Running call tracking through an enrollment season

Know the window you are planning around

Dates come from the government sources listed at the foot of this page, read on September 29, 2026. For Medicare, the annual open enrollment period runs October 15 to December 7, and there is a separate Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 to March 31. HealthCare.gov shows Marketplace open enrollment for 2027 coverage starting November 1, with December 15 as the deadline for a January 1 start and January 15 as the last day to enroll or change plans. State-run marketplaces set their own dates.

This is general information, not enrollment or legal advice. Check the current dates for the states and plans you serve.

Before the season: plan the numbers

Do this four to six weeks ahead, while nothing is on fire.

1. List your sources. Search campaigns, social campaigns, mail drops, radio, referral partners. Decide which you will compare.
2. Assign one number to each and write the label plan down. Keep labels consistent so a campaign reads the same in the desk and in your ad account. A new account can hold up to 3 numbers during its first 30 days; an order for more is held for review. After that, the full count of its plan applies.
3. Set where each forwards. A number forwards to one line, so if the Medicare team and the ACA team answer on different lines, they need different numbers.
4. Register landing pages if you use number insertion, and test each one. Numbers are not on sale yet. Create a free account and ask to be told when they are.
5. Test-call every number and confirm the call shows in the desk with the right label.

The more you finish before the first ad runs, the less you change while calls are coming in.

Size your minutes

Plans include 250 minutes on Solo, 1,000 minutes on Starter, 3,000 minutes on Growth, 7,500 minutes on Scale, and minutes beyond that are $0.06 each. Estimate a season like this: expected calls per week, times average call length in minutes, times the weeks in the season. Then add a margin, because enrollment traffic tends to run above an ordinary month.

Your own history is the best guide. If you do not have any, run a smaller version first and use its call durations from the desk. Choosing a larger plan for the peak months is a normal move, and plans are month to month. See pricing.

During the surge: watch missed calls

The costly failure in enrollment season is a ringing phone that nobody answers. VereTel logs missed calls too, so the desk shows them. Make a routine of it:

• Filter the desk to missed each morning and look at the times and tracking numbers.
• If misses cluster on one label, the problem is that line or that shift, not the campaign.
• Call back missed numbers you can identify, while the caller still remembers why they rang.
• If a number is busy at a certain hour, add staff to its forwarding line or shift spend away from that hour.

The desk is a log, not an alarm. VereTel does not notify your team when a call is missed, so someone has to look. Our open enrollment call playbook goes further into staffing and follow-up.

After the season: review and retire

• Filter the desk to each campaign’s dates and count calls per label. Record cost per call while it is fresh.
• Note the labels that produced answered calls, not just calls.
• Retire numbers printed on material that is out of date. A stale mailer or old ad will keep ringing until the number is removed.
• Keep the label plan. Next season starts from what worked rather than from scratch.

Keep a number if you expect to want it again next year: once a number is released, you cannot count on getting it back.