Skip to content

Free call log templates (plus a more effective alternative)

Call log template

If you have five team members and each uses their own system for tracking incoming calls, you’ll have call information in five different locations (likely with notes in five different formats). One person sends you an email, another texts you the details, and another writes down the incoming calls in a good old-fashioned notebook. 

If you don’t centralize your call information, conversations will slip through the cracks. Your customers may not get the follow-up they need, or reps may lose track of customer contact information. Either way, the customer experience will suffer. 

Using a call log template gives you a comprehensive list of all incoming and outgoing calls. You keep better track of call information and look for patterns in the types of calls and the number of calls each team member handles. 

We’ve created some simple call log templates you can copy. Plus, we’ll show you an alternative in OpenPhone that gives you a more comprehensive view of call activity. 

What is a call log template?

A call log template is a form (like a Google Sheet or Microsoft Excel workbook) that tracks the details of all phone calls. Your team members add calls to the list after they’re completed. 

With a customer or client call log template, you keep your call information organized and consistent. Since each team member fills out the call log the same way, you’ll always have information like the customer’s callback number and the date/time of the call. 

You’ll maintain better customer relationships when you clearly see which customers need calls back or more information. You can also use your call log template to prioritize returning calls or make sure a customer is taken care of when a rep is out of the office. 

As you add more calls to your call log form, you can gain valuable insights. You might see that a lot of customers are calling about the same issue or the same customers call repeatedly. You’ll also see how many calls each team member handles per day, which can give you a benchmark for their bandwidth and performance. 

What should you include in a call log template?

Your call log template needs to strike a balance: you want to collect useful information about each call, but not so much that it’s time-consuming for your team to fill out. 

At a minimum, you should include:

  • Date of the call
  • Time of the call
  • Customer’s name
  • Customer’s phone number
  • Team member’s name
  • Notes or reason for the call

Depending on your needs, you may also want to include:

  • Duration of the call or call end times
  • Follow-up date
  • Follow-up actions
  • A checkbox or flag if the call needs to be escalated
  • The product/service the caller is interested in

Pro Tip: Use drop-down menus as much as you can, rather than having team members fill in text. For example, you might have a Call Status field with options: Completed, Call Back, and Escalate. That way, you can easily filter your log sheet by these fields.

Different types of call log templates

You may end up using multiple call log templates for different teams. You don’t want your customer service team to see data that only applies to sales or want to keep your current customers and prospective customers separate.

Here are some differences you might have in your call logs across various teams. 

1. Sales call log template

A sales team can use a call log form to keep track of their pipeline, like a CRM. In addition to the fields above, you may want to capture deal amounts or action items. Sales reps should also include some basic client information, such as the name of the company and client’s name. 

A follow-up column is especially critical in a sales call log. As you know, you want to keep in touch with your promising leads so you don’t fall off their radar. You can also use follow-up information to forecast deals that might close soon.

Sales call log template

Make a copy of this sales template

2. Customer support call log template

Customer support lines are often a flurry of activity, and your customers expect a callback if their issues aren’t resolved. Your customer support call log should track incoming and outgoing calls and indicate whether the customer’s question was handled on the call or if the support rep needs to escalate the call

You should make it easy to identify the type of call and its urgency so that the right rep can return the call. 

Customer support call log template

Make a copy of this customer support template

3. Daily or weekly call log template

If you’re a smaller team, you may not need separate sales and customer support templates. Or you may want to track other types of telephone calls — such as calls to vendors or existing customers — and want to see all calls in one place.

A daily or weekly call log template provides a comprehensive overview of all calls. You can use this to track response times across departments, look for common themes in calls with customers, and assess the quality of service based on the length of each call. 

Daily or weekly call log template

Create a copy of this template for your team

Key scenarios when you’ll need more than a basic call log template

A basic call log template is just as it sounds: basic. Your team members capture the most important details about the call, enough so you have a record of each call and know which ones need to be returned. 

However, you may want to dig deeper into the customer experience and need more information than a basic call log can provide. 

1. If you want to identify coaching opportunities

A team member may be great at logging calls but not so great on the phone with customers. A call log template doesn’t tell you much about the call’s quality outside of its length (if you choose to track that information). 

Call recording software can identify coaching opportunities and ensure that team members are following company standards for handling customer calls. Finding the best call recordings can be tricky with a manual call log. You’ll have to click back and forth between the log and your phone system to track down calls from specific team members or customers. If you don’t record every call, you may have to do even more digging to find what you’re looking for. 

OpenPhone’s Call views feature lets team leaders quickly filter to find calls with recordings and for a specific duration. You can also easily filter by inbound or outbound calls if you want to assess a particular part of your call workflows. 

OpenPhone’s Call views features lets you easily find call recordings

Plus, if you want to save time reviewing any recorded call, OpenPhone can automatically generate a call transcription and summary.

2. When you want to know which missed calls to prioritize

When your team returns missed calls, you need to know which to prioritize first — such as calls that went to voicemail. With a basic call log template, team members have to sift through a long list of incoming calls and then jump back into your business phone system

This can get even more convoluted if team members aren’t adding voicemails to your call log. You end up with an incomplete queuing system, and customers wait longer than necessary for a callback.

OpenPhone’s Call views can show you missed calls, and you can apply a filter to see only the calls with voicemails. You can also use this information for your internal metrics, such as minimizing the calls that go to voicemail or time to resolution. 

OpenPhone’s Call views: A better alternative to basic call log templates

OpenPhone’s Call views is a better alternative to basic call log templates

If you’re already dealing with a high call volume or too much work on your plate, completing a call log entry is an extra step. Your team is transferring information about their telephone calls to a spreadsheet. While there’s a business need for having a call log, it takes a few extra minutes per call that quickly add up. 

OpenPhone is a flexible business phone system for startups and small businesses. Your team can save time on dozens of repetitive phone-related tasks and can easily collaborate to provide the best phone system possible, including internal chats where you can collaborate on customer responses. 

OpenPhone’s call views feature lets you quickly get a call log based on different filters. You don’t need to maintain a separate spreadsheet. 

You can filter calls into categories like voicemails or missed calls and easily manage them. If you want to investigate a specific conversation, you can view the call history of a specific contact. Needing to follow up on a conversation? You can also click into that specific row to text or call that contact. 

You can give OpenPhone a try with a free seven-day trial

Benefits of OpenPhone’s Call views vs a basic call log template

Over time — and especially as your call volume grows — you may find that your call log falls short of your business needs and is challenging to maintain. 

Here are a few ways OpenPhone’s Call views can make managing your calls easier. 

OpenPhone’s Call viewsBasic call log template
Easy to use and set upYou’ll need to determine what to include on the call log template and make updates as needed
Call logs are free from errorsIt can contain errors if team members don’t add calls to the call log template
Call log information is accessible to all team membersTeam members need to navigate back and forth between your phone system and the call log template
Track call duration automaticallyTeam members will need to add call duration to the call log template manually
Filter through conversations easily and save time coachingYou’ll need to add filters to your call log template and rely on team members to make the appropriate selection

Create a more productive environment with OpenPhone

A call log template is better than not tracking calls at all. But with manual call tracking, you risk an incomplete picture. Even the most conscientious people can make errors or forget to add calls when they’re busy — or they’re frustrated by the extra step, so don’t put a lot of time into accurate tracking.

OpenPhone’s Call views are a better alternative because you can streamline your call reviews and prioritize calls based on your business needs. Does the team feel overwhelmed? You can monitor each rep’s activity and review OpenPhone analytics to identify if you need to make staffing schedule changes. Feel like a sales rep could be closing more deals? You can listen to call recordings and offer some coaching. 

Call quality is incredibly important, and you can ensure nothing is overlooked by reviewing your call logs in OpenPhone. For more tips on improving your customer’s call experiences, check out our article on call handling

FAQs

Is there an app for call logs?

With a business phone system like OpenPhone, you can view your call logs directly within the app. Within these call logs, you can apply filters such as missed calls or calls with voicemails. 

How can you create a call log in Google Sheets?

You’ll want to add columns for important call details, such as call date, caller’s name, and the agent’s name. Check out our Google Sheet templates above for examples. 

What other OpenPhone features are useful if I’m a manager?

Each conversation thread in OpenPhone shows who said what during calls or over text messages so you can coach your team. If you enable call recording, you can also review call recordings in context with the full conversation history with a contact. Our AI-powered transcripts also make it easy to review calls and ensure call quality. Plus, OpenPhone analytics lets you easily track specific reps’ productivity and macro trends like spikes in missed calls. 

Rate this post