Attribution Through Phone Numbers

A look at how Guthy-Renker used phone numbers for marketing attribution, spending $150M/year on phone systems to track campaign effectiveness.

Core Attribution System

• Used 35,000 unique toll-free numbers to track marketing performance
• Each content variation got its own unique phone number
• Could attribute exact sales to specific marketing content/variations
• Phone bill reached $150M per year at peak

How It Worked

• Assigned different phone numbers to different marketing variations
• Tracked which numbers got the most calls
• Compared call volume to marketing spend for each variation
• Used data to optimize content and ad spend
• System allowed precise attribution in pre-digital era

Key Benefits

• Could measure exact ROI on marketing spend
• Enabled testing of different marketing messages
• Provided clear data on what content converted best
• Allowed optimization of infomercial content
• Helped build billion-dollar brands like Proactiv

Business Impact

• Built massive direct response business
• Enabled scaling to billions in revenue
• Created foundation for data-driven marketing
• Proved value of attribution tracking
• Demonstrated willingness to spend big on measurement systems

This system shows how even in the pre-digital era, companies found ways to track marketing effectiveness through creative solutions, even if expensive. The investment in attribution paid off through better optimization of marketing spend.