The Marchex Blog

How to use dynamic number insertion to see what drove customers to call

What is Dynamic Number Insertion?

Dynamic Number Insertion, also known as DNI, is a call tracking solution used by businesses that seamlessly ties offline and online attribution.

For online to offline attribution, many types of conversion actions can be tracked:

  • Chats
  • Emails
  • Calls
  • Form Fills
  • Texts

DNI is an accurate way to track customers who call your business after discovering your number online.

It enables businesses to attribute phone calls generated from pay-per-click ads, SEO campaigns, retargeted ads, and more to measure success for each digital marketing channel. This call tracking technology aids in multi-channel and multi-touch marketing attribution to show the complete customer journey online to offline.

How does DNI work?

DNI assigns a unique number to each and every online source. It allows a unique number to be displayed to website visitors who arrive at your site via that source. Sources include organic search, social, pay-per-click advertising and more.

  • Consumers land on your website, either organically, by referral, paid or direct
  • DNI displays a unique phone number based on a unique user or source
  • When the dynamic phone number is called, you can tie back online actions made before the call

This data can loop into your marketing apps, such as Google Analytics, so you can both pinpoint the source of your calls, but also understand which ones are resulting in revenue. By understanding who your customer is and which sources drove the most phone calls, you can focus your time and ad spend on optimizing channels that drove conversions.

Why use DNI?

The phone is no longer just something that facilitates voice or text communications – it’s now a data-driven technology that can inform the decisions you make while running your business.

If your business generates leads over the phone, DNI is essential if you want to find out which of your online marketing efforts is generating the best results. Not only can you track every call, but you’ll be able to see which campaign, which ad, and even which keywords are driving the most important calls. By knowing where your calls are coming from, you can better optimize every aspect of your business – your marketing strategy, advertising campaigns, and even your products and services.

Beyond getting tracking metrics, another reason to use DNI is to present a local phone number to certain customers. In many industries, the presence of a local number can increase the odds that a prospect calls you right away. This is especially true in certain service industries, such as law, healthcare or home services.

Data that DNI provides, allows your business to:

  • Focus on ad spend on marketing and advertising campaigns that are driving high converting phone calls
  • Optimize products or services according to your web pages that are driving calls
  • Build on content that is driving phone calls, such as blog posts, white papers and webinars

Marchex’s Marketing Edge’s new feature, Online Attribution for Store Locator Pages enables you to add powerful attribution to your marketing with the industry’s best-in-class DNI solution. This feature supports a wide range of use cases, from a small business with a single location to an enterprise with many locations. Our solution also helps you manage and organize your attribution efforts in a way that is tailored to your business needs.

To learn more about Marchex Marketing Edge, schedule a demo.