We’re in the year 2021, where the entire world is dealing with the pandemic. Along with many challenges that businesses are facing today, one of the biggest challenges for them is to meet the growing demands of their customers.
The pressures of the global pandemic have led firms to adopt technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. But to ensure seamless communication between their employees and customers, businesses require a medium to stay connected with clients in a more personalised way.
In this guide, you’ll get to know about virtual phone number advantages, its functioning and how it can help your business to grow.
What is a virtual phone number?
A virtual phone number is a telephone number that is not associated with any actual organization and is equipped for handling limitless parallel calls. The calls that land on a virtual telephone number can be checked and monitored for performance.
The ultimate focus of a virtual number is to ensure that your customers can always reach out to you anytime and anywhere.
How does a virtual number work?
Virtual phone numbers are somewhat similar to normal telephone numbers, the only difference being that virtual numbers route calls over the web.
Virtual numbers work with GSM systems that take voice signals, convert them to digital signals, and send them over web lines. This makes it conceivable to send sound and video over the web.
How can businesses utilize a virtual number?
1. Customer queries
Using a virtual number makes it convenient for the agents to keep a record of customer data as it enables call recordings of the approaching and outgoing calls which further allows the agents to easily gather related data of customer during the time of enquiry.
2. Remote work
With additional features such as call routing, customer calls can be forwarded to remote agents without any hassle of transferring the calls within the departments. By using virtual numbers, remote employees can access the business phone system in a similar manner as they would while working in the office.
3. Lead generation
Virtual numbers allow you to identify potential leads and convert them into customers by finding them through a call flow.
4. Track Offline Marketing viability
A distinct virtual number can be assigned to each promotional campaign or channel to find out about the leads created by each which further helps to keep a record of the ROI of offline campaigns.
How to purchase a virtual number for your business from a suitable service provider?
1. Look for providers
Research about different service providers which can suit your needs. Compare their services to figure out which of them can perfectly suit your budget.
My telly provides affordable virtual number solutions that will help you in providing seamless customer experience.
2. Select a plan
Choosing the right plan for your business mainly depends on the number of calls made during a period of time and call workflows. Review the different plans offered and briefly analyse what each plan covers.
3. Choose a number
Right after selecting your plan, you have to decide on what type of number you want for your business. You may have to choose between a toll free number, local number or UIFN.
4. Enter destination number
A destination number can be your home or work number. This is the number which you’ll be forwarding your approaching calls to.
5. Finish your purchase
You’ll be asked to enter your contact details to complete the purchase. The confirmation about your purchase will be sent through an email or you may receive a phone call for the same.
Virtual Phone Number Advantages
1. Call forwarding
One of the best virtual phone number advantages is call forwarding as it lets the agents attend customer calls even when they are not present at the workplace. Virtual numbers direct the calls to the personal mobile numbers of agents. This feature is specially suitable during the time of pandemic as it enables agents to conveniently deliver their services from anywhere.
2. Personalized greetings
When a customer dials the number, they will hear a greeting with all the necessary details about the company.
3. IVR
IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response. It is an automated response that guides the customers to dial numbers on their mobile keypad to get responses to their queries. With IVR, customers can solve their own queries without having to speak to an agent.
4. Scalable
By using IVR, customers are provided a better experience as their calls get transferred to the suitable department and their queries are resolved quickly.
Also, with virtual numbers your system scales up when your business extends to deal with a bigger client base.
How can Virtual Phone Numbers be beneficial for your business?
1. Cost Efficient
The call charges of a virtual phone number are normally a lot less expensive in contrast with conventional systems.
If virtual landline phones are used for your business you’ll notice that the phone bills are much higher than your expectations but this is not the case with virtual phone numbers.
2. Various Numbers at the Price of One
By using virtual phone numbers for your business, you can get various numbers at the price of one connection. While choosing a virtual telephone number for your business, you can go for the plans with numerous numbers accessibility.
3. Increased Productivity
Virtual phone numbers provide freedom to the agents to work from anywhere therefore it is also possible to set up your call center at a distant location which is not in the close proximity of your business.
4. Look Professional
In today’s competitive world, businesses need to maintain professionalism. Today the needs of customers are increasing as they expect the services to be delivered on time and customer support numbers are easily reachable.
Conclusion
Considering all the virtual phone number advantages that provide to businesses, it is the smart investment that all businesses should be making in recent times.
