Just when we thought Google My Business (GMB) could not get any better, the business profile now reports on calls that were made from the GMB profile. 

Back in October 2020, Google introduced a call history feature in GMB but the data was blank but would show a summary of answered and missed calls which were initiated from Google Search or Google Maps. 

However, Google has now begun to show actual caller data ????! This data features the called ID information including their name and phone number as well as the date of when the call was made. 

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How does it work?

According to Google, when a customer uses the “Call” button on your GMB profile, their call shows up in the “Calls” tab of the business’s profile. From here, the business can find recent, missed and answered calls. Once the call history has been activated, customers can connect to the business through a forwarding number instead of the number on the GMB profile. 

The image below shows what the call history on GMB looks like. It clearly shows the caller’s phone number, the date they called and if the business had answered or missed the call. The three buttons alongside the data – call, copy and history – allows the business to call the customer back, copy the caller’s phone number or see the history of that particular caller, such as how many times they had called the business. Furthermore, the large number at the top is the total number of answered and missed calls in a particular time period. 

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Why can’t you see this feature?

Google has mentioned that this feature is “currently an experimental feature and only available for a select group of businesses in the US only.” While we assume it is visible on the GMB profiles of US businesses, we do hope it will be rolled out worldwide. 

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Why should you care?

As many small businesses struggle with answering customer calls and responding to missed calls, this new feature can certainly help improve small business customer services and secure sales. Additionally it can also help larger businesses keep track of their calls in one place and it allows them to see the exact number of calls which they receive from Google Search or Google maps. Furthermore, these reports will help both small and large businesses determine who to call back sooner or not call back at all. Have you read about the new features Google has introduced? Read all about these two new features.

Tags: 1 thing, digital marketing, google, Google My Business