Main Menu
The Advantages Of Business Toll Free Numbers
Saturday, 22 May 2010 07:32 | Written by Mark Walters
A toll free number is a telephone number that can be called by your customers (existing and / or prospective) at no cost to them. Who pays for the call? You do. You might wonder why you want to do that, but it makes good business sense when you consider that it can really make the difference between them calling you or not calling you. For the low price of a phone call you could get yourself a new customer that you would not otherwise have had.
Calls made to toll free numbers are paid for by the person receiving the call rather than the person making it. You might wonder why you want to pay people to phone you, but studies have shown that people are more likely to make a call when it does not cost them anything. From a business point of view, having prospective customers call you is exactly what you want, and having a toll free number maximizes the chances of them doing so.
It is no big secret that people like to get things for free and, even though they are not actually getting anything as such when they call a toll free number, the positive feelings that we all associate with something being free still arise. Really, businesses offering toll free phone numbers are not giving much anyway at all, just the cost of a phone call, but it is perceived as being generous by prospective customers. Customers really do prefer toll free numbers, and that has been proven by the fact that marketing campaigns that advertise a toll free number perform better, all else being equal, than those that advertise a paid number, or no number at all.
Companies also like toll free numbers because they are portable and have additional reporting and routing capabilities. Additionally, if a company has just a local phone number, and they want to run a national marketing campaign, or even just one in a nearby city, then people will be more reluctant to phone them. For some reason, customers have no problems with dealing with a local or national company, but do have issues dealing with companies that are based solely in a town or city that is different from their own. Using a toll free number allows you to hide that fact.
Your current phone company probably offers toll free phone numbers, but there are also companies that specialize in providing them, which means that they can offer cheaper prices. The cost of calls varies, depending on who you get your toll free number from, but you will typically only be charged a bit more than the price of a standard phone call. There may be a set-up cost involved, but some specialist toll free number companies do not charge one if you sign a long-term contract with them.
Toll free numbers come in certain formats, which vary depending on the country that they are registered in. For example, in the U.S. it is common for toll free numbers to begin with 800, 888 or 877, whereas in the U.K. they often begin with 0800, 0845 or 0844. They are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so the quicker you get one, the bigger and better the available pool of numbers will be. As a final point, you will not need an extra phone line installed if you get a toll free number because the number you choose will ring through to your office phone, cell phone or whatever other number you specify.
by MarkWalters
Calls made to toll free numbers are paid for by the person receiving the call rather than the person making it. You might wonder why you want to pay people to phone you, but studies have shown that people are more likely to make a call when it does not cost them anything. From a business point of view, having prospective customers call you is exactly what you want, and having a toll free number maximizes the chances of them doing so.
It is no big secret that people like to get things for free and, even though they are not actually getting anything as such when they call a toll free number, the positive feelings that we all associate with something being free still arise. Really, businesses offering toll free phone numbers are not giving much anyway at all, just the cost of a phone call, but it is perceived as being generous by prospective customers. Customers really do prefer toll free numbers, and that has been proven by the fact that marketing campaigns that advertise a toll free number perform better, all else being equal, than those that advertise a paid number, or no number at all.
Companies also like toll free numbers because they are portable and have additional reporting and routing capabilities. Additionally, if a company has just a local phone number, and they want to run a national marketing campaign, or even just one in a nearby city, then people will be more reluctant to phone them. For some reason, customers have no problems with dealing with a local or national company, but do have issues dealing with companies that are based solely in a town or city that is different from their own. Using a toll free number allows you to hide that fact.
Your current phone company probably offers toll free phone numbers, but there are also companies that specialize in providing them, which means that they can offer cheaper prices. The cost of calls varies, depending on who you get your toll free number from, but you will typically only be charged a bit more than the price of a standard phone call. There may be a set-up cost involved, but some specialist toll free number companies do not charge one if you sign a long-term contract with them.
Toll free numbers come in certain formats, which vary depending on the country that they are registered in. For example, in the U.S. it is common for toll free numbers to begin with 800, 888 or 877, whereas in the U.K. they often begin with 0800, 0845 or 0844. They are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, so the quicker you get one, the bigger and better the available pool of numbers will be. As a final point, you will not need an extra phone line installed if you get a toll free number because the number you choose will ring through to your office phone, cell phone or whatever other number you specify.