Counting the calls your website produces

In most service businesses the phone produces the majority of good enquiries, and the phone is exactly what website reports cannot see. That gap makes every decision about the site harder than it needs to be.

Talk to us about your site

Start free: record taps on your phone number as events, and ask every caller how they found you. Add a separate website-only number if you need precision. Compare the three sources quarterly, since each catches something the others miss, and expect the true figure to be higher than analytics suggests.

Why the gap exists

Analytics can see somebody tapping a number on your website. It cannot see somebody writing it down and calling from the office an hour later, or calling from your map listing without touching the site at all.

In trades and clinics, those unseen calls are frequently the majority, which is why owners so often feel their reports describe a different business from the one they run.

The free layer

Two measures cost nothing and cover most of the gap. Do these before considering anything paid.

  • Record taps on the phone number as an event, which captures calls started on your site.
  • Ask every caller how they found you, and write the answer down consistently.
  • Note which page they mention, when they remember it.
  • Count total incoming calls from your phone log, as a sanity check.

Asking is the most accurate single method

It sees what no tool can: the recommendation that was checked online first, the number written on a hand, the assistant that named you when somebody asked for a suggestion.

The discipline is consistency. Ask every caller, not the ones you remember, and record it in the same place, or the sample becomes biased and the exercise stops being useful.

When to add a tracking number

A separate number used only on the website removes the guesswork, because any call to it must have come from the site. It suits businesses where calls dominate and where money is being spent that needs judging.

Keep your main number everywhere else, so the details on your map listing and directories stay consistent, and document the arrangement for whoever inherits it.

Compare the sources, and expect disagreement

Quarterly, put the three figures side by side: tap events, what callers said, and total calls from the phone log. They will disagree, and the disagreement is informative rather than a fault.

Taps undercount because of calls made later. Caller answers undercount because some people forget. The phone log overcounts because it includes suppliers and wrong numbers. Together they bracket the truth.

Use it to decide, not to admire

The point of measuring calls is to know whether the website is producing them and which pages are responsible, so that attention goes to the right places.

Even a rough figure changes decisions. Knowing that most calls follow a particular service page is enough to justify improving that page before anything else.

How Licheo measures calls

Taps on the number are recorded as standard, connected to the page the visitor was on, so you can see which pages produce calls rather than only how many there were.

Where a business genuinely needs a tracking number we set it up so the site stays consistent with the map listing, and we say plainly what the arrangement can and cannot tell you.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of Service business websites. The other parts:

Questions people ask

How do I measure calls from my website?
Record taps on the phone number as events, ask every caller how they found you, and check your phone log for total incoming calls. Add a website-only tracking number when you need more precision.
Why does my analytics miss most of my calls?
Because it only sees taps on your site. It cannot see somebody writing the number down and calling later, or calling straight from your map listing without visiting the website at all.
Is asking callers really accurate enough?
It is the single most informative method, provided you ask everybody rather than the ones you remember and record it consistently. It sees recommendations and assistant referrals that no tool can.
Should I get a separate number for the website?
When calls dominate your enquiries and you are spending money that needs judging. Keep your main number everywhere else so your listing and directories stay consistent, and document the arrangement.
The three sources disagree. Which is right?
None exactly, and together they bracket the truth. Taps undercount later calls, caller answers undercount forgetfulness, and the phone log overcounts because it includes suppliers and wrong numbers.

See the calls your site produces

Taps recorded and connected to the page that produced them, so attention goes where the calls actually come from.

Talk to us about your site Read the full guide