Website call tracking: which ads bring calls and sales

At a clinic, a car service or a real estate agency, clients call more often than they write. Without website call tracking, a call reaches the CRM with no source, and analytics shows only form requests. Ads that mostly bring calls look unprofitable. They get switched off, and the budget goes to the wrong place.

Call tracking is a way to track the calls your ads bring: it answers the question “which ads bring calls and money”. Every call becomes a lead with the “Source”, “Campaign” and “Keyword” fields filled in. ROI is calculated fairly: calls count on a par with form requests.

Watch the two-minute video, and below you'll find the step-by-step setup.

Why businesses need it

• Clinics and dental practices: the “Keyword” level shows that the query “dental implants price” brings appointments and payments, while broad queries bring only price questions. The budget goes to what sells.
• Real estate: a separate static number on Avito, CIAN and a banner at the property. A deal closes months later, but the source stays in the lead.
• Car services and urgent services: the “Geo filter” turns on substitution only for your city. Numbers aren't wasted on visitors from other regions.
• Marketers: offline advertising becomes measurable — booklets, billboards, radio, trade shows.
• Owners paying for SEO: the “SEO / organic” toggle substitutes the number for visitors from search results. In “Analytics”, the “SEO search” branch shows by search engine how many leads and deals the promotion brings — not just where the site ranks in the top 10.

How call tracking works

Your account supports three options:

1. Dynamic call tracking. Each website visitor is shown their own number from a pool (a set of numbers for substitution). For the “Hold” time, the number is assigned to that visitor. When they call, the account knows the source, the campaign and even the keyword.
2. Static call tracking. One permanent number — one ad channel: Avito, a booklet, a billboard. No substitution.
3. Both together. Online and offline ads are compared in one “Analytics” table.

The section opens from the “Settings” → “Call tracking” menu or from the widget settings. The page has four blocks: “Traffic sources”, “Campaign rules”, “Static bindings” and “Geo filter”. The settings apply to the project selected in the account header. They're saved with the “Save” button on the bar at the bottom.

How to set up dynamic number insertion on your website

1. 1
   Check the code

   “Website integration” → “Check the code”. If your account's widget is on the website, it adds the code with substitution by itself. The same code brings website leads to CRM.
2. 2
   Buy numbers

   “Phone numbers” → “Add number” → rent, the “Online (virtual PBX)” type, several numbers. They'll become “Dynamic”. Prices are in the article virtual phone number for business.
3. 3
   Turn on traffic

   The “Paid ads (UTM)”, “SEO / organic” and “Direct visits” toggles. UTM tags are labels in the ad link that show the campaign.
4. 4
   Choose the detail level

   “Detail level”: “Source”, “Campaign” or “Keyword”. The more detailed the level, the more numbers you need.
5. 5
   Set up the pool

   “Pool size” (how many numbers are substituted at the same time), “Hold, sec” (a good guideline is 180) and “TTL, sec”.
6. 6
   Save and test

   Click “Save” and open the website via a link with a UTM tag: the number on the page should change.

Static number for offline ads and Avito

Rent a number with the “Offline (call tracking)” type and specify the “Ad platform”. Or switch an existing number to “Static” in its settings. Then turn on the toggle in the “Static bindings” block and click “+ Add binding”. Choose the number, source and campaign and save. Place such a number in one channel only: on Avito, in a newspaper or on a banner. Its source will appear in analytics after the first call.

Campaign rules and geo filter

“+ Add rule” assigns numbers to a source or campaign. With the “Static” checkbox, the campaign gets one permanent number instead of pool numbers.

The “Geo filter” shows substitute numbers only where you need them. Turn on the toggle, choose “Whitelist (only these)” or “Blacklist (all except)” and add “country — region — city” rows with the “+ Add region” button. Without rows, the filter doesn't work.

How many numbers do you need for call tracking?

You need enough numbers for everyone who is on the website with tracked traffic at the same time — you can see this in Yandex Metrica. A good guideline is 3 online numbers for every 100 unique visitors per day. Example: 500 unique visitors per day means 15 numbers, about $28.50 per month for renting Moscow numbers.

A number is assigned to a visitor for 3 minutes — that's 180 in the “Hold, sec” field. Don't set it higher: numbers stay busy longer, and there won't be enough for other visitors.

Visitors who don't get a number see the reserve number. A call to it is recorded, but without a source, and the lead card will show: “The lead was created by a call to the reserve number: there are not enough numbers for call tracking.” The system will warn you about the shortage by email or SMS. Then add dynamic numbers and check the “Pool size”.

Call tracking is worth it when a noticeable share of your clients call. Check the “Leads from calls” column in “Website analytics”: if there are only a handful of calls and requests come in through forms and chats, rented numbers won't pay off — UTM tags are enough.

You can save numbers with a less detailed “Detail level” (“Source” or “Campaign” instead of “Keyword”) and with the “Geo filter”: substitution only in the regions you need means fewer rented numbers.

Numbers are assigned by the visitor's region: first a number from their city; if there isn't one, an 8-800 or 8-804 number; if there are none of those either, the reserve number. So a good set looks like this: numbers from the cities where most of your clients are, a few 8-800 or 8-804 numbers and one reserve number.

How to calculate ad ROI from phone calls

“Analytics” calculates leads, deals, revenue, cost per lead and ROI by source, campaign and keyword on its own. ROI is return on investment: how much profit each dollar spent on advertising brought (details in the article marketing ROI tracking). A payment recorded in a deal is included in the calculation automatically. End-to-end analytics is included in the “CRM + Telephony + Automation” plan and higher, at no extra cost and without separate services. For offline channels, you can also calculate it by hand. Example: booklets cost $200, their number received 40 calls, and 8 of them turned into payments of $150 each. A call cost $5, a sale — $25, ROI = ($1,200 − $200) ÷ $200 = 500%.

Read also: Virtual phone number for business: prices, SIP and a bot number, Marketing ROI tracking: which ads pay off and which drain your budget, Website form to CRM: connect your forms without a developer, Call tracking on tilda