Five reasons why a Toll-Free Number can help your business grow
Despite the continuous growth of social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) and of messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber, etc.), for most customers, the telephone remains the preferred method for reaching support agents and the most effective communication channel for resolving customer support issues.
Why? Via the phone, customers interact directly with human agents and can receive immediate and personal support.
Empathy becomes a determining factor to increase customer loyalty. Talking with someone who supports us in solving complex problems is fundamental to a successful customer experience and helps build a constructive and strong relationship. It is the so-called "human" factor, an added value of considerable importance for the service or product offered by the company. In addition, the phone represents the most pervasive communication tool, taking into account the different age groups of users and their familiarity with technological tools.
Analysts agree that, during the next two to three years, customer service will become more important than the price or the product/service and will be a key element in the purchase decision of a potential customer.
For this reason, each company already has its local phone number and uses it as a point of contact with current and potential customers. So, why should you consider buying a toll-free number ?
Here are 5 reasons why a toll-free number can be a strategic tool for the growth of your business.
1. Improve Your Brand Image
A toll-free number adds to the credibility and the reliability of your business. This applies not only to big corporations but also to small businesses and startups that, especially at the beginning, want to stand out from the competition by focusing on high-quality customer service. Having a toll-free number enhances your company’s image thanks to the accessibility, willingness and, above all, thanks to the friendliness of those who manage it. In terms of generating trust, then, a toll-free number is easily recognizable as a "business" phone number that can help you establish a nationwide presence. Without an area code associating your company directly with a well-defined geographical area, your customers will recognize your business as a national presence and this will build customer confidence. This improved perception of the corporate brand is indisputable.
2. Improve Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction depends on numerous factors such as the quality of the product or service offered, price, perceived performance, and expectations. Last but not least, it depends on the management of relations between the customer and the support team agents. They are the ones who interact directly with your customers and respond quickly to their requests in a precise and professional manner. A toll-free number can improve your customer service and enhance customer satisfaction. How? Offering an instant tool for solving service issues or for requesting information. We all know how important the resolution time is in solving problems and how frustrating it is for us as customers to get the answers after long waits. With a toll-free number, your customers will be able to get immediate on-call clarifications , live a positive customer experience, and be more satisfied with your service. Furthermore, being totally free for the caller, a toll-free number helps your company acquire new customers and retain existing ones. And a satisfied customer, you know, is more likely to be a loyal customer and a company promoter.
3. Is Independent of the Geographical Area
A local number is connected to the place where the company carries out its activity; a toll-free number, on the other hand, is independent of the company's geographical position. A company may decide to relocate the business from one place to another for various reasons. But, with a toll-free number, your customers can always contact you at the same number and you can relocate your business without unsettling your customers. Furthermore, once purchased, a toll-free number is permanently yours. If you change providers, you can always take your number with you simply by requesting portability.
4. Is Easy to Remember
A local phone number is, in most cases, a series of random digits that are difficult to remember. A toll-free number, on the other hand, is much easier to remember (especially if it is a mnemonic number) and it can become a powerful marketing tool. Why? The easier it is to remember, the more you receive calls, and the more likely you increase sales and ROI.
5. Has an Affordable Price
A toll-free number, with DataKnowl, has an affordable price. For this reason it is a valuable investment for small companies, startups, SMEs, and even freelancers. No longer a tool dedicated exclusively to large companies with significant dedicated budgets, a toll-free number is now a service accessible to all entrepreneurial and productive entities.
Why DataKnowl ?
The concept behind a toll-free number is to provide customers with an efficient, professional, and free contact point to interact with the company in order to create new relationships, maintain and enhance existing ones, and generate sales.
DataKnowl has extended this concept, revolutionizing the toll-free number tool, in the context of an innovative, omnichannel, AI-powered, and cloud-based platform. DataKnowl is an omnichannel platform created to enable businesses to fully automate and/or optimize their customer service and engagement processes. With DataKnowl, the toll-free number includes all the features of DataKnowl Contact (Starter Plan), without additional costs. DataKnowl Contact comprises an Interaction Center, a Support Ticket System, and integrates the functions of a Business Phone System.
The Interaction Center operation is based on the conversation. A conversation is understood as a "set of interactions that take place on a channel" (e.g. a conversation via SMS is composed of the various SMS messages sent and received, which represent the individual interactions).
In the Support Ticket System, a ticket is a more complex and structured request. You can imagine it as a practice that, to be solved, requires more interactions (even on different channels), a variable resolution time (short or medium-long), a succession of status (in progress, on-hold, etc.) that lead to the closure of the ticket and therefore to the resolution of the request.
With DataKnowl Contact, thanks to the Interaction Center, you can manage the requests of your customers on the channel they prefer (SMS, live chat, email, phone, WhatsApp, etc.) in a centralized and collaborative way. Centralized, because from a single interface you can manage phone calls, SMS, conversations via WhatsApp, Live Chat, etc. Collaborative, because you can work in a team. A simple and ideal solution for an individual, a single work group, or for more structured configurations based on multiple groups and departments. No interaction of your customers will be lost. Each conversation will be tracked and you will be able to create a related ticket. Furthermore, managing multiple channels gives your company a significant competitive advantage over your competitors.
The Support Ticket System allows you to convert your customers’ requests (interactions) into tickets and to track their progress. No more forgotten requests, written on post-it notes and then lost between the various offices. With the DataKnowl Support Ticket System you have a complete Help Desk system, integrating the various offices and staff to work on customer requests simultaneously, efficiently, and with complete traceability. In addition, you will have the possibility to associate multiple interactions, also created by different channels, to a single ticket. The Support Ticket System will become a fundamental tool for improving your business efficiency, to the benefit of your customers' satisfaction.
The web widget included in DataKnowl Contact can be easily installed on your website. The web widget facilitates interaction with your customers in real time thanks to the live chat tool and also provides 24/7 support thanks to the possibility of connecting a chatbot (V-Agent) to your widget. Combining human work and automation will achieve your goal of delivering high quality customer service at a competitive cost.
Finally, the toll-free number, in the context of DataKnowl Contact, is part of the tools of the Business Phone System. You can create applications like IVR (Interactive Voice Response), call forwarding to external or internal numbers plus much more. The DataKnowl Business Phone System enables you to assign extensions to each employee, and to make calls between extensions. You can connect physical VoIP phones, softphones (also for Android and iOS) and, not least, you can manage calls directly from the web, with a simple browser.
These are just some of the features that the DataKnowl platform offers you. By purchasing the DataKnowl Toll-Free Number, you will benefit from all the advantages that this powerful tool will give to your company and from all the innovative features included in the platform. And significantly, it is an easy and cost-effective way to improve customer service and customer satisfaction.
Tags: Toll-Free Numbers, Customer Service, Interaction Center, Customer Support, Support Ticket System, Business Phone System, Omnichannel, AI, IVR, Startup
