TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) Version Here
Dynamic Number Insertion, also known as DNI, is a call tracking solution used by businesses that seamlessly ties offline and online attribution.
DNI enables businesses to attribute phone calls generated from PPC 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.
Basically, DNI is an accurate way to track consumers who call your business after discovering your number online. Dynamic numbers allow marketers to discover all the actions a user took before calling. With DNI, you can see which ads, keywords, and online content tie into generating inbound calls and should get credit in marketing attribution. For marketers that are unsure whether or not they are comfortable using call tracking because of SEO, DNI is the perfect solution.
How does dynamic number insertion work?
When a lead comes to your website, DNI will display a unique phone number to each user. When called, this toll-free number routes to the main line of your choosing (usually your main business line).
Dynamic number insertion uses a pool of toll-free numbers in the background. The volume of numbers provided is based on your website volume to ensure that each user or source gets assigned its own specific number to be tracked from digital to offline conversion. A phone number from the pool will display after being dynamically switched based on the user or source. This ensures that each user or source gets its own unique number.
Some number pools (like ours) are managed automatically, so you do not need to know ahead of time how many visitors you are expecting. Most other solutions require you to provision the amount of numbers in your pool ahead of time.
Dynamic Number Insertion Capabilities
Depending on what type of DNI solution you get, the availability of analytics and its capabilities may differ.
For example, in the most simple dynamic number insertion solution, a user may see a distinct phone number based on ads they clicked, keywords they searched, or some other marketing campaign that has been set up. Each of these will have their own unique number to be displayed to the user and will tie back to show you analytics based on these specific campaigns.
Once you get to more robust DNI solutions, you can see more details on the consumer journey based on an actual specific user, rather than just the campaigns you have set up with DNI.
These DNI solutions will assign a unique dynamic number per user, which is usually based on cookies (keep in mind, there are some problems with attribution in cookie-based tracking). By collecting cookies on a device, the same dynamic number will be displayed every time, allowing you to track the actions taken by a person this way.
Although some DNI solutions may slightly differ, the setup for dynamic number insertion is basically the same, and only takes a few steps.
DNI Set Up & Use
- Determine your highest daily number of concurrent users on your website. This will be used to determine your dynamic number pool, which must be provisioned ahead of time with a manual DNI solution. With a more robust DNI solution, this step can be fully automated.
- Install a one-line snippet of JavaScript on your website.
- When a user visits your website, DNI’s JavaScript will detect the user and/or source they came from and swap out the phone number automatically for that unique user or source.
- When the user calls the dynamic phone number, you can tie back online actions made before the call to your campaigns, ad sets, ads, keywords, or even consumers – depending on the solution.
A more reliable DNI solution – without cookies
As it currently stands, not all solutions are created equal. A more reliable dynamic number solution does not use cookies, allowing the data delivered to be highly accurate and person-specific instead of “user” specific. There are enough problems with attribution: browsers changing, devices changing, cookie blocking, and even VPN services that get in the way of accurately determine marketing contribution.
How DNI works without cookies
With a dynamic number insertion solution that does not use cookies, the page loads with the DNI script, and users will start to be tracked in two ways:
- ID (Unique Identifier) as a unique person without using cookies based on:
- Device ID, IP, Location, and other discrete detection.
- Cross-referencing a proprietary database and other indiscrete detection.
- Sessions. These can be grouped to include:
- Time/Dimensions
- Activities/Interactions/Engagements
- Properties (moving from different owned domains)
Information is stored about this unique user that allows not only cross-domain tracking but actual cross-device tracking as well. Instead of relying on cookies for a user, CallSource’s DNI will track a specific person no matter the device they are using at that moment: desktop, phone, tablet, etc. In addition, our solution does track users across browsers and VPNs. No other DNI solution can automatically do all of this – but it only matters if you want accurate and reliable data.
Want to accurately track real people – so you aren’t missing any of your marketing data?
For online to offline attribution, many types of conversion actions are tracked:
- Chats
- Emails
- Calls
- Form Fills
- Texts
Automating the pool of numbers can also help so you don’t have to rely on the specific number of dynamic numbers that you first allotted with your DNI solution. Why is this important?
If you end up having more concurrent visitors on your site than originally allotted for, a regular DNI solution would end up having to assign the same number to multiple users – not an ideal situation. The whole point of using DNI is to map and attribute actions back to the sources. If people are getting assigned the same number, you would lose this insight completely.
Dynamic number insertion script
Typically, DNI uses lines of JavaScript code to be enabled. This code is responsible for swapping out the phone number seen to the end-user depending on your DNI setup.
Dynamic number insertion simply needs one script to give you multitudes of data. Compared to static number call tracking where you have to manage every page and every unique number to make sure it’s in the right place, with DNI, you can now just throw the script on and forget about it.
Dynamic number insertion and call tracking
Dynamic numbers are typically used on your website’s landing page – but they aren’t necessary for all of your online marketing efforts.
Sometimes a static call tracking number works best in certain listing areas that your business appears online. Anywhere you cannot place the Javascript code would be where you place a static call tracking number.
Read our comprehensive guide for step-by-step instructions for listing call tracking numbers in the most popular business listings:
Using Call Tracking Online: 7 Popular Listing Services
Can I use both call tracking and DNI?
Yes, you can – and should – utilize call tracking and dynamic number insertion at the same time! As mentioned, both of these solutions have similar, but different, outcomes and reasons for using them – and will be used for different marketing campaigns and attribution.
Call tracking is, of course, the most reliable way to track your offline attribution, and should also be used on various other online sources for people to contact your business from.
Want to start using DNI?
Do you think that your website could benefit from dynamic number insertion? You can begin implementing DNI for your business in no time and with minimal effort.
Click here to have someone reach out to you, or contact a representative today at 888.788.0123 to learn more and compare our solution to anything out there.
Summary
What is dynamic number insertion?
How does dynamic number insertion work?
Dynamic number insertion swaps out phone numbers based on a unique user or source where the dynamic phone number appears. When this unique phone number is dialed, it connects to the main phone number you choose (typically your main business line), and you are able to view that individual’s online actions taken before calling the dynamic number.
Most DNI solutions rely on cookies to track unique “users,” but CallSource’s DNI solution uses a cookieless method of tracking for truly reliable data down to each person. We also use a dynamic pool of numbers to ensure that if your website traffic goes above the number of users originally allotted for, the same number will never be displayed to two different people.
How easy is it to install dynamic number insertion?
Why do I need dynamic number insertion?
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