How to set up missed-call notifications in CallRail

CallRail can notify you when a call to one of your tracking numbers is missed, goes to voicemail, comes from a first-time caller or matches a tag. You create these notifications under My Account, then Notifications, then Calls & Texts, and CallRail can deliver them by email, desktop push or text message. Push alerts on your phone are set separately in the CallRail mobile app. This guide walks through both, explains who can receive the alerts, and covers the one thing they don't do: tell you later that nobody called the person back.

Everything below comes from CallRail's help center, as checked on the date at the top.

What CallRail can notify you about

CallRail's notifications cover incoming calls and text messages to your tracking numbers. You can narrow them to specific interactions, including missed calls, voicemails, first-time callers and calls matching a specific tag. Source: CallRail's notifications article.

For a plumbing or HVAC shop, the useful combination is usually missed calls and voicemails from first-time callers: those are the people most likely to call the next shop on their list. Returning customers matter too, but they are more likely to try you again.

Create a notification on the web

1. Select the Account icon in the top left to open the My Account panel, then Notifications.
2. Select Calls & Texts in the left menu, then Create Notification.
3. Choose the company, the user who should receive the notification, and whether it covers inbound calls, text messages or both. If you picked a specific company, you can also limit it to one tracking number.
4. Select Customize and add filters for the types of calls you want, such as missed calls or voicemails. You can also limit the alert to customers with a given qualified status. If you chose a specific company, you'll also see Filter by Tag; it isn't available when you choose All companies.
5. Select Delivery, choose how you want to receive it, and select Save.

To change a notification later, go back to Calls & Texts and select the pencil icon next to it. Source: CallRail's notifications article.

Pick the delivery channel

CallRail sends three kinds of notifications from the web settings:

• Email. If you have CallRail's Premium Conversation Intelligence, voicemail and call notification emails also include a call summary and sentiment.
• Desktop push, for whoever sits at the office computer.
• SMS text messages. You have to verify your phone number first; CallRail sends a code that expires after one minute.

Source: CallRail's notifications article.

Push alerts on your phone

Mobile push alerts are set in the CallRail app for iPhone or Android, not on the website. In the app, tap the Settings icon at the bottom, select Notifications and turn on Allow Notifications. You can then choose the interactions you want to hear about: missed calls, voicemails, text messages from a new customer, text messages in an active conversation, and filters by company, tracking number, interaction type and tags. Source: CallRail's mobile app notifications article.

Who can receive the alerts

• Administrators can create or edit notifications for any user on the account.
• Managers can do it for themselves and for users in the companies they're assigned to.
• Reporting users can only manage their own notifications.

Administrators and managers can also send email notifications to someone without a CallRail login: choose Recipient outside of CallRail and enter the address, or create an email-only user with New Email Recipient. These options only appear when the notification is for a specific company, not All companies. Source: CallRail's notifications article.

That is useful for a shop where the owner is in the field: send the missed-call email to the office manager or dispatcher who will actually call back, and keep the owner on a narrower alert, for example voicemails from first-time callers only.

What these notifications don't do

Every CallRail notification fires when the call happens. None of the options in the notifications article is a delayed alert of the kind "this missed caller still hasn't been called back 30 minutes later". On a busy day, the missed-call email arrives, the person who reads it is on a job, and the alert is forgotten. Nothing reminds anyone.

CallRail's community team has confirmed that it has no report of missed calls that were never returned, and described the workaround as comparing a missed-calls report with an outbound-calls report by hand. Source: CallRail community thread on unreturned calls.

There are three ways to close that gap:

1. A daily check by hand of the Call Log, as described in our guide on finding missed calls nobody returned in CallRail.
2. A tag applied to each missed call once it's returned, which CallRail staff suggested in the community. It depends on someone remembering to tag every call.
3. A tool that reads the call log and only alerts when a missed caller is still waiting. Herdback does this for CallRail: it emails you when a missed caller hasn't been called back after your target time, 15 minutes by default, new callers first. To see how big the gap is for your shop first, run the free missed-call audit on a call-log export.

Frequently asked questions

Can CallRail text me when I miss a call?

Yes. Choose SMS text messages as the delivery method when you create the notification. You'll need to verify your phone number with a code first.

Can a missed-call alert go to someone who doesn't have a CallRail login?

Yes, by email. When the notification is for a specific company, an administrator or manager can choose Recipient outside of CallRail and enter an email address.

Can I get alerts only for first-time callers?

CallRail lists first-time callers among the interactions you can be notified about. Set the filter in the Customize step of the notification.

Will CallRail remind me if nobody called the person back?

Not according to its help center. The notifications fire when the call is missed. Checking later whether the caller got a callback is a separate step, by hand or with a tool.

Sources

• https://support.callrail.com/hc/en-us/articles/5711858588813-Notifications
• https://support.callrail.com/hc/en-us/articles/35897201930125-CallRail-mobile-app-notifications
• https://support.callrail.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/23869342892941-Need-Report-that-shows-Unreturned-Calls