Email doesn't always lead to a click. Sometimes it leads to a customer picking up the phone instead. A Trackable Phone Number lets you see when your emails are driving real phone calls, not just opens and clicks.

This article covers how to add a Trackable Phone Number to an email campaign and read the call data it generates. This article does not cover creating a Trackable Phone Number step by step — see Trackable Phone Numbers for that — or tracking calls from your website or ads. This article also does not cover building or sending emails; refer to the help documentation for your email marketing platform for that.

Benefits of Tracking Calls from Email Campaigns

If you send promotions, reminders, or newsletters, you need a way to answer one question: did this email campaign generate leads? Email open and click data only shows part of the picture. A customer who reads a promotional email and calls your business directly won't show up in click reports at all.

A Trackable Phone Number closes that gap. Adding one to an email campaign lets you see which emails drive phone conversations, not just website visits. You can also listen to recordings of the calls themselves to hear exactly what customers are asking about, which tells you far more than a call count alone. Over time, this helps you compare messaging across campaigns, identify which offers prompt customers to call rather than click, and decide which offers to repeat based on real conversations, not just open rates.

When to Use a Trackable Phone Number in Email

Add a Trackable Phone Number to any email where a phone call is a likely next step for the customer. This includes promotional emails, the call-to-action section of an email, and email signatures.

How to Set Up a Trackable Phone Number for an Email Campaign

Click Trackable Phone Number in the left-hand navigation, then click Track New to create a number. For step-by-step instructions on creating a Trackable Phone Number and choosing a destination number, see Trackable Phone Numbers.

When naming the campaign in the Create a Trackable Phone Number window, use a name that identifies it as an email number — for example, "Email – January Promo." This makes it easy to find later in your Trackable Phone Numbers list, alongside numbers you're using for ads or your website.

Once the number is created, copy it into the email you're building in your email marketing platform, such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or another third-party tool. Paste the number into the call-to-action section of the email, or into the email signature, the same way you would add any phone number to an email.

Use one Trackable Phone Number per campaign whenever possible. This keeps call data isolated to that specific campaign, so the reporting tells you which campaign generated the call rather than grouping several campaigns' calls together under one number.

Best Practices for Email Call Tracking Numbers

Keep the number you use in email campaigns separate from the numbers used for ads and your website. Mixing them together makes it impossible to tell which channel actually drove the call.

Place the number near the main call-to-action in the email rather than burying it in the footer, since customers are more likely to call from a number they see right after reading your offer. Label each number clearly when you create it — for example, "Email – January Promo" — so it's easy to identify in your reporting later without having to check which campaign it was assigned to.

What You Can Track from Email Call Activity

To view call data for a specific number, click the campaign name for that number on the Trackable Phone Numbers page. This opens a detail page showing four metrics: Calls (the total number of calls received), Unique Calls (calls from distinct phone numbers), Avg. Calls Weekly (average call volume per week), and Avg. Call Duration (average length of calls received).

Below the metrics, the Received Calls section lists every call made to that number. You can search by phone number or sort the list, and each call can be opened to listen to its recording.

Call data updates once every 24 hours, so calls received today won't appear in your reporting until the next sync.

FAQ

Can I use the same Trackable Phone Number across multiple email campaigns?
You can, but it's not recommended. Using one number per campaign keeps reporting accurate — combining campaigns under one number makes it impossible to tell which specific email drove which calls.

Is there a limit to how many Trackable Phone Numbers I can create?
Yes. You can have up to 5 Trackable Phone Numbers at a time, shared across all your campaigns, including any you use for email. See Trackable Phone Numbers for details on managing your numbers.

Do I need to send my emails through Thryv to use this feature?
No. You create the Trackable Phone Number in your account, then copy it into an email you build and send through whatever email marketing platform you already use.

How often does my call data update?
Call data syncs every 24 hours. If you don't see a recent call reflected yet, check back the next day.

Does a Trackable Phone Number cost anything?
No. Trackable Phone Numbers are included with your Thryv account at no additional cost.