No matter what kind of business you have, one of the goals for the organization is probably to increase the number of customers it serves. There are numerous ways to go about achieving that aim, but one of the most straightforward options is to ensure your company has a phone number associated with it.
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Help Customers Trust Your Business
The accessibility of the internet makes it relatively easy for companies to set up websites that seem legitimate, then disappear without warning. However, if your company has a business phone number associated with it, people are more likely to see that you operate a well-established business. They’ll also like how the phone number gives them an additional way to get in touch if something’s wrong. That’ll also help them build trust.
You may also decide to get a toll free number for business purposes. It helps your company seem larger by giving it a national presence. People can also call your business for no charge from anywhere in the nation. If your company moves to a different location in the United States, you can keep that same number instead of making customers get used to dialing a different area code. That benefit can help customers realize that your business is there for them, regardless of their location and where you operate.
Various characteristics combine to help people decide whether they should trust your business. A phone number is one of those all-important aspects. You’ll need to work hard to gain people’s trust in other ways, too, but it gives you an excellent starting point.
Offer More Personalized Conversations
There’s a growing trend towards companies using chatbots to connect with customers. They’re undoubtedly useful in many cases, but they typically fall short of conventional conversations in many cases. For starters, chatbots only understand a limited number of queries. That could mean they don’t recognize some of the questions that customers ask.
Another issue is that chatbots usually are not advanced enough to provide extra context outside of the precise thing that a person asks. For example, a person might ask, “Do you sell gluten-free fudge?” and get a chatbot response that reads, “Sorry, we don’t.” However, when a customer talks to a human, that representative could provide additional suggestions that a chatbot might not. They could suggest a gluten-free pie or cake, for example.
Telephone conversations allow personalizing the exchanges to the people who get in touch. Humans can pick up on things like the tone of voice, which could indicate that a person is angry or disappointed. Chatbots and other non-human driven communication methods are getting more advanced, but many still don’t detect emotions.
Address Customer Preferences
Even as many people frequently send messages via text and live chat platforms, some assistance just makes more sense to get over the phone. Maybe a customer has an in-depth issue and does not want to take the time required to type the details into an interface. People may also live in areas where they frequently experience spotty internet connections. In that case, they may worry about the service dropping just when they’re trying to get help online.
Remember, too, that some people are creatures of habit. Perhaps they’ve used the telephone as their main method of conversation for decades. Even though other options exist now, that doesn’t mean all your customers will automatically prefer those. The idea is to accommodate your customers as much as possible. Then, you can get rid of the barriers that may otherwise cause them to avoid to delay connecting with your business.
However, merely having a phone number for your company is not enough to keep customers satisfied. A survey found that 74% of people would likely seek to do business elsewhere after having only one bad experience with a customer over the phone. That statistic drives home how important it is to train your staff so that any person who interacts with people through phone calls does so in ways that support your business and its objectives.
This overview emphasizes why phone numbers are still relevant and useful in today’s society. No matter the age of your business, the size of your customer base, or where you operate, they can help people conclude that your company is a worthwhile option for meeting their needs now and later.