The Search Labs is a digital marketing agency specializing in paid search, SEO, and web development, with a strong emphasis on helping local businesses in healthcare, legal, and other service-based industries. Founded four years ago in Tyler, Texas, The Search Labs was launched by Zac Terry, an 8-year Google Partner with over a decade of experience in paid search. The agency has built its reputation by not only helping clients improve lead generation and marketing performance, but also prioritizing client education and trust-building.
However, accurate lead attribution was a challenge. Zac needed a way to track which marketing efforts were driving real leads and conversions while also streamlining lead qualification and follow-up. As he explored solutions, he considered a competitor that also tracks call metrics but ultimately chose CallRail, which he felt offered more responsive customer support, seamless integrations, and powerful AI-driven insights.
The challenge: Proving ROI and driving business growth
Before settling on CallRail, The Search Labs could track traffic and website conversions, but there was a critical gap in connecting those leads to actual revenue. While most agencies stop at driving more leads and reporting on surface-level metrics, Zac knew that long-term client trust — and smarter business growth — depends on proving exactly how leads turn into revenue. Without a clear, data-backed link between marketing efforts and real profit, it was difficult to prove ROI and optimize marketing spend.
“Pre-CallRail, I didn’t know what happened as soon as I sent leads to the website. I only knew how many people were driven to the site and how many conversions. Then I’d have to ask if they had an uptick in sales, but it wasn’t a textbook calculation to track that impact back to me as an agency.” — Zac Terry, Founder, The Search Labs
The agency also faced operational inefficiencies in lead qualification and reporting. Despite automating many processes, Zac and his team still spent significant time manually reviewing calls to ensure accurate lead tracking. With clients receiving a high volume of calls, they needed a smarter, more automated way to streamline lead attribution, improve reporting, and scale efficiently.
How The Search Labs automates lead tracking and follow-up with CallRail
To improve lead attribution and client reporting, The Search Labs turned to CallRail’s full suite of tracking and intelligence tools to help clients better understand the impact of their marketing efforts. Currently, they have multiple active clients using Call Tracking, Form Tracking, Premium Conversation Intelligence™, and Convert Assist.
Each client accesses their own CallRail account, while The Search Labs integrates CallRail with Google Ads, Google Analytics, and other platforms to provide a complete view of the customer journey.
With Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI), The Search Labs can accurately track lead sources and determine which marketing channels drive the most valuable leads. DNI dynamically replaces phone numbers on a website based on how a visitor arrived — whether from Google Ads, organic search, social media, or other sources — ensuring precise attribution.
By implementing DNI across all digital touchpoints, including landing pages, paid ads, and local business listings, The Search Labs captures the full scope of lead activity. Automation rules and tagging further streamline lead qualification and call categorization, allowing The Search Labs to automatically filter out unqualified leads, saving time and effort.
Smarter lead follow-up
One of CallRail’s standout products for The Search Labs has been Convert Assist, which they use to automatically follow up with potential customers by generating suggested email responses and next steps based on call interactions. This helps clients stay engaged with leads without manual effort, ensuring timely follow-ups that increase the chances of conversion.
Clients are often amazed at its ability to seamlessly integrate into their workflows. But what truly sets The Search Labs apart is their hands-on, consultative approach — Zac and his team don’t just hand over tools. They work closely with each client, providing ongoing guidance, tutorials, and strategic recommendations to help them get the most out of features like Convert Assist. This level of support ensures clients are using the technology to its fullest potential, driving better follow-ups, higher conversions, and long-term success.
“Convert Assist is by far the coolest thing I have ever seen, and every single client that I share it with says, ‘This is amazing.’”
Founder,
The Search Labs
Convert Assist also provides coaching insights to help clients improve their call interactions. It highlights key moments in conversations, suggests adjustments like avoiding filler words, and even generates action plans for next steps. This leads to better conversion rates and more effective sales interactions. “It can provide you with an email you can send right away. It tells you exactly what to do next,” says Zac.
Better Insights into customer interactions
With CallRail’s Premium Conversation Intelligence, The Search Labs has gained a deeper understanding of customer interactions. Analyzing call transcripts has helped Zac’s team identify key trends, track conversion signals, and pinpoint where deals stall in the sales process.
Zac regularly exports lists of qualified leads for his clients, who then mark which ones converted. Some clients track leads themselves, while others rely entirely on The Search Labs for management and reporting. Zac notes that his “most successful customers are the ones who are consistently going in and generating these insights to close deals."
“We can send you all the leads in the world, but if you can’t close, it doesn’t really matter. CallRail’s call analysis helps us understand where the sticking point is and lead the customer."
Founder,
The Search Labs
Faster decision-making
Faster decision-making
As an early adopter of AI, The Search Labs has taken advantage of CallRail Labs, available exclusively to Premium Conversation Intelligence™ users. This program allows CallRail customers to experiment with CallRail’s newest features and provide feedback on the way they work. Zac frequently uses the Alpha feature, “Was a sale made?” to instantly identify sales outcomes without listening to entire call recordings, allowing him to focus only on key calls that impact revenue. “I can see if a sale was made without having to listen to the whole thing. I just hit this button, and the answer is there,” says Zac.
In many service-based industries, like legal or healthcare, the person making the call isn’t always the final decision-maker. Recognizing this, The Search Labs uses CallRail’s AI-powered insights to go beyond basic call tracking — tying appointments and leads back to specific prospects and individuals.
This deeper level of attribution gives their clients a clearer understanding of who’s actually converting and where deals are progressing. By surfacing these insights, The Search Labs positions itself not just as a lead generator, but as a true partner helping clients connect marketing efforts to real business outcomes.
Proving ROI with data-backed decision making
One of Zac’s biggest wins has been helping clients measure the true impact of their marketing efforts — beyond clicks and impressions. For one personal injury attorney, CallRail provided the data needed to track real conversions and prove profitability.
“In 24 months, we helped them make $4M in pure profit. Without CallRail, we wouldn’t be able to prove any of that.”
– Zac Terry,
Founder, The Search Labs
With CallRail’s automated call tracking and lead attribution, The Search Labs helps clients with clear, data-driven insights into their marketing ROI. Instead of manually reviewing calls to determine effectiveness, Zac and his team can quickly show clients exactly how much revenue their campaigns are generating relative to their ad spend — offering a straightforward, measurable view of marketing impact.
“If we sign a paid search client, I don't even ask them, ‘Do you want to use CallRail?’ I say, ‘You have to use CallRail.’”
– Zac Terry,
Founder, The Search Labs
The Search Labs also uses CallRail to justify marketing spend and optimize ad budgets. By assigning conversion values to calls, they can calculate cost per lead (CPL) and track the financial return on each campaign.
For example, one client’s conversion tracking assigns a dollar value to each call, enabling The Search Labs to show a direct correlation between marketing investment and business revenue. By comparing the cost of CallRail to the revenue generated from tracked calls, they provide clients with a transparent view of their marketing performance and financial impact. And by continuously refining their tracking and reporting, The Search Labs ensures that every marketing dollar is allocated efficiently, and clients see measurable results.
"Clients that are actually using CallRail are saving us work and saving themselves money."
A strong partnership driving measurable growth
The partnership between The Search Labs and CallRail has been instrumental in helping clients improve lead attribution, optimize marketing spend, and prove ROI with confidence. But what sets The Search Labs apart isn’t just the tools they use — it’s how they use them. By combining CallRail’s AI-powered insights and automation tools with a deeply consultative, hands-on approach, Zac and his team have transformed how clients track, measure, and convert leads.
"Without CallRail, there’s no way I’d be as successful as I am, and there’s no way I’d have built so much trust with my clients. My client referrals are from the clients that use CallRail with me."
— Zac Terry, Founder, The Search Labs
Rather than stopping at lead generation, The Search Labs positions itself as a strategic partner, guiding clients to fully leverage CallRail’s capabilities to close more deals and grow their businesses. This focus on education, optimization, and transparency differentiates them from other agencies and helps build lasting client relationships.
Zac has also developed a close working relationship with the CallRail team, through the CallRail Agency Partner Program, which provides agencies like The Search Labs with dedicated support and exclusive resources. Through the program, Zac benefits from a direct point of contact who offers strategic guidance — not just for his agency, but also to support client success.
This partnership gives Zac the opportunity to participate in CallRail Labs, where he gets to test and provide feedback on innovative AI features. This direct line of communication fosters a valuable feedback loop, enabling The Search Labs to provide insights that shape product improvements and ensure CallRail continues evolving to meet the needs of agencies and their clients.
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