In an age where internet and mobile broadband technology is the center of people’s lives, there is still something to be said about the humble phone number. Whether your target market is the younger Millennial generation or older Baby Boomer generation, having an actual phone number instantly increases your credibility as a company.
Old School is Still In
A telemarketing study shows that having a 1-800 number gives a 30% increase in response rate to all company marketing initiatives. It’s a little old school and not entirely relevant to today’s digital smartphone world but it illustrates the point of how important a phone number is to any business. Furthermore, we can’t underestimate a phone number’s importance because 90% of customers still use 1-800 numbers on a regular basis.
A more recent study from BrightLocal found that 34% of consumers believe that a website is integral to any business. What are the most important features of a website? A telephone number was the second most important piece of information a company should have, according to consumers. The first important feature was a list of products and services. Even in a digital age, phone numbers are important because globally, 4.7 billion mobile phone users still spend 90 minutes each day talking on their phones.
Phone numbers are simply vital to any business in order to establish credibility. It also helps associate your contact center and brand in the minds of the consumers. The nature of the phone interaction has changed, though.
Click-to-Dial
Vanity numbers, or the 1-800 numbers, are intrinsically less attractive to mobile users because it is harder to dial the letters of the number on a cellphone. Instead, the important point is click-to-dial: simply clicking -- or on most phones, tapping a link with your finger that initiates the call. The more convenient it is for your customers to dial, the better the results.
And making things easier is where modern contact center technology excels. An easy and exceptional customer experience is important, but so is making things convenient for contact center operators.
Contaqt’s platform makes it easy to buy and configure phone numbers for inbound and outbound calls in over 100 countries.
Moreover, the platform can manage these numbers and get data on them. You will be able to track:
The number of calls you receive from web traffic
How advertising campaigns are structured and which campaigns net the best results
The scope of the call tracking solution put in place
Any spam numbers which create extra work
It may be a relic of the analogue age but phone numbers are still completely relevant in today’s world. That’s because connectivity is still a core aspect of humanity. People live to connect with other people, and phone numbers are still the symbol of connecting people from different places and bringing them together. Leverage the power of the phone number because it is the foundation of everything for contact centers.