There are two settings, and they sit in different places. Your list of lead sources or campaigns lives in your account settings, usually under a menu called Lead Sources, Campaigns, or Referral Sources. The source attached to one specific call sits on the job that call created.
If you only learn one of the two, learn the second one. That's the field that tells you which marketing is paying for itself.
TL;DR
Two settings, not one. The list of sources you can pick from, and the link between a tracking phone number and one of those sources.
The field name changes depending on your software. Campaign in ServiceTitan. Lead Source in Housecall Pro and Jobber. Referral Source in Service Fusion. Job Source in Workiz.
To check a single call, open the job that call created and find that field.
A blank field usually means a person, not a bug. Most platforms fill it in on their own only when a tracking number rings.
Repeat customers skew the numbers. Several platforms carry a customer's original source forward forever, so a five-year customer who calls today can still be credited to the flyer that first found them.
We can pull this for you. If you'd rather not go digging, ask your account manager.
What you're actually looking for
Every field service platform stores the same three things, even though they all name them differently.
First, a list. Google, referral, truck wrap, Facebook, whatever you've decided to keep track of. Second, a connection between a phone number and one item on that list, so a call to the number on your van gets credited to the van instead of to nothing. Third, a field on each job showing which source that job came from.
The list and the phone number connection are setup work. You touch them once or twice a year. The field on the job is the one you'll look at every week, and it's the only one that answers the question you actually care about.
How to check the lead source attached to a call
This works on every platform, whatever the menus are called this month:
Find the job or estimate that call created. Search by the customer's name or phone number.
Open it and look for a field named Campaign, Lead Source, Referral Source, or Job Source. It's usually near the job type, the business unit, or down the left side of the job screen.
Read what's in it. If it names a marketing channel, that's your answer.
If it's blank or says something generic like Other or your main office number, the call came in on an untracked line or nobody filled the field in. Both are fixable.
Do this on five or six recent jobs before you go further. It tells you fast whether your data is worth reporting on or whether the office needs a nudge.
One note before you start. Reading the source on a job is usually open to everyone. Changing the settings behind it normally isn't. On most platforms the phone number and lead source setup pages sit behind admin or owner permissions, so if you're logged in as an office user and the menu isn't there, that's why. Whoever owns the account can either make the change or turn the permission on for you.
ServiceTitan
Your tracking numbers: go to Settings, then Phones, then Phone Numbers. Every tracking number in your account is listed here alongside the campaign it's attached to. There's an Export Phone Numbers button that gives you the whole list as a spreadsheet, which is the fastest way to spot a number that isn't attached to anything. If your account uses Phones Pro instead, the path is Settings, then Phones Pro, then Phone Numbers.
Your campaign list: Settings, then Operations, then Campaigns.
On a specific call: the Campaign field shows up on the Call Booking screen under Job Details. On a job that's already booked, open the job, click Edit, and Campaign is in there with the job type and business unit.
Two things worth knowing about ServiceTitan, because they cause most of the confusion we see:
The call bubble matters. When your CSR clicks the green incoming call bubble as they answer, the campaign tied to that number moves onto the job automatically. Skip the bubble, and someone has to pick the campaign by hand.
Forwarding numbers don't get tracked. ServiceTitan only records calls that come in on a tracking number. Your forwarding number is the unadvertised line those tracking numbers hand off to, so it shouldn't be on your website, your van, or your listings.
If we've connected ServiceTitan to your reporting portal, your call and campaign data also shows up on your dashboard. See ServiceTitan integration for what that includes.
Housecall Pro
Your source list: click the gear icon for Settings, then Lead Sources. You can add, rename, or archive sources here, and there's an Archived tab if you retire one and want it back later.
Your tracking numbers: Settings, then Inbox, then the Phone Numbers tab. Each number shows the lead source it's tied to and the call flow it rings through to. Click the three-dot menu next to a number and choose Edit to change either one. Call tracking is a paid add-on that comes with Voice, so if you don't see it, you may not have it turned on.
On a specific job: open the job or estimate, scroll down, and click the + Lead source button on the left side.
For a report: Reporting, then Reports, then pick Jobs at the top, then choose Job lead source under Type.
One quirk to keep in your back pocket. Housecall Pro's Marketing Dashboard ROI table credits revenue using the lead source on the customer, while the job lead source report uses the source on the job. Those two numbers can disagree for the same month and both be right. When someone asks why the reports don't match, that's almost always why.
A handful of sources fill themselves in without anyone touching them, including Google Reserve, online booking on your own site, Yelp, and Thumbtack. Those you can trust. The rest depend on whoever answered the phone.
Jobber
Jobber puts lead source on the client, not on the job. Add or edit a client and you'll find the Lead Source field there, with defaults for referral, Google, Facebook, Instagram, flyer, vehicle wrap, event, and other. To add your own, open the dropdown and choose Create New. You can have up to 100 sources including the defaults.
To report on it, open the clients report, add the Lead Source column, and filter or export to CSV from there.
Jobber can fill the field in for you two ways. Add UTM tags to your request form link or online booking link and the source lands automatically. Turn on the "How did you hear about us" question on your request form and whatever the customer picks maps straight to their profile.
What Jobber doesn't have is built-in tracking numbers. Phone leads need either a separate call tracking service that pushes the source into Jobber, or your office asking every caller and typing it in.
One structural thing to keep in mind. Because the field lives on the client rather than the job, a customer's source gets set the first time they come in and carries forward on every job after that. You can edit it on the profile whenever you like, and changing it there won't rewrite the answer they originally gave on a request form. Handy for knowing where a relationship started. Less useful for judging last month's ad spend.
Workiz
Jobs and leads both have a Job Source field, filled in when the job gets created. If you're on Workiz's built-in phone with call tracking turned on and you book a job straight from an active call, Workiz fills that source in for you and ties the job's revenue to the right ad. The feature is called Ad and Source Tracking in their menus.
To see it across all your work, open the Jobs report and turn on the Job source column under Fields.
Service Fusion
Your source list: My Office, then Referral Sources, under the Marketing heading. Add New at the top right, or the pencil icon to edit one you already have. Only the name is required, and the description field caps at 100 characters, which is enough for a date and a cost if you want to track what an ad ran you.
On a customer: open their account, stay on the Account Info tab, and scroll to the bottom for the Referral Source dropdown. Start typing to jump to the one you want.
On a job: any new estimate or job for that customer inherits the referral source from their account automatically. One exception to watch. Jobs created in the Field Worker app don't inherit it, so if your techs book their own follow-up work, those jobs come through blank.
Reports let you group by referral source, and Service Fusion's referral sources also feed into their VoIP product if you're using it.
FieldEdge
FieldEdge tags the lead source on incoming calls when their phone integration is switched on, and the source shows up on the customer record and the work order.
We're being straight with you here: FieldEdge menu names shift between versions, and some accounts still run the older layout carried over from ESC. Rather than send you down a path that doesn't match your screen, look for a field labeled lead source or advertisement on the work order. If you can't find it, FieldEdge support can point to it in your version. Or send us a screenshot of your work order screen and we'll tell you what to look for.
Why the source field is wrong or empty
Five reasons, in roughly the order we run into them:
Nobody picked one. The most common by a wide margin. If your software can't tell where a call came from, it waits for a human, and humans in a hurry skip optional fields.
The customer dialed your office number. Tracking only works on the number you advertised. If your old number is still on a magnet on somebody's fridge, that call comes through as untracked.
It's a repeat customer. On platforms that store the source on the customer, a returning customer keeps whatever source they were first tagged with.
Customer source and job source are different fields. Two reports pulling from two different fields will show two different answers. Neither is broken.
Somebody bulk-updated the list. Renaming or merging sources rewrites history on jobs that already exist.
What if my software doesn't do call tracking?
Plenty of platforms don't, and it isn't a crisis. You have two options.
Run a separate call tracking service that assigns a different number to each channel and passes the source into your software. Or train the office to ask every caller and log the answer. The first is more accurate. The second is free and still beats guessing, as long as everyone actually does it.
Worth asking either way: does your team ask callers how they found you? That one question catches word of mouth and neighbor referrals, and no tracking number in the world will ever pick those up.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need call tracking if I already have Google Analytics?
Analytics can tell you someone visited your service page. It goes quiet the moment they pick up the phone. For most home services businesses the phone is where the money is, so the gap between "visited the site" and "booked a job" is exactly the gap call tracking closes.
Will putting a tracking number on my Google Business Profile cause problems?
Google's guidelines ask for a number that connects to your business location, prefer a local number over a call center line, and require the number to be under your business's direct control. A tracking number you control, that forwards to your own line, fits that. The bigger practical risks are inconsistency across your other listings and losing the number if you ever change providers. Talk to us before you swap the number on your profile so we can keep everything lined up.
My software shows fewer calls than my reporting dashboard. Which one is right?
Usually both. Your field service software counts calls it can see, which means calls to tracked numbers. Your dashboard may also be counting clicks on your Google profile, form fills, and calls to numbers your software doesn't know about. Different denominators, not an error.
Can you set the lead sources up inside my software for us?
Sometimes, depending on the platform and the access we have. Ask your account manager and we'll tell you what's possible on your setup. At minimum we'll tell you exactly which sources to create so the names match your reporting.
What should I name my lead sources?
Name them after where the call came from, not what you hope it was. Keep the list short enough that your CSR can scan it in two seconds. Ten well-chosen sources beat forty overlapping ones, and if two options mean roughly the same thing, your team will pick whichever is closer to the top.
How often should I look at this?
Once a month is plenty for most businesses, and it pairs well with your review call. Spot-check a few recent jobs at the same time to make sure the field is still getting filled in.
Need a hand with this?
Send your account manager a message and we'll walk your setup with you, or bring it to your next review call. If you'd like us to look at where your calls are actually coming from, we can pull that from your reporting portal and go through it together.