Even though businesses nowadays have already embraced modern technology, there are still some aspects that remain constant. One of which is the use of a free local hotline. As the name implies, callers can reach such phone numbers free of charge, even long-distance calls. Availing of free local hotline nowadays also lets you avail of services that can make your business operations efficient.
If you wonder why a free local hotline is still an important staple for businesses in the modern world today, continue reading this post. Clear your confusion about the benefits that a free local hotline can contribute to your business.
Table of Contents
1. Improve Customer Satisfaction
For customers, having a business phone number where they can contact your business is a preferred option rather than writing emails or text messages. You can improve customer satisfaction through a free local hotline because it ensures that someone will be able to take the call. Through a free local hotline, your customers can easily get in touch with you for free wherever they’re located.
Most toll-free numbers could have an automatic phone-answering service wherein it could also make outgoing calls to remind, set an appointment, or anything that your business can offer to improve customer care. If you want to reach out to a wider customer base, make sure that your phone number is easily accessible.
The calls that you receive on a daily basis are also a reflection of your quality service. If you receive more calls from your customers to complain rather than to avail of your products and services, then it means your internal operations need fixing to deliver satisfactory results. Counting in the calls you receive through your local hotline gives you an overview of how your business performs at the moment.
2. Serve As A Marketing Tool
Getting calls from your potential clients for business leads is already one benefit provided by marketing promotions. If you have an advertisement in the radio, newspapers, websites, and social media platforms and you’ve indicated the phone number where your clients may contact you, you’ll be able to gauge if your marketing strategy is effective if the call traffic increases.
If you need to make a comprehensive report to see if your advertisement is effective when it comes to customer engagement, you can easily track it by means of phone details such as the date, time, duration of the call, area code, and information of the caller ID.
By using a free local hotline, you can easily tell where your caller is coming from so you’d know where you can focus your marketing campaigns. Another valuable feature of a free local hotline is its ability to deliver real-time analysis of both incoming and outgoing calls. Through this feature, you’ll be able to accurately gauge the success rate of each call from the marketing perspective.
Since your free local hotline isn’t restricted to any geographical location, wherever your customer may be located, they can still reach out to you without incurring charges. If your customer would have to shoulder the cost to make a long-distance call, there’s a possibility that they’ll be hesitant in doing business with you because of the money that they’d have to initially spend.
To save money, your potential customers will just find or go to your competitor who may have a free local hotline for hassle-free communication for they have queries or if they need assistance with the products and services they offer. Not getting a free local hotline may cause you leads and lost opportunities for your business.
3. Portability
What’s great about a toll-free number is that even though you relocate your business or you’re on a business trip, you can take the same phone number wherever you go. Through number portability, you’ll have constant communication with your clients and employees.
For more convenient and portable usage, you can even use your current mobile phone for your free local hotline while still giving you the option to separate your business from your personal life. This is made possible with auto dialer apps such as the Call Cowboy Dialer APP and other auto dialers.
Using an auto dialer with a free local hotline is suitable for business owners who want to be hands-on in taking the calls from their customers. It’s also a great add-on to your phone line because it allows you to send SMS, analyze performance, and create notes on your sales.
If you’re managing a large business, a free local hotline with an auto dialer should be a big help because when there are call queues, the auto dialer is responsible for playing a recorded message or routing the call to a live person automatically.
4. Build Your Brand Image
Having a free line where your customers can easily get in touch to resolve their issues leaves a positive impression that your business is made up of friendly individuals who are willing to help. If your business requires calling your prospective clients, your number will easily be recognized as a business number, so they’ll immediately build their trust before answering it.
A toll-free number gives your clients a feeling that your business is already established. If you sell products and services, you can use your phone number and advertise it in your marketing materials. In this way, your possible target market will start to recognize your brand through the number imprinted on your ads.
Using a toll-free number also unifies your image, especially if you have multiple branches. No need to use different phone numbers because a free local number will serve as your point of contact so you’ll just have to use digit extensions for each branch or department.
Compared to other business phone numbers, a toll-free number is easier to remember; that’s why it’s more likely that your customers would contact you easily to generate more sales making it an effective marketing tool. Since it’s a free number, you can expect an increased call volume, which might increase your sales.
5. Added Services
What’s good about a toll-free number is that it has added services that can be a complete solution to fulfill your communication requirements. In searching for a free local hotline, there are features that you should consider to maximize these features.
Aside from the free call services offered to the customers, it’s best to have ringless voice mail and text marketing software to ensure your customers will be given options on how they can reach out to you. If the voice mail and text marketing features aren’t included in your service provider’s package, you may opt to avail of external services like Drop Cowboy and other software where you can get added phone features.
Another good reason to have services like call recording, text-to-speech, call analytics dashboard, interactive voice response technology, admin portal, and third-party application integration. is being able to maximize the use of your free local hotline so you could deliver the convenience needed by your customers every time they need to call you.
High-end toll-free plans may include screen-sharing abilities that have advanced caller management and high-fidelity audio processing for easier information distribution. This feature is useful during virtual meetings because this allows you to connect with your employees wherever they may be in the world.
6. Trust And Credibility
Just by seeing your toll-free number, your clients will have assurance that they’re transacting with a stable company. There’s a psychological assertion that you’ll be offering top-notch services and they’ll be more confident that you’ll be able to deliver what’s expected from your business. Your business’s image will be enhanced through the built impression of trust and credibility that the phone number implicitly connotes.
If your customers have earned your trust and credibility, it’ll surely translate into an increased profit. Small businesses or those who are still starting up will enjoy the benefits that they can have just by having a professional-looking phone number because it may drive up their sales.
Without a business phone number, your customers might worry about availing of your products and services because they might think that if something goes wrong, there’s no way for them to contact you to get immediate assistance.
7. Reduced Costs
Unlike a regular phone line, the subscription rates and the installation charges for toll-free numbers are comparatively lower. So even if you have a small business, you can afford to convert your phone line to a free local hotline. There are plans where you’ll only be charged every time you’ll use the service, and it’s usually measured by the duration of use. If you know you’ll be using it for international calls, there are third-party services like VOIP service providers that offer inexpensive toll-free calling.
Your business isn’t the only one who’ll benefit from the reduced cost of using a free local hotline but your customers as well. Calling a regular phone line is expensive, which isn’t an ideal option for your customers and for your business operations. You may need to pay for the installation and maintenance, but it’s worth paying compared to the benefits that it’ll offer.
In searching for a free local hotline service provider, it would help to do some comparison about the services’ calling rates, add-on features, round-the-clock support, and other pricing plans. Most service providers offer almost the same benefits, so to lessen your confusion, consider your budget beforehand to easily eliminate the ones that aren’t within your budget and whose features don’t suit your business needs at the moment.
8. Variety Of Number Patterns From Which To Choose
Unlike regular phone numbers that have random numerical combinations, opting for a free local hotline for your business allows you to choose a number that’s available. Your service provider can offer you easy-to-remember numbers, repetitive patterns, or vanity numbers for you and your customers’ convenience. Your choice would depend on your preference and what you think will make your customer’s calling experience smoother.
The purpose of the repetitive pattern number to a free local hotline is to ensure that it’s easy to memorize. Businesses can use two or three number combinations for long-lasting information retention. On the other hand, the vanity number is known to be the costliest type of free local hotline because of its unique and customizable format.
For example, if your business is all about food, your hotline could be 1-800-FOOD, wherein F is for 3, O is for 6, O is for 6, and D is for 3. Aside from being easy to remember, it’s also an excellent marketing strategy because you’re still promoting your brand through your contact details.
9. Flexibility
Unlike a regular phone line, a free local hotline gives you the flexibility to run your business conveniently wherever you are, making it suitable for those who are on-the-go entrepreneurs who can run their business from their cellular phones. One of the features of a free local hotline is that it can forward calls to any number, whether it’s another toll-free number, regular landline number, or cellphone.
Those who decided to work from home have utilized the virtual office phone system together with their free local hotline to still attend to the needs of their customers efficiently without owning an actual telephone line.
When your customers dial your phone number, they’ll be routed to an automated message. And even if you’re not at your physical store, you’ll still have the choice if you want the call to be routed to you. Through the use of a free local hotline, you can still manage your team and be connected even though you’re not physically present.
Final Thoughts
Having a phone number is essential in every business. Every business needs a free local hotline to improve customer satisfaction, boost trust and credibility, bring convenience, reduce costs, and serve as a marketing tool.
Even in this digital age, free local hotlines are still considered an asset because it gives the impression that a business is established and legitimate. Having a telephone line where your clients can reach you whenever and wherever they are would help your business grow.