In this post:
- What Google My Business Call History is
- How to get it enabled
- What’s behind the Calls menu item in the Google My Business dashboard
- What the user experience is like for your Google My Business callers
- What the user experience is like for you and your employees
- Where you find actual call history data in the Google My Business dashboard
A new feature in GMB has been in beta for a while and until recently, but we are excited to see the “Calls” menu choice enabled for most businesses.
This is a useful way to keep track of your call history and we encourage you to consider enabling it. You can do this in the Google My Business Dashboard
However, if you were part of the Beta test, you will likely have signed up here in the dashboard:
We have not as of yet seen a shortcut to Call History in the Dashboard Home Page since it was in Beta.
Here’s how it works:
When a customer searching on their mobile device sees your Google Business listing in search results they will be presented with a phone icon that they can tap to initiate the call (as has been the case for a while now).
If you have Call History enabled, the call will then transfer to a Google forwarding number that has been assigned to your business, almost always using the same area code as the one in your business’s address.
The caller will see that number displayed on their device. The number will be different than the number they might have seen on your business listing or your website, but most customers will likely not even notice.
When the call comes in, it will go to your listed business number, and it will be handled by your system the same as if the person dials directly.
The only difference at this point is on your end. If you can see the caller ID, the caller’s number will display just like a normal call. However, when you or your staff pick up, you will hear “Call from Google” before the caller is connected (this is known as a whisper notification). Your caller will not hear this notification, just you.
The benefit is that you or we can go into Google My Business later, click on the “Calls” menu choice, as shown below (you can also get to this chart through “Insights”), and then see who has called you and what happened with the call. If it’s a missed call, you will have the information to call the person back to follow up:
We hope you find this tool as useful as we do!