8 mins read
A free phone number is an ideal way to break down barriers between you and your customers and ensure you can always give them the best possible service. If you have a premium number and your competitor has a free phone number, you may find valuable customer enquiries going to your competitors; something which a hosted phone system can help avoid.
We’ve put together four ways in which a free phone number can help elevate your customer service to the next level.
Free phone numbers help improve customer engagement
A free phone number makes your business much more accessible to customers, encouraging them to actively engage with your brand as they have nothing to lose.
Opening up these lines of communication means that customers with issues are more likely to pick up the phone and give your business the chance to resolve them, giving less opportunity for negative reviews or customers being left with bad feelings when not being able to get their issue with your product/service resolved.
A free phone number shows that you value your customer communications, and that your business actively encourages customer engagement – during the customer journey, ease of communication and finding information is a crucial part of the decision process so a free phone number could be the deciding factor between you and another company.
With increased customer engagement from a free phone number, you’ll have even more opportunities to build rapport and create loyal, repeat customers who recommend you to their friends and business associates; just from something as simple as a telephone number.
Build trust between business and customer
Potential clients or customers probably won’t know much about your business when they first come across your website/adverts, so getting across your business’ ethos and purpose quickly and efficiently is essential to capture customer’s attention and encourage them to enquire.
A free phone number is viewed by customers as professional and trustworthy, so why would you not add one to your phone system?
If you are competing with larger national businesses for clients, then a free phone number can increase trust in your brand and encourage customers to call. This then gives you plenty of opportunities to deliver excellent customer service each time a customer call.
By putting customer’s minds at ease with a free phone number and making them feel secure with your lines of communication is already giving a great impression of your business to customers and giving them great customer service at the same time.
Free phone numbers are easy to recall for customers
Your customers and clients want to be able to get in touch in the simplest way possible, and are usually busy and short of time. A free phone number is much easier for them to remember quickly, saving them the time and effort of having to search around for the correct number to reach you.
With hosted phone systems, you can add as many extensions as you want to your hosted phone system so calls can easily be transferred to the correct department in your business with no extra effort from the customer – they can simply dial your free phone number, choose an option and get in touch with your customer service team.
This ease of communication gives a great impression of your business to customers as a business who really care about giving customers the best possible experience.
Free phone numbers show your customers you’re willing to invest in customer service
Having a free phone number means that customers incur no costs when speaking with your customer service team but shows them in no uncertain terms that you are willing to invest your money into receiving their calls. The fact that you are willing to invest in your customer service speaks volumes to customers, making them much more likely to call your company and give you their business.
With your business spending a relatively small amount taking these calls, you can potentially gain much more business as a result of the improved service – meaning you will have a great return on your investment and customers will be more likely to recommend you to their friends and business associates.
Overall, a free phone number can take your customer service to the next level. Showing customers you care enough about the service they receive to take any cost away from them and open up all lines of communication so they can reach you with ease. If customer service is your business’ priority, a free phone number is a great way to elevate your service and enhance your brand – this can be done quickly and easily with a hosted phone system.
To find out more about hosted phone systems and see how a free phone number could enhance your customer service, call a solutions consultant at 0800-084-3663.
