Call tracking
Know how many calls your postcard brings
Your ad gets a local phone number of its own. It rings straight through to your phone, with the caller's number showing, and every call it brings is counted for you. When you miss one, we email you so you can call back. Nothing is recorded.
$49 a year per business, optional, paid separately. Already a customer? Add it from your account
Why count the calls?
A postcard works quietly. It lands in thousands of mailboxes at once, sits on counters and fridges, and the calls trickle in over the following weeks. Without a count, most owners are left guessing whether the card paid for itself, and a guess is a poor basis for deciding whether to mail again.
Asking every caller where they heard about you helps, and we recommend it. But people forget, the person answering forgets to ask, and a busy week of jobs is exactly when nobody writes anything down. A number used only on your ad counts every call without anyone having to remember.
At a glance
- Your own local number: you choose the area code and pick from up to five numbers
- Rings your phone: straight through, showing the caller's own number
- Every call counted: real calls, missed calls and short calls, credited to your card
- Missed calls emailed: within moments, so you can call back while it matters
- Never recorded: we keep the time, the length and the caller's area code, nothing more
How it works
Pick your number
We fill in the area code of your own phone, and you can change it to any US area code. Choose one of up to five local numbers, or ask for numbers containing digits you like. Nothing is bought until your payment goes through.
It goes on your ad
Your tracking number prints on your ad in place of your phone number, on every card you are on while you keep it. If you have a website from us, the same number shows on your pages too.
Calls ring through
A call to the number rings the phone you choose, showing the caller's own number. When you answer you hear "Postcard Advantage call. Press 1 to accept." Press 1 and you are talking to your customer.
Every call is counted
Each call is logged and credited to your most recent card that had mailed when it came in. The results report for each mailing shows your real and missed calls beside the scans of your QR code.
Missed calls come to you
If a call is not answered, we email you straight away with the time and the caller's area code. Their number is already in your phone's missed-call list, because we pass it through, so calling back takes one tap.
Why you press 1
Many phone apps and office phone systems pick up a forwarded call before your phone has even rung. To the phone network, that looks like an answered call, even though nobody is there yet. A count built on that would tell you every call was answered, including the ones nobody heard.
So every tracked call asks the person who answers to press 1. It tells you before you say hello that the caller found you on the postcard, and it means a call only counts as answered when a real person took it. If nobody presses 1, the call is logged as missed and emailed to you, and the caller hears that nobody could take the call just now (or, with the AI receptionist, the assistant answers instead).
If your phone setup never picks up early and you would rather skip the prompt, you can switch it off in your account. The trade-off is that the count then trusts the phone network about which calls were answered.
What counts as what
- A real call: you pressed 1 and stayed on for 20 seconds or more
- A missed call: it rang and nobody took it, or nobody pressed 1
- A short call: taken for under 20 seconds, or the caller hung up within a few seconds of ringing, which is usually a wrong number or a robocall
Short calls are shown separately, so a wrong number never inflates your count.
A missed call is a customer waiting
Most people who call a business from a postcard call one or two, and the first to call back usually gets the job. If you are up a ladder, under a sink or driving between jobs, the call goes unanswered, and by the time you check your phone that evening the customer may already have booked somebody else.
Every missed call on your tracking number is emailed to you within moments, with the time and where the caller's number is from. Because the caller's own number comes through to your phone, it is already in your missed-call list. One tap and you are calling them back.
If you would rather a voice answered those calls than an email told you about them, add the AI receptionist. It answers the calls you cannot take and sends you a written message instead.
On your postcard, your website, or both
On your postcard ad
The number prints on your ad in place of your phone number. One number covers every card you are on, and each call is credited to the latest card that had mailed when it came in, so you can see which mailing brought what.
On your website
If we built your website, the same number shows on your pages in place of your own, so you can see how many calls the site brings as well. Businesses with only a website from us, and no postcard ad, can have call tracking too.
Your Google listing stays yours
Only the number visitors see on your pages changes. Your Google Business Profile keeps your own number, and so does the business information built into your site for search engines, so your listings stay consistent everywhere.
With a postcard ad and a website from us, you do not pay twice. One business has one tracking number and one yearly payment, and its calls are counted together. Your ad is still yours to use anywhere: with call tracking on, your artwork page has a download of your ad exactly as designed, with your own phone number in place of the tracking number.
Private by design
Calls to tracking numbers are never recorded and never transcribed. Nobody listens in, and there is nothing to listen to later. For each call we keep the time, how long it lasted and whether it was answered.
The only thing we keep about the caller is their area code. Their full number is passed through to your phone so you can call back, but it is not stored with us. Your customers are calling you, not joining a list.
You stay in control
- Change the phone your number rings at any time from your account. It works from the next call.
- Switch the press 1 prompt off or back on.
- See your calls for every mailing in its results report, next to your QR code scans.
- Turn automatic renewal off whenever you like.
Price
Call tracking is optional and paid separately from your slot or your website. One payment covers your number for a full year, and it renews automatically on the same card. We email you 30, 14 and 3 days before each renewal.
Call tracking
$49 a year
per business, renews yearly
- Your own local number, picked by you
- 1,500 forwarded minutes a year
- Every call counted, by mailing
- Missed calls emailed to you
- Text alerts, if you want them
Busy call tracking
$149 a year
for phones that ring all day
- Everything in call tracking
- 5,000 forwarded minutes a year
- Upgrade any time, for the difference
Nothing is ever cut off
If your number gets busier than its plan, calls keep ringing through. We let you know, and suggest busy call tracking if the extra calls look set to continue. If you stop, the number keeps ringing through to you for 60 days after your paid year ends, so calls from cards still in people's homes are not lost straight away. After that it is released, and a number we have released is never given to another business by us.
Add-on
Add an AI receptionist for the calls you miss
When a call to your tracking number is not answered, a friendly virtual assistant can pick up instead. It says it is your virtual assistant, takes the caller's name, number and what they need, and emails you the message within seconds. It never quotes prices or books jobs, and calls are never recorded.
$99 a year on top of call tracking, which it requires: $148 a year for both.
How to get it
Advertising with us
Add call tracking when you reserve your slot and pick your number. It is bought the moment your payment goes through, and it prints on your ad in place of your phone number.
Ordering a website
Tick call tracking under the optional extras on the website order form. The number shows on your pages once you have picked it.
Already a customer
Sign in to your account with your email address and add call tracking from there. There is no password to remember: we email you a sign-in link.
Not advertising yet? Start with how the shared card works, then look at what a slot costs. Call tracking is a paid option, and most advertisers do fine without it: every ad already carries a free QR code with its scans counted. How the card works · Pricing
Questions about call tracking
What is call tracking?
Call tracking is an optional add-on that gives your ad its own local phone number. It prints on your ad in place of your phone number and rings straight through to your phone, so every call the card brings is counted for you. Answer it and a short message says "Postcard Advantage call. Press 1 to accept." Press 1 and you are talking to the caller, so a person always hears it is a postcard call.
Why do I press 1 to accept a tracked call?
So a person always hears that it is a postcard call, and so we count calls honestly. Many phone apps and office phone systems pick up a call before your phone even rings, which means a message played the instant the line is answered can reach nobody, and a voicemail or phone menu would count as answered. So the first thing you hear on answering is "Postcard Advantage call. Press 1 to accept." Press 1 and the caller is put through; the caller hears ringing until then. If nobody presses 1 within about 20 seconds, the caller hears that nobody could take the call and is asked to try again. We count it as a missed call and email you. You can turn it off in your account, but we recommend keeping it on.
How much does call tracking cost?
$49 a year per business, or $149 a year for busy call tracking (for phones that ring all day). It is not included in the slot price and it is entirely optional. One payment covers your number for a full year, however many cards you are on in that year. The AI receptionist is a separate add-on ($99 a year on top of call tracking, which it requires).
What do I get with call tracking?
One local number of your own, printed on your ad in place of your phone number; every call ringing straight through to the phone you choose, with the caller's own number showing; a count of real calls, missed calls and short or likely spam calls on your results page and in your account; and an email whenever you miss a call, with the time and the caller's area code.
Do I have to buy call tracking to advertise?
No. Call tracking is a paid option and most advertisers do fine without it. Every ad already carries a free QR code with its scans counted, and the advice to run an offer unique to the card and to ask callers where they heard about you still applies.
Does one tracking number cover all of my cards?
Yes. You get one number for your business and it prints on every card you are on while you keep it, so your calls are counted across all of them. Each call is credited to your most recent card that had mailed when the call came in.
Can I choose my area code and my number?
Yes. We fill in the area code of your own phone, and you can change it to any US area code. You then pick from up to five local numbers, and you can ask for numbers containing particular digits. Nothing is held until you have paid. If someone else takes your pick in the meantime we get you another number in the same area code and tell you which.
How do renewal and canceling work?
Call tracking renews automatically once a year at its price ($49 a year, or $149 a year for busy call tracking), and we email you 30, 14 and 3 days before each renewal. From your account you can turn automatic renewal off at any time. Changing your card or updating your billing details happens there too. Turning it off keeps your number working to the end of the year you have paid for. If you also have the AI receptionist add-on, it is a separate yearly payment you can cancel on its own; it needs call tracking, so turning call tracking off ends the receptionist on the same day too.
What happens to my tracking number if I stop?
It keeps ringing through to you for 60 days after your paid year ends, so calls from cards still in people's homes are not lost straight away. After that it is released and stops working. A number we have released is never given to another business, and you can keep it during those 60 days by renewing from your account.
Are calls recorded?
No. Calls to tracking numbers are never recorded or transcribed. For each call we keep the time, how long it lasted and whether it was answered. The caller's area code is the only thing we keep about the caller. Nothing else about the caller is stored.
What counts as a real call?
A real call is one you accepted by pressing 1 and stayed on for 20 seconds or more, counted from the moment you pressed 1. Calls you took for less than that, and calls where the caller hung up within a few seconds of it ringing, are shown separately as short or likely spam. A call nobody accepted is a missed call, and those are shown on their own too.
Can I change the phone my tracking number rings?
Yes. Sign in to your account and enter the new number. It takes effect from the next call, and your tracking number itself does not change.
Can I use my ad somewhere else with my own phone number?
Yes. The ad is yours. With call tracking on, your artwork page has a download of your ad exactly as designed for the card but with your own phone number in place of the tracking number.
Can I get call tracking for my website, without a postcard?
Yes. Call tracking, the AI receptionist and text alerts are also for businesses that only have a website from us, with no postcard ad. They are optional and paid separately from the website: call tracking is $49 a year, and the AI receptionist add-on, which requires call tracking, is $99 a year on top. Your tracking number shows on your website in place of your phone number (the header, the call buttons, the contact page and the footer) and rings straight through to you. Add it on the website order form or later from your account.
Does a tracking number on my website change my Google listing?
No. The swap is limited to the number visitors see on your pages. Your Google Business Profile keeps your own number, and so does the business information built into the site for search engines, so your name, address and phone stay the same everywhere you are listed. When call tracking ends, your website shows your own number again by itself.
I have a postcard ad and a website from you. Do I pay for call tracking twice?
No. One business has one tracking number and one yearly payment. The same number prints on your ad and shows on your website, and its calls are counted together.
Is there a limit on calls or messages?
Each plan includes a generous yearly allowance. Call tracking ($49 a year) includes up to 1,500 forwarded minutes a year, and busy call tracking ($149 a year) 5,000. The AI receptionist add-on ($99 a year) includes up to 300 messages a year, and the busy receptionist ($249 a year) 1,000. The year starts again when your plan renews, and your account shows how much you have used.
What happens if I go over my plan?
Nothing stops. Calls keep ringing through to you and the assistant keeps answering. If your number is regularly busier than its plan, we will tell you and suggest the busy version of that part: busy call tracking for minutes, the busy receptionist for messages. Each can be switched to from your account for the difference.
More questions about the card itself are answered on our FAQ page. Read the FAQ
Find out what your card is really doing
Pick your number when you book, and from the first mailing you will know how many people picked up the phone because of your ad.