8 mins read
A free phone number can keep your business ahead of your competitors in a number of ways, from breaking down barriers to giving you a more professional look; something as simple as a number can have a profound effect on your business and can set you apart from your competitors.
We have looked at a few ways in which a free phone number can keep your business ahead of your competitors.
Break Down Barriers
A customer may have landed on your site and be impressed by what they see, however, they are in the research phase of their journey and are not ready to purchase anything just yet.
This is a common stage in a customer’s journey, particularly when purchasing large items or expensive services, but this can be a lost opportunity for some businesses.
That customer may have questions which have not been answered by your website, but they are not likely to call if it is going to cost them to have their question answered – they will head on to the next site, potentially of a competitor.
If you have a free phone number though, the customer is more likely to call you with their question as they have nothing to lose from the interaction.
This gives your agents the opportunity to really get to know the customer, answer their question and even an opportunity to sell your product or service before the customer moves onto the next company.
This is an opportunity you may not have had with a premium rate number and something which your competitor may not be doing.
Even if the customer does not buy from you there and then, they will remember that your business was easy to contact and that you made the effort to provide a free phone number to open the lines of communication; chances are the customer will want to deal with a company who is open to communicating, which will put you ahead of competitors even at the research stage.
Boost Customer Service
Now you have the customer signed up, the free phone number still continues to impress.
Once a customer has purchased from you or is using your service, there may be times where something goes wrong or the customer wants to purchase again so they will often call you for support.
With more telephone calls coming in from both existing and new customers, some phone systems will struggle to handle the traffic; however, as you have a hosted phone system your telephone system can grow as your business does and you can add lines to help deal with the increased demand so customers are not left waiting.
You can use the increased demand from the free phone number to hire more talented staff to deal with queries; if a competitor has a traditional phone system, even with a freephone number customers will experience delays and will become frustrated with the company, leading them to possibly look to another business who are more equipped to handle calls.
This is another way in which a free phone number can improve your business’ reputation and help serve your customers better.
Additionally, customer service is improved by just having that option available to customers to call you at no expense to them; this shows that you truly care about your customers and have put measures in place to ensure that they can communicate easily with your business.
Take Advantage Of Call Tracking Data
Free phone numbers and your hosted phone system both give you access to a wealth of data about your callers; where they came from, their location and more!
This information is invaluable in helping you boost the number of calls coming into your business and therefore keep you ahead of your competitors.
Accessing your data gives you the tools you need to find out where every call comes from and track it through your CRM system to see which calls converted to sales.
By doing this, you have valuable data at your fingertips to plug back into your marketing strategies, where you can use the information you have gained to create more targeted campaigns to bring in more qualified leads.
This information can all be accessed through both Google Analytics and Acefone’s easy to use online portal, this portal gives you all the detailed call analytics you need and lets you track this simply as it is compatible with most CRM systems.
Armed with this information, you can share detailed analytics between your sales team and marketing team so everyone can see where customers are coming from and can adjust and provide personalised sales pitches.
This will keep you ahead of competitors as you and your sales or marketing team will be armed with a wealth of information about your customers and will be able to use this information to personalise your customer service and increase customer loyalty; this information can also be used to help attract new customers and you will be able to see exactly which platforms get you the best results.
Boost Your Marketing Campaigns
Your marketing campaigns can be given a real boost with a free phone number, as mentioned earlier in this article you are breaking down barriers to customers contacting you; so putting marketing collateral out with a free phone number on is a great way to encourage new customers to make that initial contact with your business with nothing to stop them doing so.
A free phone number is also a great way to build customer confidence in your brand, as it shows that your business is professional and willing to absorb the cost to help customers contact you.
This will certainly put you ahead of the competition as it shows your business to be highly customer-focused and can give your marketing campaigns a real edge as they are portraying a trustworthy and professional business.
A free phone number can put you ahead of competitors in a range of different ways and is a simple way to make sure your business stands out from the crowd and is attractive to potential customers.
With so much choice for consumers, the smallest things might be the difference between someone buying from you or buying from a competitor so your business should do everything it can to ensure that you are staying one step ahead of the competition.
To find out more about free phone numbers and how they can be used to keep your business ahead of the competition, call on 0800-084-3663 and speak to our expert advisers today.
