed insights into which marketing channels and campaigns are driving phone calls, allowing businesses to optimize their marketing spend more effectively.

[Read our guide to setting up tracking numbers on Google Business Profiles]

Moreover, such platforms often offer real-time access to customer demographic information. This can be invaluable for businesses looking to better understand their customer base and tailor their services accordingly. Imagine being able to instantly know the general location, age range, or even interests of a caller before you pick up the phone!

Another significant advantage of dedicated call tracking platforms is their ability to integrate with external CRMs and AI technologies. This integration unlocks powerful insights that allow businesses to form stronger customer relationships via more impactful and customized communication:

• Automated customer follow-ups: Based on call outcomes or specific triggers, the system can automatically send follow-up emails or text messages, ensuring no potential lead falls through the cracks.
• Call scoring for training purposes: Calls can be automatically recorded and rated based on predefined criteria. This feature is handy for training new staff, improving customer service quality, identifying top performers, and spotting emerging issues.
• Advanced call routing: Top call tracking systems now use AI to analyze incoming calls and route them to the most appropriate department or representative. This improves efficiency and enhances the overall customer experience by connecting callers with the right person more quickly. This is essential nowadays given people’s rising expectations regarding resolution times for questions or problems.
• Sentiment analysis: Some platforms use AI to analyze call content and customer sentiment, providing valuable insights into customer satisfaction and potential areas for improvement.

It’s worth noting that while these solutions are powerful, they can be pricey. When choosing a call tracking platform, businesses should carefully evaluate their needs and budget. 

For many businesses, however (especially those relying heavily on phone calls for business) the benefits far outweigh the investment.

Step 2: Improve other communication channels

Aside from enhanced call tracking, business owners should focus on improving their websites’ contact forms, live chat features, or social media messaging to provide customers with multiple ways to reach out. Each of these channels should convey consistent messaging and branding to ensure a seamless experience and avoid important information being missed. For example, a business, if it hasn’t already, should develop scripts for employees to use when responding to inquiries through whichever communication platform someone reaches out to. These documents don’t need to be robotic or overly formal. We suggest adjusting a baseline script to suit a business’s specific needs and audience’s tone.

Step 3: Leverage other Google Business Profile features

While it might seem obvious, people searching online for services and products crave some marker of credibility and trustworthiness. Maximize the remaining built-in Google Business features, like profile verification, posts, Q&A, and reviews to engage with customers and showcase a business. 

Don’t just believe us, though. Online reputation management platform Birdeye conducted a 2024 report on this topic. It found that “verified businesses average 1,803 monthly views” and “on average, a verified Google Business Profile receives about 200 clicks/interactions per month.” Skipping the verification process, as you see, can mean leaving money on the table for businesses via organic discoverability and interactions.

Step 4: Explore Google Ads call extensions

For businesses running Google Ads, call extensions can provide some call tracking capabilities, though they’re limited to ad-driven calls.

[Read About Google Ads and CallTrackingMetrics]

The Bigger Picture

This change to Google Business Profiles is a reminder of the evolving digital landscape and the need for businesses to remain adaptable. As platforms and technologies change, businesses must be prepared to adjust their strategies and find new ways to connect with customers effectively.

It also highlights the ongoing tension between data-driven business insights and user privacy concerns. As regulations like GDPR and CCPA continue to shape how companies handle personal data, we may see more changes like this across various platforms.

Get Moving Now and Don’t Be Left in the Dark

Business owners need to act now ahead of the July 31, 2024 deadline for native call and chat tracking being removed from their Google Business Profiles. Not doing so could leave gaps in customer support, as well as marketing or sales attribution. Avoid these potential headaches and automate some customer engagement by implementing a comprehensive communication intelligence solution like CallTrackingMetrics.
[See CallTrackingMetrics in Action]