Nimbata records every call attempt, whether it was answered or not. This page explains the three measurements it uses for call activity (calls, call legs and unique callers), how unanswered and missed calls appear, and what each call disposition status means.
How calls are counted
Nimbata uses three distinct measurements for call activity. Using the wrong one for the question you’re asking is the most common source of confusion when comparing numbers across reports.
Calls
A call is a single inbound event: one caller dialing your tracking number one time.
- Same caller rings twice > 2 calls
- One call routes through 3 destinations in a call flow > still 1 call
- Ten different people each call once > 10 calls
Use this metric for measuring call volume and marketing activity.
Call legs
A call leg is each individual connection Nimbata establishes as part of routing a single call. When a call flow rings multiple destinations, sequentially, simultaneously, or after a transfer, each ring creates a separate leg.
- One call, one destination > 1 leg
- One call routed to 3 destinations sequentially > 3 legs
- One call routed to 3 destinations, caller hangs up after the 2nd rings > 2 legs
Call legs are relevant for understanding telephony costs and diagnosing call flow behavior. They are not the right unit for marketing or volume reporting, and Nimbata’s reports don’t count them: every report counts calls.
Unique callers
A unique caller is a distinct phone number that called within your chosen time window, regardless of how many times that number called.
- Same caller rings 3 times in one day > 1 unique caller, 3 calls
- 10 different people each call once > 10 unique callers, 10 calls
- 8 different people call, 2 of them call twice > 8 unique callers, 10 calls
Call legs are never counted here. One call through a 4-destination flow is still 1 unique caller. Use this metric for measuring true inbound demand and understanding your audience size.
How call flows affect these numbers
When a call flow rings multiple destinations, for example three sales reps in sequence, a single inbound call creates multiple legs. Every report counts at the call level, not the leg level, so they always give you the correct count. Reports scoped to Destinations also count each call once, crediting it to one destination.
| Scenario | Calls | Call legs | Unique callers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 caller, calls once, 1 destination | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 caller, calls once, 3 destinations (sequential) | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 1 caller, calls twice, 1 destination each time | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 1 caller, calls twice, 3 destinations each time | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 5 callers, each calls once, 2 destinations each | 5 | 10 | 5 |
Which report to use
Total calls per day (not counting legs)
- Go to Dashboards > Trends and read its daily chart.
- This report counts at the call level.
- One inbound caller routing through multiple destinations counts as one call.
- This is your headline volume metric.
Unique callers per day
- Go to Dashboards > My Dashboard, click + Add and add the New vs. Repeat by Date chart (under Calls, Trends).
- For the whole period rather than day by day, Dashboards > Tracking Source shows New vs. Repeat by tracking source.
- The same caller ringing multiple times still counts as one unique caller.
Individual call records with full detail
- Go to Activity > Calls.
- Select All Calls.
- Every answered and unanswered call appears once, with its source, tracking number, caller ID, duration and destination. Blocked calls are left out of this view: add the Call Outcome filter with Blocked to see them.
- Use this when you need to investigate a specific call, export data, or apply filters.
Destination-level activity
- Destination reports show activity broken down by destination number.
- Even when a call rings several destinations, it is counted once, under one destination, so the destinations add up to your total calls.
New vs. returning callers over time
- In the New vs. Repeat charts, a caller’s first call in the date range you picked counts as New, and their later calls in that range as Repeat. Calls before the range are not looked at.
- The New Callers tile on a dashboard, and the 1st Time Caller (1yr) filter, are stricter: a call is new only if it is that number’s first call to the project in the past year.
- This split is useful for understanding whether your campaigns are reaching new audiences or re-engaging existing callers.
Quick-reference cheat sheet
| What you want to know | Metric | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| How many calls came in today? | Calls | Dashboards → Trends (daily chart) |
| How many distinct people called today? | Unique callers | The New vs. Repeat by Date chart (+ Add → Calls → Trends) |
| Did someone call more than once this month? | New vs. Repeat | Dashboards → Tracking Source → New vs. Repeat |
| How many calls went to a specific destination? | Calls by destination | Dashboards → Destinations (daily chart) |
| What happened on a specific call? | Individual call record | Activity → Calls → All Calls |
| What’s my overall call activity at a glance? | Dashboard summary | Dashboards → My Dashboard |
A note on call filtering
- Calls from blocked callers are rejected before they enter the call flow, but they are still recorded, with the Call Outcome Blocked and the Hangup Cause Spam Filter. Calls refused because a tracking number has no call flow, or because a destination is capped, are recorded as Blocked too.
- Dashboards count blocked calls in Calls unless you filter them out: add the Call Outcome filter and pick the outcomes you want. The All Calls view of the call log leaves them out.
- A call flow keypad step where a caller doesn’t press a digit does not exclude that call from reporting. The call still happened and is still recorded.
Detailed guide: Build a call flow
Detailed guide: Disposition statuses
Detailed guide: Export call activity
Unanswered and missed calls
An unanswered call is not lost: it appears in your call activity with its own Hangup Cause, and you can filter, report on, and act on it just like any other call.
What counts as an unanswered call
Nimbata tracks call attempts from the moment the tracking number is dialed. If the call is not answered, it is logged with a Hangup Cause that describes what happened at the network level:
- No Answer: The call rang at the destination but was not picked up.
- No User Response: The call did not reach a ringing state; the destination did not respond within the timeout period.
- Originator Cancel: The caller hung up before the destination answered.
- Call Rejected: The destination declined the call.
All of these appear in Activity > Calls (under the All Calls tab) with their respective status and a Talk Duration of zero. Their Call Duration still counts the time the call rang, so it can run to minutes:
| Caller Name | Outcome | Talk Duration | Call Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPPriya Patel | NOT_ANSWERED | 00:00 | 00:28 |
| TBTom Becker | NOT_ANSWERED | 00:00 | 03:01 |
| ARAisha Rahman | NOT_ANSWERED | 00:00 | 00:09 |
Tip
Detailed guide: Disposition statuses.
View unanswered calls in reports
To isolate unanswered calls in your call activity:
- Go to Activity > Calls under any tab.
- Click Filters.
- Add a filter on Call Outcome (for example Not Answered) or Hangup Cause (for example No Answer or Originator Cancel). Causes the filter doesn’t list, such as Call Rejected or No User Response, are under Other.
- Click Apply Changes.
You can also set up a custom view that always shows unanswered calls, so you do not have to apply the filter manually each time.
Tip
Detailed guide: Call views
Get alerts for missed calls
You can set up a workflow to notify your team whenever a call goes unanswered, so no lead slips through without a follow-up.
- Go to Workflows and create a new workflow.
- Set the trigger to Inbound Call > Call Ends (1).
- Add a filter for Call Outcome = Not Answered (2).
- Add an Email Alerts or Slack task (3).
- Enable the workflow (4).
Tip
Detailed guide: Missed call alerts.
Tip
Detailed guide: Start from a template.
Unanswered call data in the API
Unanswered calls are included in Nimbata’s API responses alongside answered calls. Each call record includes the disposition status field, which you can use to filter or segment calls programmatically on your end.
There is no separate API endpoint for unanswered calls; they are part of the standard calls response and identifiable by their disposition status value.
Tip
Detailed guide: Find your API customer ID
Detailed guide: Export call activity
Detailed guide: Send unanswered calls onward
Disposition statuses
Nimbata gives every call a disposition status, shown in the app as its Hangup Cause (a column and a filter in Activity > Calls, and a field in webhooks and integrations). Most hangup causes come from standard telephony signaling (ITU-T Q.850 and SIP responses) and describe how a call ended at the network level. A few are set by Nimbata itself (see Causes set by Nimbata). They are useful for:
- Troubleshooting failed calls
- Understanding routing behavior
- Building filters or automations
- Interpreting webhook data
The default signaling code for successfully connected calls is NORMAL_CLEARING.
Note
Disposition statuses reflect the telephony outcome of a call attempt. They do not always indicate a business outcome (for example, whether the call was a qualified lead). Always review call duration, recordings, call flow setup, and routing when diagnosing issues.
Below is a breakdown of common hangup causes you may see in your reports, webhooks, or automations. The Hangup Cause filter in the call log lists Normal Clearing, User Busy, No Answer, Originator Cancel and Lose Race by name; the others are under Other. Workflows can also filter on Call Rejected, Incompatible Destination and Unallocated Number.
| ITU-T Q.850 Code | SIP Equiv. | Enumeration | Cause | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 404 | UNALLOCATED NUMBER | Unallocated (unassigned) number [Q.850 value 1] | This cause indicates that the called party cannot be reached because, although the called party number is in a valid format, it is not currently allocated (assigned). |
| 16 | NORMAL CLEARING | Normal call clearing [Q.850] | This cause indicates that the call is being cleared because one of the users involved in the call has requested that the call be cleared. Under normal situations, the source of this cause is not the network. A NORMAL_CLEARING status indicates that the call ended normally at the network level. It does not confirm call quality, duration, or business outcome. | |
| 17 | 486 | USER BUSY | User busy [Q.850] | This cause is used to indicate that the called party is unable to accept another call because the user busy condition has been encountered. This cause value may be generated by the called user or by the network. In the case of user determined user busy it is noted that the user equipment is compatible with the call. This status may be generated by the recipient’s device, the carrier, or the network and does not indicate a configuration issue in Nimbata. |
| 18* | 408 | NO USER RESPONSE | No user responding [Q.850] | This cause is used when a called party does not respond to a call establishment message with either an alerting or connect indication within the prescribed period of time allocated. |
| 19* | 480 | NO ANSWER | No answer from user (user alerted) [Q.850] | This cause is used when the called party has been alerted but does not respond with a connect indication within a prescribed period of time. Note: this cause is not necessarily generated by Q.931 procedures but may be generated by internal network timers. |
| 21 | 603 | CALL REJECTED | Call rejected [Q.850] | This cause indicates that the destination did not accept the call, even though it was technically reachable. The rejection may be triggered by the recipient’s device, the network, or service-level restrictions. It does not always mean the end user manually declined the call. |
| 28 | 484 | INVALID NUMBER FORMAT | Invalid number format (address incomplete) [Q.850] | This cause indicates that the called party cannot be reached because the destination number is not in a valid or complete format. This usually indicates a formatting or configuration issue with the destination number (for example, a missing country code or an incomplete number). |
| 487 | 487 | ORIGINATOR CANCEL | The caller initiated the call and hung up before the destination answered. This commonly occurs when the caller cancels quickly or during simultaneous dialing setups. | |
| 502 | LOSE RACE | This occurs when multiple destinations are dialed simultaneously (for example, with the Multiple routing option in a call flow). Once one destination answers, the remaining call attempts are terminated with a LOSE_RACE status. This is expected behavior and does not indicate an error. | ||
| 604 | MEDIA TIMEOUT | Media negotiation or transmission did not complete within the expected time. This may be caused by network instability, firewall restrictions, or carrier-level media negotiation issues. |
Note
*NO USER RESPONSE typically means the call did not reach a ringing state. NO ANSWER means the call rang but was not answered.
Calls that fail at the network level before they can ring (for example with Unspecified, Temporary failure or Service unavailable) are not shown in your call log or reports. They usually come from transient network conditions and may resolve without changes to your setup.
Causes set by Nimbata
Some hangup causes don’t come from the network: Nimbata sets them when it stops a call itself. These calls have the Call Outcome Blocked, except Invalid Key Entry, which is Not Answered.
| Hangup Cause | What happened |
|---|---|
| Spam Filter | The caller is on your Blocked Callers list, so the call was rejected. See Block spam callers. |
| No Call Flow | The tracking number has no call flow, so Nimbata had nowhere to send the call. See Assign a call flow. |
| Capped | The destination reached its call cap. See Cap calls per destination. |
| Hangup | The call flow ended the call, for example with a Hang up step, or because the caller’s number matched a blocked prefix or country. |
| Invalid Key Entry | The caller pressed a key or code that no branch of the keypad menu holds, or pressed nothing. |
Signaling versus business outcome
A call disposition status tells you how the call ended technically, not whether it was a qualified lead, a missed opportunity, or a completed sale. For example:
- A call may have NORMAL_CLEARING but last only 3 seconds
- A call may show NO_ANSWER even though your routing was correct
Always evaluate disposition statuses together with:
- Call duration
- Call recordings
- Call flow logic
- Destination number configuration
When to investigate
Occasional failures are normal in telephony networks. Investigate when you notice:
- A sudden spike in failures
- Repeated INVALID_NUMBER_FORMAT errors
- Many calls with the hangup cause No Call Flow, Capped or Spam Filter that you didn’t expect
- Calls not reaching your destination numbers
In these cases, review your call flow setup and contact support with:
- Example call IDs
- The tracking number used
- The destination number configured
For troubleshooting failed calls, use hangup causes together with call flow and tracking number configuration for a complete picture.
Detailed guide: Build a call flow
Detailed guide: Calls not getting through