Understand the benefits and how to make a clickable phone number in WordPress in a few easy-to-follow steps.  

A clickable number is a feature which allows the visitors of the website to easily call the businesses using a mobile device. The clickable number is linked to a website that directly opens the phone application of the user when clicked, which can directly initiate a call between the user and the business. In WordPress, the function of a clickable phone number relies on the tel: protocol within the HTML. The tel: protocol includes <a href=” tel:+XXXXXXXXXX “>Call Us: (XXX) XXX-XXXX</a> as the standard format. 

Understanding What is WordPress

To first learn about the process of making a clickable phone number in WordPress, it is essential to understand what is WordPress and what functions it offers. WordPress is an open-source and free content management system (or CMS), which enables users to create and manage various types of websites seamlessly. WordPress offers various key features, like easy management of the website, along with enhanced flexibility and unlimited customizations. In WordPress, users can create a wide range of websites, from a blog post to an e-commerce site. WordPress features various plugin integrations along with call-to-action blocks, which help boost the accessibility of the website, along with generating instant leads for the business. 

There are three main methods of adding a clickable phone number in WordPress, which include using the Block Editor, using HTML, or adding to the Navigation Menu. To make a clickable phone number in WordPress, it is ideally recommended to use the HTML tel: protocol, as it allows mobile users to easily tap the number, which can immediately initiate a call.  

Method 1: Using Block Editor

The process of adding a clickable phone number using Block Editor includes two different processes, i.e., using a Button Block and using Paragraph or Heading Blocks. To add a clickable phone number to your WordPress link, it is essential not to include spaces or dashes within the phone number.  

• Process to add a clickable phone number using a Button Block is as follows:  

Step 1: Click the “+” icon to add a new block and search for “Button“. 

Step 2: Type the text you wish to appear on the button. 

Step 3: Click on the link icon in the toolbar, with the button selected. 

Step 4: Type tel: immediately followed by your phone number. (tel:+91XXXXXXXXXX).  

• Process to add a clickable phone number using a Paragraph or Heading Blocks:  
  

Step 1: Select the text or phone number you want to add a clickable feature to. 

Step 2: Click on the Link icon in the toolbar. 

Step 3: Enter tel: immediately followed by your phone number. (tel:+91XXXXXXXXXX). 

Step 4: Click on Apply or press Enter. 

Method 2: Using HTML 

To make a clickable phone number in WordPress, you need to use the standard anchor (<a>) tag with the tel: protocol. This protocol allows the users to browse that the link is a telephone number and allows the mobile device user to directly initiate the call by simply tapping the number.  

Basic HTML code to make a clickable phone number in WordPress is:  

<a href=” tel:+XXXXXXXXXX “>Call Us: (XXX) XXX-XXXX </a> 

• href=”tel:+XXXXXXXXXX: This is the functional part of the link, which contains the actual phone number. It is to note that there shouldn’t be any space between tel: and the actual number.  
  

• Call Us: (XXX) XXX-XXXX: This section features the anchor text “Call Us“, which the users can edit with other similar call-to-action texts. 

Method 3: Adding to Navigation Menu 

To make a phone number in WordPress clickable at the navigation bar, you can add a “Custom Links“, using the tel: protocol. To add a clickable phone number in the navigation bar, you can follow the given steps: 

Step 1: In your WordPress Dashboard, navigate to Appearance > Menus. 

Step 2: Select the menu you want to add the clickable phone number to.  

Step 3: Click on the Custom Links tab, located in the left-hand column. 

Step 4: Enter tel: immediately followed by the full phone number, in the URL field. (tel:+91XXXXXXXXXX).  

Step 5: Type what you want the visitors to see in the Link Text field.  

Step 6: Click on Add to Menu, drag the item to your preferred position, and click on Save Menu. 

Key Considerations before Adding a Clickable Phone Number in WordPress.

Before adding a clickable phone number to WordPress, it is essential to ensure that the tel: protocol in the link URL is used. It is also important to remove all the spaces, dashes, and parentheses within the number before adding it.  

Some of the key considerations before adding the clickable phone number in WordPress are:  

• Link Format: The tel: protocol of HTML is considered the most reliable method of adding a clickable phone number. For this, the link must start with tel: with the phone number immediately following it, without any spaces.  
  
  

• International Standards: It is essential to include the country code preceded by a “+” sign. This ensures that the number works even for international visitors.  
  
  

• Device Functionality: On the mobile device, clicking the clickable number will automatically open the phone app, while on a desktop it may open other applications, like Zoom and FaceTime. 

Benefits of Adding a Clickable Phone Number to WordPress

Adding a clickable phone number to your WordPress site offers various benefits to the users. It significantly improves the user experience and allows users to instantly initiate a call with a single tap. A clickable phone number helps in increasing engagement on the website, boosting conversion rates, and offering immediate lead generation.  

Some of the key benefits of making a clickable phone number in WordPress are as follows:  

• Enhanced User Experience: The clickable phone number helps in enhancing the user experience, especially for mobile device users. A clickable phone number offers users the ability to instantly initiate a call, just by tapping the number, eliminating the need for copying and pasting the number in the dialer. 
  
  

• Increases Conversion Rate: By adding a clickable phone number, the process of contacting you by the customers becomes seamless and effortless. This directly leads to boosting sales and leading generations of businesses. 
  
  

• Improves Accessibility: The clickable phone number offers users a direct mode of communication with the business, which is especially beneficial for service-based businesses. 

Popular Plugins to Add a Clickable Phone Number to WordPress 

To make a clickable phone number in WordPress, you can also utilize various popular and user-friendly plugins. These plugins allow users to instantly create a “click-to-call” button, which automatically triggers the dialer of a mobile device when tapped.  

Some of the popular “click-to-call” plugins include: 

• WP Call Button: The plugin offers both sticky and static buttons for click-to-call. It also includes a country code picker to reduce formatting errors.  
  

• Call Now Button: The plugin specializes in a simple mobile-only click-to-call button, which appears at the bottom of the screen.  
  

• Click To Call Button: This plugin offers various advanced features like WebRTC and call recording. It also helps turn a web browser into a phone for desktop users.  
  

• Really Simple Click to Call Bar: It is a simple and easy-to-use plugin that offers unique customization. 

Although the capabilities of these plugins also depend on the introduction of a newer version of WordPress. For instance, the introduction of WordPress 6.5 introduced plugin dependencies that directly affects click-to-call plugins. The new update prevented the click-to-call plugin from being activated or installed if the supporting plugins were missing. 

Conclusion 

The process of making a clickable phone number in WordPress is quick and easy to follow. The clickable phone number allows the visitors of the website to easily and directly connect with the business, using a mobile device. The clickable number is linked to a website, which offers various benefits to businesses, like increasing lead generation, boosting sales, and improving the accessibility of the user. There are three major methods of making a clickable phone number in WordPress, which include using the Block Editor, using HTML, and adding it to the navigational menu. Among the different methods, the process of adding a clickable phone number via HTML is considered most reliable, which uses basic HTML codes with standard anchor text and tel: protocol.