How many tracking numbers do I need?
Whether you are new to all this or this definitely isn't your first time at the call tracking rodeo, one of the first steps in getting call tracking software to work its best for you is to know how many tracking numbers you should have. This depends on the channels, campaigns, and visitor sessions you want to track and to what extent.
Let's dive into it!
Types of tracking:
- Offline sources
- Online sources: Static tracking
- Online sources: Number swapping
- Visitor tracking: Number pools
1. Offline sources
TV, Radio, Print, etc.
For each medium you can use 1 tracking number.
Examples:
- Placing a tracking number on a billboard
- Running a radio ad which mentions the tracking number
- Airing a TV ad which prompts viewers to call the tracking number
In all of the above cases, you assess the impact of each offline marketing campaign, by counting the number of calls each medium generated.
2. Online sources: static tracking
Google My Business, Google Ads Extensions, Online Listings, Landing Pages
For each medium you can use 1 tracking number.
Examples:
- Count the number of calls your Google My Business listing drives
- Count the number of calls your Google Ad Extension generates
- Place the tracking number on a listing site (e.g. Yelp) and count how many calls the listing drives
- Place a tracking number on a landing page and count calls the landing page generates
3. Online sources: number swapping
Direct, Organic, PPC, Newsletters, Referrers, Social Media, etc.
Use 1 tracking number per online source
E.g.: Josh wants to learn which online channels are responsible for driving calls, from customers that visit his website.
To do this he assigns 1 tracking number to every source.
- Direct – XXXXXX1
- Organic – XXXXXX2
- PPC – XXXXXX3
- Newsletters – XXXXXX4
- Social Media – XXXXXX5
- Referrers – XXXXXX6
With Dynamic number swapping, visitors see a different number depending on which channel or campaign drove the lead, and Josh gets a detailed breakdown per source:
4. Visitor tracking: number pools
The most advanced level of call tracking is combining the visitor journey with the call. Nimbata’s DNI script combined with number pools, allows you to track calls back to visit details such as the page the visitor called from, UTM sources, campaigns, keywords and click IDs. This method should be used if you wish to setup conversion tracking in your Google Ads, Microsoft Ads or Facebook business manager accounts.
- Single pool for all visitors
All(or remaining) Digital.
You can use a single pool of tracking numbers which will show to any visitor that lands on your website. Nimbata will then attribute the call back to the source/medium/channel that drove it and capture session level information for that call.
E.g. Mary wants to track all calls that originate from her client's website and have a breakdown by source, plus the ability to send calls back to Google Ads and Facebook as conversions. To do this Mary creates a single pool of numbers with source = All(or remaining) Digital. Nimbata will then attribute each call to the source/medium/campaign that drove it.
- Multiple pools per marketing channels
Google Ads, Organic, Social Media, Microsoft Ads, etc.
Sometimes you wish to get visitor level insights only for a specific group of visitors (e.g. track calls only from visitors who have clicked on one of your Google Ads). Nimbata allows you to create a pool of numbers only for the specific channel, so all other visitors will continue to see your regular phone number, and only visits from Google Ads will see a number from the pool.
You can even add more than one pool of numbers for any sources you wish to get visitor level insights.
E.g. Mary wants to send calls back to Google Ads and Facebook as conversions. To do this Mary creates a pool of numbers for Google Ads and a pool of numbers for Facebook. Nimbata will show tracking numbers only to visitors from these two sources and send calls as conversions back to Mary’s Google Ads and Facebook accounts.
Updated on: 20/08/2025
Thank you!