What Is Call Tracking (And Why Your Marketing Budget Needs It)?

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted — the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” That quote is nearly a century old, and it’s still one of the most common frustrations in business. Call tracking is the modern answer to it.

What call tracking actually does

Call tracking assigns a unique phone number to each advert, campaign, or marketing channel you run — one number on your Google ads, a different one on a flyer, another on your website. When someone calls, you instantly know exactly which piece of marketing brought them to you. No guesswork, no “so, how did you hear about us?” scripts for your team to remember.

Why phone calls matter more than clicks

It’s easy to assume that in a digital-first world, every lead comes through a form or a click. The numbers tell a different story: a large share of mobile ad clicks and mobile searches end in a phone call, and a majority of people would rather speak to a real person than complete certain purchases online. If your marketing can’t tell you when that happens, you’re missing a huge part of the picture — and probably crediting the wrong campaigns for your results.

What you can do with the data

Once you can see which calls come from where, a few things become possible that weren’t before. You can identify which adverts are actually generating enquiries and quietly retire the ones that aren’t. You can run local campaigns using area-specific numbers to see which regions respond best. You can even use tracking numbers to gauge how well individual team members are converting the calls that come in, not just how many they answer.

How it works, in practice

Setting it up is more straightforward than it sounds. You choose your tracking number (or numbers — some providers offer huge ranges to pick from), point it at the phone number you already answer calls on, and that’s it. Calls ring through exactly as before; the only difference is you now know which number they dialled to get there.

What it costs

Call tracking is typically inexpensive relative to the ad spend it protects — often a small monthly fee per number with no setup cost (With Invoco, it’s only £1.20 per month plus VAT!), plus the cost of the call itself if it’s diverted to a landline or mobile (calls routed to a VoIP system are often free). Optional extras like call recording, call whisper (which announces which number was dialled before you pick up), and CRM integrations can be added if you want to go a step further.

Is it worth it?

If you run more than one marketing channel — paid ads, print, local directories, social — and you can’t currently say with confidence which one is pulling its weight, call tracking pays for itself quickly simply by telling you where to stop spending. It’s one of the few marketing tools that mostly saves you money rather than costing it.

Take a look at our call tracking numbers to see pricing and how quickly you can get set up, or get in touch if you’d like help working out which numbers would suit your campaigns.