Definition
Dynamic number insertion (DNI) is a small piece of JavaScript that replaces the phone number displayed on a website with a tracking number, so the calls it produces can be attributed.
How it works
A script on your site asks a server which number to show for the page being viewed. The server answers with a list of swaps, and the script replaces those numbers in the page text and in tel: links. If the script or server fails, the visitor still sees the number printed in your page, so a failure never leaves a page without a phone number.
Products differ in how fine the choice is. Some assign a number to every visitor from a pool, which allows keyword and session detail and needs many numbers. Others assign one number to each site or page.
VereTel’s version
VereTel uses one script tag and assigns numbers per site and per page. It has no per-visitor numbers, no number pools and no keyword-level assignment, so a call is credited to the page, not to the person. That suits an agency with a handful of landing pages and campaigns. Setup is described in DNI.
Why an insurance agency should care
Most agency websites show one phone number to everyone, which hides whether calls come from search, social or directory traffic. Giving each landing page its own number is the cheapest way to see the difference. How the mechanism works in more depth is covered in how DNI works.