If you own a small, budding business, it’s in your best interest to invest in tools that can help you thrive and get a leg up against the competition.
Several business tools can help you in accomplishing that feat, and one highly overlooked but underrated piece of technology is an inbound phone number.
An inbound phone number is a business phone number that serves as the main point of contact for customers and stakeholders. It can be answered on a fixed landline or a mobile phone.
In Australia, one of the most well-known business phone numbers that companies use is 1300 numbers. This inbound number differs from similar business numbers like 13 and 1800 numbers in that it’s considered one of the most cost-effective options for businesses.
They are primarily used to help customers resolve a wide range of inquiries and issues, such as technical support, order processing, payment processing, and general product inquiries.
Besides its main utility, 1300 numbers also have several functions that make it a great investment for companies of all backgrounds—particularly in the branding department.
Let’s uncover six key reasons why a 1300 number can help uplift your company’s branding.
1) Establishes National Reach
One way that a 1300 number can help your company is by enhancing the accessibility of cross-border calls. Without a traditional phone number, callers and call recipients will typically be charged a higher rate per minute for their call if they’re calling beyond their area code.
To paint a real-life illustration, consider this example. A Melbourne-based customer is on the verge of buying your item, but they have one unanswered inquiry that’s holding them back.
If they see that your contact details use a Sydney area code, they may instead choose one of the local competitors (or competitors using an inbound number) to minimise the toll fees. They won’t want to call your phone number hundreds of kilometres away because that’ll be an extra and unnecessary cost on their part.
In short, an area code-based number sequence adds friction that makes it harder to convince prospects to consider your brand. With a 1300 number, on the other hand, customers will not be as easily dissuaded to consider contacting your business.
This essentially expands your reach to a nationwide scale—enabling you to conduct operations and acquire customer inquiries from Perth to Cairns with no limitations.
2) Conveys a Sense of Professionalism
Another branding benefit of a 1300 number is its ability to project a high sense of professionalism from the start.
Most Australians regard personal phone numbers with area codes as numbers of individual people and not business entities. This can subconsciously affect how they view your brand, and your business can be seen in a more negative or less trustworthy light as a result.
People tend to look for signs to trust (or distrust) a company before engaging with them in business. If you’re a new company with little backing yet, gaining a new customer’s trust can be an uphill battle. This is especially true if you’re using a normal personal phone number to take calls.
Conversely, utilising a 1300 number to receive customer inquiries can help your business project a more established image. When your business looks legitimate, this can be a good way to build trust with new and existing clients more easily.
In the best-case scenario, they may even disregard your lack of experience in the field and trust you completely if your business can prove that it can meet their expectation.
As an extension with a 1300 number, your business can touch more people’s lives and potentially expand its reach if you’ve delivered a satisfactory service. Over time, this will elevate your brand and help you position your company as a trusted one in the industry.
3) Makes it Easy to Remember
Another brand-related perk of a 1300 number is that you can choose a sequence before committing to using it.
Inbound number providers give you a list of available numbers to pick from, and you have the choice to pick either a random sequence of numbers for cheap or a more memorable number sequence for easier recall at a higher price.
Conveniently, 1300 numbers from Telcoworks and other providers allow you to pick numbers based on your criteria. One good strategy is to pick a number combination that spells out a word for better brand alignment.
If you run a flower shop, for instance, you can use the number 1300-FLOWERS. Or if you own a fishing supply store, you can get 1300-FISHING as your business’s phone number.
In any case, having a phone number that’s strategically chosen for easier memory can help improve its overall impact and reinforce your brand’s identity to the interested public.
It makes customers more likely to remember and contact your brand, which can lead to more engagement and a better experience and outcome for both parties.
4) Helps Track Campaign Analytics
Another useful function of a 1300 number is the treasure trove of analytics it contains in its system.
A 1300 number isn’t only a business number; it also contains a comprehensive dashboard that contains vital information. In particular, you can monitor insights on your customers, your agents, and the campaign performance from both a detailed perspective and the bigger picture.
This information is critical in helping you identify useful strategies to improve business operations and refine your customer service efforts.
For instance, these analytics can reveal your agent’s average time to resolve each call; if it falls below company standards, then you can focus your efforts on retraining your agents or coming up with new solutions to help them meet KPIs.
You can also use the information from this insight dashboard to curate better customer service experiences for incoming callers. This is because these insights can track caller information and past buying behaviour, empowering your team with the knowledge to deliver exceptional service.
In short, a 1300 number can give you the necessary data to create better experiences for your customers. When done consistently over a wide pool of callers, this can uplift your brand reputation over time.
5) Ensures Consistent Branding Nationwide
Having a single number all over Australia makes it easier for your marketing team to create campaigns that are consistent and unified.
For instance, your team can push social media ads with that number throughout Australia without having to change the marketing material—thus reducing the strain in your team and helping them focus on more productive duties.
A 1300 number not only ensures consistent branding but also provides less strain on your team as they don’t have to manually track and manage multiple numbers for customer communication duties.
A consistent inbound number also minimises the risk of customers accidentally calling outdated or incorrect numbers, ensuring a seamless communication experience.
By using a recognisable number as your main point of contact across the country, your brand will be something customers will look up to no matter where they’re located in Australia.
6) Configurable Voice Systems
Something that 1300 numbers have that personal phone numbers don’t is the ability to configure the voice system to automatically respond to callers, even if no human is actually on call.
This is operated automatically through a voice system called an interactive voice response or IVR. With this voice system, callers can navigate a number menu on their own to reach their intended department—which helps reduce wait times and improves efficiency within the business.
This feature enhances your company’s professionalism by making it appear more accessible, systematic, and legitimate. The voice system can even be configured to match your brand’s desired tone, helping cement your brand’s identity even further.
If a customer calls when no lines are available, your voice system can be configured to inform them of your operating hours. This approach is more professional and well-received than encountering a busy signal or an unanswered personal number.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
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