Call Tracking Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the call tracking, attribution, and phone-number terms marketers run into, each with links to go deeper.
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- Attribution
Call Attribution
Call attribution is the assignment of an inbound call to the specific marketing touchpoint that drove it, so phone leads can be credited in the same reporting as clicks and form fills.
- Attribution
Call Conversion
A call conversion is a phone call that meets your definition of a valuable lead (by duration, source, or outcome) and is counted as a conversion in your analytics or ad platform.
- Call Handling
Call Flow
A call flow is the configured sequence of steps an inbound call follows (greeting, menu, routing, and fallback) from the moment it connects to when it reaches a person or voicemail.
- Call Intelligence
Call Recording
Call recording is the capture and storage of inbound or outbound phone conversations so they can be reviewed later for quality, training, attribution, or compliance.
- Routing
Call Routing
Call routing is the set of rules that decide where an inbound call is sent (which phone, person, or queue) based on factors like time of day, campaign, location, or availability.
- Fundamentals
Call Tracking
Call tracking is the practice of tying each inbound phone call back to the marketing source (the campaign, ad, keyword, or page) that produced it.
- Call Intelligence
Call Transcription
Call transcription is the automatic conversion of a recorded phone conversation into searchable text using speech recognition.
- Routing
Call Whisper
A call whisper is a short recorded message played to the person answering (but not the caller) that announces which campaign or number the incoming call came from.
- Telephony
Caller ID
Caller ID is the information, number and often name (CNAM), transmitted to the recipient's phone to identify who is calling before they answer.
- Call Intelligence
Conversation Intelligence
Conversation intelligence is the use of AI to analyze recorded and transcribed calls at scale (spotting keywords, topics, outcomes, and sentiment) to surface insight no one could gather by hand.
- Metrics
Cost Per Lead (CPL)
Cost per lead (CPL) is the average marketing spend required to generate one lead, calculated by dividing campaign cost by the number of leads (phone calls included) it produced.
- Metrics
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total sales and marketing spend required to win one new customer, calculated by dividing that spend by the number of customers gained.
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- Attribution
GCLID
The GCLID (Google Click Identifier) is a unique tag Google Ads attaches to a click so the resulting conversion (including a phone call) can be matched back to the exact ad and keyword.
- Local Marketing
Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is the free local listing that appears in Google Search and Maps, showing a business's hours, location, reviews, and a click-to-call phone number.
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- Attribution
Last-Touch Attribution
Last-touch attribution credits the entire value of a conversion to the final marketing interaction before it happened, highlighting which channels close.
- Call Intelligence
Lead Scoring
Lead scoring is the ranking of leads by how likely they are to convert, applied to calls by judging factors like duration, keywords spoken, and whether an appointment was booked.
- Numbers
Local Number
A local number uses a specific area code so it appears to callers as a nearby business, which typically lifts answer and call-back rates for location-based marketing.
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- Call Handling
Missed Call
A missed call is an inbound call that is never answered by a person (going to voicemail, ringing out, or being abandoned) and often represents a lost lead.
- Attribution
Multi-Touch Attribution
Multi-touch attribution distributes conversion credit across several marketing interactions in the customer journey, rather than assigning it all to one touchpoint.
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- Numbers
Number Pool
A number pool is a group of tracking numbers rotated among website visitors so each active session sees a unique number, enabling visitor-level attribution without one number per visitor.
- Telephony
Number Porting
Number porting is the process of moving an existing phone number from one carrier or provider to another so you keep the number while changing service.
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- Pay Per Call
Pay Per Call
Pay per call is a performance model in which an advertiser pays only when a qualifying inbound phone call is generated, rather than per click or per impression.
- Pay Per Call
Ping/Post
Ping/post is a two-step lead-distribution method: a "ping" offers a lead's basic attributes to buyers for bids, then the "post" delivers the full lead to the winning buyer.
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- Pay Per Call
Real-Time Bidding (Calls)
Real-time bidding for calls is an auction that runs the instant an inbound call arrives, letting multiple buyers bid for the live caller so the call routes to the highest bidder.
- Metrics
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the revenue generated for every dollar of advertising spent, calculated as revenue attributed to ads divided by ad cost.
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- Call Intelligence
Sentiment Analysis
Sentiment analysis is the automatic assessment of a caller's emotional tone (positive, neutral, or negative) from the words and delivery in a recorded call.
- Telephony
SIP Trunking
SIP trunking is a method of delivering phone service over the internet using the Session Initiation Protocol, connecting a business phone system to the public telephone network.
- Telephony
Spam Call
A spam call is an unwanted automated or fraudulent call; carriers increasingly label suspicious numbers as "Spam Likely," which can suppress answer rates for legitimate businesses.
- Compliance
STIR/SHAKEN
STIR/SHAKEN is a set of telecom standards that cryptographically verify a caller's number has not been spoofed, helping carriers fight robocalls and protect legitimate caller ID.
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- Compliance
TCPA
The TCPA is a U.S. law that restricts telemarketing calls, auto-dialed calls, prerecorded messages, and texts, and shapes consent and call-recording practices for businesses.
- Numbers
Toll-Free Number
A toll-free number uses a code like 800 or 888 that lets callers reach you free of charge from anywhere in the country, signaling an established, national-scale business.
- Fundamentals
Tracking Number
A tracking number is a dedicated phone number assigned to a marketing source so every call it receives can be tied back to that source before being routed to your real line.
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- Numbers
Vanity Number
A vanity number is a phone number chosen so its digits spell a word or form an easy-to-remember pattern, such as 1-800-FLOWERS, to boost recall in advertising.
- Telephony
VoIP
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is technology that carries phone calls over the internet instead of traditional copper phone lines.
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