Category: Direct Numbers

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Direct Numbers Hosted IVR Systems

Hosted IVR – A Great Tool for Small & Medium Sized Businesses

ivr-call-handling

IVR which stands for Interactive Voice Response has been around for a while now and is used extensively by businesses. It’s basically an automated menu tool on your phone which will route your customers to where they want to go.

Back in the day, a company would need to have a piece of kit in their office to make use of this IVR service. This would require technical know how and equipment costs which can be a daunting prospect for many businesses.

Hosted IVR has provided a breakthrough in that it is now an affordable facility that many small to medium sized businesses can now make use of. Hosted basically means the IVR platform is hosted in the ‘cloud’ and therefore no in-house kit is needed. A customer can simply design and manage their IVR on an online portal which requires little to no technical knowledge.

So why should a business use IVR technology? I would say it’s not for all businesses but if you do have a customer flow of calls coming in on a daily basis then you need to look at where they are terminating to, what your customers are calling about and can an IVR manage these calls better for you than say a receptionist.

I have highlighted below some of the key benefits an IVR can have for your business:-

1)     Answering phone calls can take both time and money so let the IVR capture that initial call. Don’t lose your customer calls.

2)     IVR will work for your business even when your business is closed. You can provide information to your customer and capture their messages even when you’re closed and there is no one to answer the call.

3)     Your business can seem a lot bigger and have a professional front end even when you’re just a small ‘one man’ show.

4)     Hosted IVR is easy to use and very affordable which means it’s a great choice for a start up company that wants to look at managing their calls.

5)     Save time and money by getting the call to the correct department without having to send the call to a busy receptionist first.

6)     Analyse your call stats and see what your customer calls are doing on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

7)     Use automated key capture functionality which will allow your customers to check their balances, order over the phone or request information without having to speak to a representative.

Things to look out for if you do run an IVR for your business and common customer gripes are:-

1)     Long IVR menus are a big no no – put yourself in your customer’s shoes – so keep menu options short and direct.

2)     Make sure it works properly and voice activation technology works correctly without customers having to repeat their choices.

3)     If you do have long call queues on your IVR then make sure you’re not charging too much for the call. This will really annoy your customers.

So keeping all of this in mind and deciding that you do need this for your business then you’ll need to look at a provider for this service. This is where you’ll need to speak to us at Direct Numbers whereby we always urge our customers to try a free demo of our hosted services to see how it can benefit your business.

 

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Direct Numbers

Government to ban use of 084 & 087 numbers for customer inquiries

Call centre

Under new legislation, companies will be prevented from charging more than the cost of a call to mobile or local landline numbers

The rules, set out in a European Union directive, are due to come into force on 13 June 2014.

Inquiry and complaint calls cost up to 41p a minute for mobile phone users.

David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, welcomed the government’s decision, telling the BBC: “We’ve seen the words in the draft legislation. There’s no get-outs. There’s no cop-outs.”

Read the full story on BBC NEWS.

If you’re a business then you need to think about changing your customer helpdesk and complaint numbers from 084 and 087 for the change next year.

A great alternative to these numbers and a much more user friendly number is the new 03 number ranges which cost the same as a geographic number when called. For more information on this please speak to Direct Numbers today.

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Direct Numbers

Five services to make communicating with your customers smoother

Businessman sat at desk with two telephones.If you have customers calling you on your phone then here is a list of some handy tools out there that are available for your company. It doesn’t matter if you are a one man band or a large corporation, these are affordable services that do not require any kit and will make your life a lot easier.

 

1)      IVR (Interactive Voice Response) – The recorded auto attendant doesn’t have to be dreaded. Let the IVR do all the hard work and send callers to the correct department which will free up your customers and your time. Just don’t make your menu choices too long and convoluted.

2)      Call queuing – Don’t miss those all important customer calls. The worst thing a caller can get is an engaged tone. Queue your customer calls and keep them on the line. Just make sure you have enough staff to answer as people don’t want to queue for too long. That’s bad!

3)      Fax to email – Be greener and cleaner. Don’t waste paper. It’s far more secure way of sending a fax and you can save the files electronically.

4)      Time of day routing – If you’re open Mon to Fri 9am to 5pm then route all out of hours calls to another call centre, voicemail or even to your mobile. Stay in touch with your customer calls.

5)      Call whisper – we love this service. Record an audio prompt that only you hear which alerts you that it’s a call through your business number. Great if you use your personal mobile for business calls.

 

These are just a few virtual tools you can employ on your customer phone calls which are easy to set up and control with our great online management portal. Be in touch with your calls, your customers and your staff. To demo any of these services and see how you can get your business connected speak to Direct Numbers today.

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Direct Numbers Freephone Virtual Phone Numbers

Is your 0800 freephone number wasted on your mobile customers?

Freephone numbers are a great way of encouraging new sales and marketing calls and it gives companies the opportunity to pay for their customers to contact them. Nothing wrong there and it’s very commendable for companies using these numbers, but When I currently call a 0800 from my mobile which is on a pay monthly tariff, Vodafone kindly charges me 14 pence per minute to call these freephone numbers. The poor company advertising the freephone number wants me to call for free, I want to call for free and the mobile network gets to charge me a premium for my call so they are winning in this scenario. What the company needs to do is look at switching its freephone number to a 03 number. These new 03 numbers are a great alternative to any 08 number and they tend to be a more customer friendly option when you call them from a mobile. They are charged the same as a geographic number and the call will be included in your ‘free minutes’ package on your mobile tariff.

So, if I made the same call from my Vodafone mobile on an 03 number then the call will be free as its included in my free minutes quota, the company advertising the number will pay less for the incoming call as they are cheaper than freephone numbers. This makes me happy as I don’t end up paying for the call, this makes the company happy as they save money on their inbound calls and more importantly this makes their customers happy as they’re saving money!

That’s why if you are a company and you are advertising on any mobile platform – your mobile website, your mobile PPC campaigns, mobile display or any medium whereby its highly likely that your customers are going to use their mobiles to call you then I would strongly urge you to shift from using a freephone number and switch to a 03 number. You’ll start saving money the moment you switch and you’ll also save your customers a lot of money too.

So until OFCOM manages to change the pricing on the mobile networks to make freephone numbers actually free when you call them from your mobile I would seriously consider looking at your business numbers and how your customers contact you and make sure you have the right number in place for your customers. In this present economic climate where we’re all tightening out budgets any solution that saves you money and your customers has to be the right one.

At Direct Numbers we work with our clients to supply them with the best numbers and call handling services for their business. If you would like more information on our 03 numbers and services then please feel free to contact us.

 

 

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Direct Numbers

Things to consider when buying a number

If you have made the decision and decided to buy a number for your business then there are a number of factors you should consider before you commit yourself. Here at Direct Numbers we’ve put a few points down that we think all customers should consider before they hit the ‘buy now’ button.

So where do you start when you want to buy a number? Most businesses either have existing relationships with current telecommunication providers or will start by looking online. Searching online can be quite a daunting process as you will be faced with pages and pages of suppliers trying to sell you their wares. Type in the term ‘buy 0845 numbers’ into Google and you’ll see what we mean, you’ll be bombarded with terms like ‘free’, ‘memorable’, ‘no contract’. So how do you choose the right provider?

If you take into consideration these main points then this should help steer you in the right direction.

1) What do you get for your buck? Check the small print and ask the company to clarify what you get when you purchase a number. Is it just the number translation to your landline or mobile or do you get extra services included in the price? Extra services can range from advanced IVR set up, time of day routing, call queuing, fax to email and call whisper. Many companies will offer these services but they’ll add on extra cost for them so always check what’s included in the price.

2) Competitive pricing – there are a lot of resellers out there that will be offering numbers for ‘free’. I would always be a little more wary of these as you should always ask yourself ‘why is it free?’, ‘what’s the after sales service like?’ etc. We’re not saying that there is anything wrong with free numbers it’s just you should always check behind the scenes a little before jumping in.

3) What’s the network like? What kind of UK presence do they have? Can they handle high call volumes? What is their disaster recovery like? Many people seem to forget about these points until the number they bought goes down and their customers can’t get through to them.

4) I’m not happy with my current provider so can I take my number elsewhere? This again is often overlooked at the start with customers being blinded by ‘free numbers’ and ‘inclusive minutes’. Before you buy your number make sure that you ask the provider if they have porting agreements in place with all the major networks because sometimes things do go wrong and the last thing you want to happen is to be told you can’t port your number away because your provider doesn’t have any porting agreements in place. Personally, I would always make sure I had a contract in place for my number for added security and peace of mind. Make sure you can terminate your contract with a notice period – normally around the 30 day mark.

5) How much control do I have over my number and services? Most providers should provide you with your own secure online portal to manage your number and services. You can monitor your call stats and set up your services. Again, you want to make sure that this is included in the package price and that you are not expected to pay more for it.

6) Why not try before you buy! Have a play around with the service and see if it’s right for you and your business. If they’re not willing to set you up with a demo in the first place then is this someone you want to do business with long term?

Hope this helps in your quest to getting your business connected with a number and call handling services. If you have any other questions with regard to any of the above or business numbers in general that please feel free to call us on 08000 755 755.

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Direct Numbers Freephone Virtual Phone Numbers

Should I get a 0800 freephone number for my business?

If you don’t already know, a 0800 number is a free to call number from landlines and is mainly used to encourage your customers to call you. For this reason they are perfect if you are running a marketing or sales campaign.

If you are a business and thinking about whether to change your contact phone number from a geographic number to a freephone number then you should look at your business model and assess if it’s the right move for you. As it’s a free number to call you will of course be paying for your customers to contact you so there is an added expense to your outgoings but surely if this leads to more sales then this can only be a good thing. Independent research carried out by the Institute of Direct Marketing found that 0800 freephone numbers can increase your sales andenquiries calls by up to 185%!

It’s important to know that calls to freephone numbers from mobile phones are charged – this charge varies and depends on your mobile network. Ongoing pressure from OFCOM to the mobile networks will see that calls to freephone numbers from mobiles will eventually be free. We’re hoping this change will be implemented very soon.

The fact that your company advertises a 0800 freephone number portrays an image that you actually care about your customers and encourage them to call in. This gives you an instant advantage over your competitors who don’t have a freephone number.

Setting up a 0800 number for your business couldn’t be easier and most creditable providers should also provide useful call handling services with every number. Gone are the days of having to have equipment installed and kit to route your calls to your staff. The 0800 just sits on your existing number and gives you an instant virtual switchboard that you control. This is perfect for both small and large businesses as set up is so easy.

A reputable provider should also give you control over your numbers and provide you with an online management tool to control and monitor your calls. By using this you have access to features such as call queuing, multi level IVR (Interactive Voice Response) e.g. – press 1 for sales, 2 for customer service, call whisper which allows you to identify yours calls, set up hunt groups and divert your calls to mobile or voicemail. This type of services make it a great tool for a small business, for example, a plumber is out of the office a lot and doesn’t want to miss his customer calls so he can set his 0800 number to try the office first and if this fails it forwards to his mobile. The call whisper tells him that the call is a customer call so he knows it’s not a personal call. He also gets missed call reports, voicemail to email and he can track all the calls that have been made to his 0800 number.

Communicating with your customers is one of the most important parts of running a successful business and any tool that aids this should be utilised.

For more information on 0800 freephone numbers, visit https://directnumbers.co.uk/numbers/0800.php