Importing call conversions via Signal file upload

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In your Invoca account, Signals are used to classify, tag, and segment your phone calls. While you can use Invoca to analyze your phone calls for Signal insights, you can also import that data into your Invoca account as well from an external system, such as your call center software or CRM.

Here’s how it works:
 

Related:
You can also use the process described in this article to How to import Marketing Data values using file upload for advanced attribution of your phone calls.

Step 1: Gather your source data

Your first step is to export your call data from your third-party system into a CSV or spreadsheet file. Since this phone call data needs to connect to your call records in your Invoca account, please make sure you are only uploading data about calls that Invoca drove and that the file size is less than 50MB. If you need help exporting this data, please refer to your third-party system’s documentation. 

You can use Signal File Upload both to add new Signal, Marketing Data, and revenue values to the phone calls in your Invoca account and to correct that data from your previous records. Depending on the version of Signal used in your Invoca account, however, you may need to do some of these actions in multiple steps. Check out the directions below to determine which version of Signal your account uses.
 

Step 2: Download your Signal File Upload template

1. Log in to your Invoca account. In the sidebar menu, click Signal, then select Manage Signals. 
2. In the Upload Signal Records tile, click the Upload button.
3. Click the Download Template button. If your Invoca account uses a more recent version of Signals, click to download a spreadsheet file (.xlsx format) formatted to help you upload your call records back to your Invoca account accurately. If your Invoca account uses an older version of Signals, first you’ll need to choose whether you are uploading call records with both Signals and revenue amounts attached, or only Signals. 

Step 3: Format your Signal insights

1. Open the template spreadsheet you just downloaded. Note the first three columns titled “transaction_id”, “call_record_id”, and “call_start_time”. These three columns are used as unique identifiers to match the call record from your third-party system with the associated call record in your Invoca account. You only need to fill in one of these columns for each of your call records.
    
   • transaction_id: The ID of the transaction (call leg) being reported on.
   • call_record_id: The ID of the complete call being reported on.
   • call_start_time: The start time does not have to be exact since clocks will not be perfectly synchronized. We will pair this record with the closest match in your Invoca account. “See the Additional tips for reporting properly formatted data” section below for descriptions of supported timestamps. 
      
     Providing precise call records: Of the three unique identifier columns, “call_start_time” is the least precise of these options. If you fill more than one unique identifier column, Invoca will always match records based on “transaction_id”, then “call_record_id”, then “call_start_time”. If you only fill in “call_start_time”, we strongly recommend you also fill in either the column “calling_phone_number” or “duration_in_seconds” to provide more precise records.
     
      
2. Enter your call record data into the template spreadsheet. Depending on which template you downloaded, how you fill Signal insights into this spreadsheet will change slightly:
    
   • Only one template was available
     • Each line of your spreadsheet will update one call record with values for each Signal in your Invoca account.
     • Your template spreadsheet contains a column named for each Signal in your Invoca account.
       • If you would like to only report the result of the Signal event, in each of those columns, enter the result of that Signal event as “true”/”false”, “yes”/”no”, or “1”/”0”.
       • If you would like to report the result of the Signal event and associated revenue that was driven by this phone call, add a number after the value of the Signal separated by a '-'. Example: “true - 5.0”, “false”, “false - 0.00”, “T - 10.00”
     • If you need to make a correction to the revenue of a previously reported phone call, note that each new associated revenue amount replaces any previous values for that phone call.
        
   • “Signals only” template: 
     • Your template spreadsheet contains a column named for each Signal in your Invoca account. In each of those columns, enter the result of that Signal event as “true”/”false”, “yes”/”no”, or “1”/”0”.
     • Each line of your spreadsheet will update one call record with values for each Signal in your Invoca account.
        
   • “Signals and sale amounts” template:
     • Each line of your spreadsheet will update a single Signal value from a single call.
     • The text you enter in the “signal_name” column must match the name of your signal in Invoca (not case-sensitive). 
     • If you report a “signal_name” in your spreadsheet that doesn’t match the name of a Signal in your Invoca account, a new signal will be created using that name.
     • Enter the result of your Signal event in the “value” column. You may enter “true”/”false”, “yes”/”no”, or “1”/”0”. 
     • In the “sale_amount” column, enter the amount of revenue this signal represented for your phone call. The “sale_amount” is added together for all signals in a single phone call.
     • To report on more than one Signal from a single phone call, create a new line on your spreadsheet for the same phone call, using the same unique identifier. Then, input the name of a different Signal in the “signal_name” column. Be sure to also update the value of that Signal accordingly.
        
3. When you are finished entering your call records into the template spreadsheet, save the spreadsheet file as a Microsoft Excel file or .csv file.

Step 4: Upload your Signal insights back into your Invoca account

1. Return to your Invoca browser window. In the Upload New File menu, click the cloud icon. Find your newly saved spreadsheet file including your call records and select it.
2. Select your time zone from the drop-down menu. When you are finished, click Upload and Preview.
3. Next, Invoca checks your spreadsheet for errors. If your spreadsheet does contain errors, look for how to resolve those errors in the “Troubleshooting errors in your Signal file upload section” below. Otherwise, click Proceed to apply your newly uploaded Signal records into your Invoca account.

That’s it! As soon as you click Proceed, Invoca will display a status bar indicating the progress of your upload. Once the entire file is processed, you can view the results of the upload in the upload history table. 
 

Troubleshooting errors in your Signal file upload

If uploading your Signal insights doesn’t work correctly on the first try, that’s okay! If any errors result from your file upload, you’ll see an error message with a link to download the error results, so that you can see which row(s) of the spreadsheet caused the error, with explanations of how to correct them. 

Some file upload errors are caused because the data in the spreadsheet doesn’t match a format Invoca can read. For help resolving these errors, see Additional tips to format data in your Signal File Upload spreadsheets.

You can also audit your Signal File upload data in your Transactions Report to make sure everything’s working smoothly. For more information, check out Viewing Marketing Data and Signals in your Invoca reports.

If you’d like more help troubleshooting errors in your Signal file upload, don’t hesitate to contact our friendly Customer Success team by clicking the Contact Support button below.

 

Related:
• Additional tips to format data in your Signal File Upload spreadsheets 
• Viewing Marketing Data and Signals in your Invoca reports 
• How to import Marketing Data values using file upload