How do you set up call tracking

Hello Lori Lloyd,

Thank you for posting your question within the Microsoft Advertising Community forum.

I can see that you are hoping to set up call tracking, and with this being said I will do my upmost to ensure this query is answered when I have composed my response.

Firstly, it depends specifically what you want to track, because you can utilize call extensions, however if no forwarding number is used, you can only track a click on the extension itself OR by offline conversions to track the sales that are made over the phone, when someone reaches you by clicking one of the ads and then calls in.

I will show more information relating to both of the matters below:

Call Extensions

Call extensions have the added benefit of allowing you to designate your ads as call only ads. When you select call only ads, website links in your ads are not clickable from smartphones. Instead, your phone number is the only link that a user can click. Clicking on the phone number link will initiate a call to that number and you will be charged up to your bid amount (just as if the user had clicked on a website link).

With call extensions, you have two options: You can use your own phone number or use a Microsoft Advertising forwarding phone number. When using a forwarding number, we assign a unique phone number that displays in your ad. When a customer calls this number, the call is routed to your business phone number. Our forwarding number allows you to track all calls from this ad, no matter where the call was made from, so that you can analyze the ad performance.

Call extensions can be used together with location extensions. When these two features are used at the same time, the phone numbers displayed and the availability of click-to-call depend on the device where the ad is being viewed. Please visit HERE for more information,

Offline Conversions

Let’s say a customer sees your ad, clicks on it, but ends up calling you, leading to a sale that was taken offline. How can you track when your search ad leads to a conversion offline and outside of your website? You can import offline conversions, to better measure what happens after your ad was clicked.

Why should I care about offline conversion tracking?

Better tracking. You can track the impact of your campaigns for both online and offline channels.

Easy importing. All you need are the time, date, Microsoft Click ID, and conversion goal name to get started.

Better ROI. You can optimize your campaigns based on the full online and offline impact of your search ads.

How do I set up offline conversion tracking?

Time zone formatting and need-to-know details

What I need to know about offline conversion tracking

How do I enable my website and lead tracking system to track click IDs?

How can I view the status of my upload?

Why is there a discrepancy between the number of conversions in my upload with Microsoft Advertising?

How can I import my call conversion data if I'm using a third-party call-tracking system?

If its smoother, I would also suggest reaching out to a web specialist to help you with implementing any tracking relating matters, however I hope the steps above answers all doubts.

I do hope I answered your question, but if you would like to communicate further, please reply to my private message, as I am happy to go through all queries.

Thanks,

Damian | Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 800-518-5689