How To Setup Call Tracking For Your Business

Call tracking software can track the source of the phone calls you receive on your business’ website but also any other marketing efforts you might have too! Learning more about where your calls come from will help you to streamline your marketing and track how many leads your marketing efforts are driving.
In this blog article, we show you how to set up call tracking using CallRail, the service we recommend and use.

How Call Tracking Works

Call tracking helps you track where your callers are finding out about your business. There are two ways to track calls online:
By adding a tracking code to your website or by assigning dedicated numbers for you to use on your marketing collateral, such as partner websites, direct mail, or print ads.
All of the numbers that are assigned will route back to YOUR business’ phone line. However, because the tracking number is unique, we can report on where the call originated. You can view all of this in reports, real time notifications, or when taking a call via a “whisper message” before the call connects.

Setting Up Call Tracking With CallRail

There are many call tracking options on the market. Most call tracking companies focus on enterprise-level businesses, but CallRail provides small business-friendly pricing, and it is easy to use. We love CallRail so much that we use it here at Eastmoor Digital.
Step 1: Choose Which Channels to Track
Before we dive in, it’s best to plan which lead sources you want to track. Keep in mind; you will want to stick with long-term placements to measure performance and get a better idea of which campaigns would benefit from more budget and which should be CUT.
Tracking one time events such as handing out fliers at a mixer, or having a booth at a career fair doesn’t give a clear picture of how to improve future campaigns.

Dedicated tracking phone numbers and Local SEO

Make sure to use your actual business phone number across all local directories, such as Yelp, GoogleMyBusiness, Facebook, as well as other search engines. These sites rely on consistent information across the web to help confirm your business is real. This has a direct impact on your SEO performance. You won’t be able to track calls from these directories, but the benefits of local SEO performance outweigh the ability to track directory listing calls.

On your website, CallRail can “mask” your original number with a tracking number depending on where the visitor origin. Although, when a search engine checks the site, the original phone number will display. This is called dynamic number insertion. Dynamic number insertion should not impact your local SEO.

Choosing Your Phone Numbers

Alright, now that we are clear on how tracking works, your next step is to create a CallRail account. CallRail will provide you everything need to monitor, including the phone numbers! There are also call routing tools like the option to forward calls to your another phone after hours.
Once you log in, click “Settings” then “Add Phone Number.” CallRail uses a simple process to guide you. The first question is whether the number you’ll be using is for online or offline advertising.

Offline Tracking

Offline tracking is very straightforward. First, give your source a name (for example, Interstate 95 Billboard or Delaware Today print ad). Make sure to be specific — this is how the source will appear in reports!
Next, choose a local or toll-free phone number. Then, you’ll have the option to include a whisper message; you do not have to use a whisper message, but it can help if your staff needs to know the source of the caller before they talk with them, especially if you have different promotions!
The final option is to enable call recording. If choose to do so, you will also enter a notification message for callers that states “this call will be recorded for quality assurance.” Laws for Call recording are different in each state, so make sure that you are compliant with your state laws.

Tracking Callers from Your Website

Depending on where the call originated, you can automatically display a different phone number on your website (i.e. one for Facebook ads, one for Google ads, one for Bing ads, etc.). This is possible by adding a piece of code to your website provided by CallRail.
Dynamic number insertion takes a few more steps than dedicated phone numbers used in campaigns.
First, you will add code generated by CallRail into the header of your website. This code changes the phone number on your site based on where the visitor came from.
After selecting a dedicated number or dynamic number, you will decide whether to track each visitor or track a campaign.

Track Each Visitor

Tracking each visitor means that you’ll be able to report on exactly which website each visitor arrived from when they clicked on a link to your website. Similarly, you can also see which keywords they typed into a search engine if they arrived at your website from a search.
To track each visitor, you will need a rotating pool of phone numbers, so each visitor will see a unique number. In other words, a website that receives up to 20 visitors at one time will need at least 20 phone numbers.

Track a Campaign

Tracking a campaign is much broader. You assign a single phone number to each channel that you want to follow (for example, one phone number for Google Adwords, one phone number for Facebook, etc.).
While this can be much simpler, the downside is that you need to define each source beforehand. If a critic writes a review of your business and you receive traffic from it, then these new leads will not be known.
Generally, tracking each visitor will give you more specific data, but it will require more phone numbers which are going to cost more.

Call Routing

CallRail allows you to record a greeting message and a menu for callers to choose how to route calls by selecting an option (“Press 1 for sales, press 2 for customer support, etc.”)
The Round robin feature connects to the next available agent
Call scheduling allows you to forward calls during certain times, such as after business hours to your mobile phone or voicemail for callers to record a message
These tools can be combined as well! For example, you can set up a dial menu that forwards calls to different phone number after-hours. You can create your call flow using the drag-and-drop interface under “Call Flows” on the top menu bar then “Create Call Flow”. .

Viewing Your Call Reports

Once you’ve set up call tracking and have started receiving and tracking your calls, you can generate reports. From the CallRail dashboard, you can view a list or chart of your most recent calls. You can also save reports as a CSV file or export it to a PDF file to print.
Your reporting will show the source, the caller name, location, the start time of the call, and its duration. If you use a phone pool on your website, you can also see the referring domain and keywords that lead to the call.
You can also set up email alerts, which can be routed based on specific sources. You can even have a recording of the call sent as soon as the call ends.
Please remember to include a notice before the call connects to let the caller know the call is being recorded. Follow your state laws!

How Call Tracking Software Can Help You

Your most significant advantage in digital marketing is the ability to track almost any action or behavior in a snap — including page views, clicks, form submissions, and many more activities that occur before, during, or after these actions. Still, a lot of business takes place over the phone,
and historically it has been difficult to track. CallRail brings it all together!
Because call tracking can tell you where your calls come from, it can help you to identify which sources are delivering the best return. Knowing this information can help you to maximize your marketing efforts.
The most valuable insights will come when you combine your call tracking and CRM. Set yourself up to track not only how many leads are coming from each channel, but how many become clients.