How to Track Phone Calls from Your Website

For many Australian small businesses—from plumbers in Brisbane to lawyers in Sydney—a phone call is the most valuable lead you can receive. Without tracking these calls, you are essentially flying blind, unable to see which marketing channels are actually driving revenue and which are just wasting your budget.

Tracking phone calls allows you to close the loop on your marketing data, ensuring you know exactly how many people clicked your 'Call Now' button after finding you on Google or social media. This guide will show you how to set up basic click-to-call tracking using Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

Prerequisites: What You’ll Need

Before we dive in, ensure you have the following ready:

• Google Tag Manager (GTM) installed: Your GTM container should already be live on your website.
• Google Analytics 4 (GA4) set up: You need a GA4 property connected to your GTM account.
• A clickable phone number: Your website phone number must be coded as a 'tel:' link (e.g., 07 3000 0000).

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Step 1: Enable Click Variables in GTM

By default, Google Tag Manager doesn't listen for every type of click. We need to tell it to pay attention to the URLs people click on.

• Log in to your Google Tag Manager account.
• Click on Variables in the left-hand sidebar.
• In the 'Built-in Variables' section, click the Configure button.
• Scroll down to the 'Clicks' section and ensure Click URL is ticked. You might also want to tick Click Element and Click Text for extra data.

Step 2: Create the Phone Call Trigger

A 'Trigger' tells GTM when to fire a tag. We want this to fire whenever someone clicks a link that starts with "tel:".

• Click Triggers in the left sidebar.
• Click New and name it 'Trigger - Phone Link Click'.
• Click Trigger Configuration and choose Just Links (under the Click category).
• Change the setting from 'All Link Clicks' to Some Link Clicks.
• Set the conditions to: Click URL -> starts with -> tel:.
• Click Save.

Step 3: Create the GA4 Event Tag

Now we need to tell GTM to send this information to Google Analytics.

• Click Tags in the left sidebar.
• Click New and name it 'GA4 Event - Phone Call Click'.
• Click Tag Configuration and select Google Analytics: GA4 Event.
• Select your GA4 Configuration Tag (or manually enter your Measurement ID).
• For Event Name, type phone_call_click. Use underscores instead of spaces to follow GA4 naming conventions.
• (Optional) Under Event Parameters, add a row with the Parameter Name phone_number and the Value {{Click URL}}. This tells you which specific number was clicked if you have multiple on your site.

Step 4: Link the Trigger to the Tag

• In the same Tag window, scroll down to Triggering.
• Select the Trigger - Phone Link Click you created in Step 2.
• Click Save.

Step 5: Test in Preview Mode

Before publishing, we must ensure it works. Never skip this step!

• Click the Preview button in the top right of GTM.
• Enter your website URL and click Connect.
• Once your site opens in the new window, find a phone number link and click it. (Note: You don't need to actually complete the call if you are on a desktop; just clicking the link is enough).
• Go back to the 'Tag Assistant' tab. Look at the left sidebar for a 'Link Click' event.
• Click that event and check the 'Tags Fired' section. Your GA4 Event - Phone Call Click should be listed there.

Step 6: Publish Your Changes

If the test was successful, you need to make the changes live for your visitors.

• Close the Preview windows.
• Click Submit in the top right of the main GTM dashboard.
• Give your version a descriptive name like 'Added Phone Call Tracking'.
• Click Publish.

Step 7: Register the Event as a Conversion in GA4

To see these calls as 'Conversions' (now called 'Key Events' in GA4), you need to wait up to 24 hours for the event to show up in GA4, or manually create it.

• Open Google Analytics.
• Go to Admin (the gear icon) -> Data Display -> Events.
• If you see phone_call_click in the list, toggle the switch under Mark as conversion (or 'Mark as key event').
• If it's not there yet, click Create event and manually add the name phone_call_click to match exactly what you typed in GTM.

Step 8: Verify in GA4 Realtime Report

Open your website on your mobile phone, go to GA4 > Reports > Realtime, and click your phone number. You should see the phone_call_click event appear in the 'Event count by Event name' card within 60 seconds.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Missing the 'tel:' prefix: If your website developer just put the phone number as plain text without a link, GTM cannot track it as a click. Ensure your HTML looks like this: 0400 000 000.
• Spaces in Event Names: GA4 is sensitive. Use phone_call rather than Phone Call. Avoid special characters.
• Not testing on Mobile: Sometimes mobile overlays or 'sticky' headers behave differently than desktop links. Always test on a physical mobile device if possible.

Troubleshooting

• Duplicate Data: Ensure you don't have phone tracking set up in both GTM and a plugin (like a WordPress header/footer plugin), or you will see double the conversions.
• Data not showing in GA4: Remember that GA4 standard reports can take 24-48 hours to fully populate. Use the Realtime report for immediate verification.

Next Steps

Now that you are tracking clicks on your phone number, you have a much better understanding of your website's performance. However, keep in mind that a 'click' doesn't always equal a 'completed call' (someone might click and then cancel the dialler).

If you want to track actual call duration, recordings, and which specific Google Ads keyword generated the call, you might consider a dedicated call tracking software like CallRail or WildJar. These services provide 'Dynamic Number Insertion' (DNI), which swaps the number on your site for a unique tracking number for every visitor.

Need help getting your analytics sorted? Our Brisbane-based team can audit your setup to ensure your data is 100% accurate. Contact us today.