A pre-season call tracking checklist for ACA and Medicare

Why a checklist, and how this differs from the guide

The longer guide to ACA open enrollment explains the season and the reasoning. This page is a list to tick off. It applies to the ACA enrollment window and to Medicare’s annual enrollment period, and to any other stretch when your call volume jumps. Check the official dates each year on HealthCare.gov and Medicare.gov, since they are set by the government, not by us.

Four to six weeks before

• List your sources. Write down every place you will advertise or be listed: each ad campaign, social audience, mailer, directory and web page.
• Decide which sources to compare. Give a number to each source you want judged on its own. Ads you will judge together can share one.
• Choose the numbers. In your account, pick an area code for each source and the line it should ring, and label it. If you would rather have help, ask us. Numbers are not on sale yet. Create a free account and ask to be told when they are.
• Set a definition of a good call. Decide now whether it means answered, longer than a set time, or ends in a quote. See call conversion.
• Estimate minutes. Expected calls times average length tells you which plan fits. Check pricing.

Two to three weeks before

• Add the script tag to your site if you want calls tracked by page, and register your landing pages. Read the DNI setup.
• Print and publish each number in one place only. Proof each mailer and ad before it goes out.
• Place test calls to every number from a phone outside your office. Confirm each rings the right line and shows in the desk with the right label.
• Decide who watches the desk. An account has one sign-in today (adding teammates is coming), so agree who checks the call list, and when.
• Check your listings. Your main number, address and hours should match everywhere. See tracking number mistakes.

During the season

• Review missed calls daily. Filter the call list to missed calls and call back the same day. See missed call rate.
• Watch for a quiet number. A source that suddenly stops ringing usually means an ad paused, a page changed or a number was mis-typed.
• Staff to the peaks. The call list shows the times calls came in; use it to schedule breaks and coverage.
• Do not change numbers mid-campaign. Keep the source and the number paired until the season ends.
• Note outcomes yourself. The desk logs calls but does not record them or track quotes, so keep a simple tally of which calls became applications.

One-page version to print

If you keep only one thing from this list, keep these five checks:

1. Every source has a number and every number has a label.
2. Every number has been test-called and appears correctly in the desk.
3. Your definition of a good call is written down.
4. Someone owns the missed-call list every day of the season.
5. No number changes until the season ends.

Post it near the desk phone. Most enrollment-season surprises come from one of these five being skipped, not from anything exotic. The open enrollment call playbook goes further into the ACA side.

After the season

• Divide spend by calls for each source. The method is in measuring cost per call.
• Compare answered and missed by source.
• Write down what to change next year while it is fresh.
• Release or repurpose numbers you no longer need.

For season-specific use of VereTel, see open enrollment campaigns. Call recording and reports are planned but not available today, so build your review routine around the call list.