Florists, caterers, hardware manufacturers, electronics retailers – everyone needs an 877 toll-free number. A growing number of businesses are promoting their services with toll-free numbers rather than regular business phone numbers.
Unique to the USA, toll-free numbers starting with 877 or 1-877 make companies accessible to customers across the country. Having an 877 toll-free number benefits the company and its customers.
From understanding the concept of toll-free numbers in the USA to their benefits and learning how your business can get a toll-free number, here's a list of questions and answers to what you need to know about 877 toll-free numbers.
When a customer calls a regular number, they may be charged a certain rate for every minute of the conversation. As the name suggests, toll-free numbers are free to call. This means that whether they have a 2-minute or a 20-minute conversation on this number, they will not be charged any additional fee.
There are 9 toll-free numbers in the USA. They can be identified by the following three-digit area codes:
Numbers beginning with 877 in the area code are toll-free numbers as designated by the North America Numbering Plan (NANP) in 1996. These numbers are mostly owned by businesses.
Landline numbers in America have 7-digits. This is usually broken down into a 3+4 structure to make the number easier to recall. It is preceded by a three-digit area code. In the case of a toll-free number, it could be 877. The ‘1' at the beginning of the number refers to the country code for the USA.
If you do not add the country code to the toll-free number, your call may be directed to an operator instead of the intended recipient.
Country codes are short alphanumeric codes that represent a country in the international communication system. +1 is the country code for the USA. This means that all 10-digit landline numbers starting with 1 are from the USA.
Unlike other area codes, the 3-digit combinations used for toll-free numbers are not limited to any particular geographic region within the USA. They are valid throughout the country and in parts of Canada that have been included in the NANP.
Numbers with the area code, 877 are safe to call and answer. Since companies also use these numbers to make outgoing promotional calls, some people may associate them with spam calls.
Vanity numbers are a type of toll-free number. They are special in the sense that the numbers or alphabetic characters are not chosen at random but rather to spell out a certain keyword. For example, a chauffeur service may choose 1-877-DRIVERS as their vanity number. This keyword makes it easier for customers to recall the number.
All vanity numbers are toll-free numbers, but all toll-free numbers are not vanity numbers. Toll-free numbers may be created at random and hence may not have a connection to the company's products or services. That said, from the customer's point of view, calling a vanity number and a toll-free number is the same since neither call is chargeable.
The area codes for toll-free numbers are chosen at random. Hence, there is no difference between an 866, 877 or 888 toll-free number.
As mentioned above, having a toll-free number offers many benefits over a standard business phone number. Let's take a closer look.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners may have to give customers their personal numbers since they may not always be available on their landline numbers.
Getting a toll-free number from a VoIP service provider gives your business a number that can be used via a smartphone, laptop or desktop. Thus, even when you do need to take work calls on your mobile phone, they are kept separate from your personal call log. There's no need to give any customer your personal phone number.
A toll-free number is valid throughout the country. It is not linked to any specific city or region. Hence, you can use this number to promote your products even in areas where you have not yet built a physical presence. Thus, it is an important tool to build brand awareness.
Secondly, calling this number is free and hence people are more likely to call a toll-free number in advertisements rather than a regular land-line number. Thus, it increases your call-back rate and helps find more leads.
Many people assume that only big businesses have toll-free numbers. However, any business can get a toll-free number irrespective of its size. You can take advantage of this myth. By getting a toll-free number, you give your brand a nationwide presence and build credibility.
A toll-free number gives potential and existing customers from across the country, an easy way to reach out to you. The number remains the same throughout the USA and thus customers don't have to worry about changing area codes to contact a ‘local' branch.
Calls made to this number are not charged. This is another reason why people will be happier to call your business on a toll-free number rather than a regular landline number.
Moreover, when you look at toll-free numbers you'll see that the first 4-digits of the 10-digit numbers are standardized. Thus, customers need to recall only the next 7-digits.
Getting a toll-free number from a VoIP service provider gives you much more than just a communication tool. VoIP service providers also gather data associated with calls made to and from the number. This includes the number of calls, call duration, number of call-backs, etc.
This data can be very useful in understanding the quality of service being offered by your company representatives and identifying opportunities for improvement.
The simplest way to get an 877 toll-free number is through a VoIP service provider like Quicktalk. These numbers can be accessed from smartphones, desktops or other devices. Thus, it allows you to stay connected to your customers even when you're not at your desk.
Getting a toll-free number from Quicktalk is easy and takes less than a few minutes. The entire process is online. Visit the Quicktalk website and register your business. You'll need to share details such as your business name, your name, etc.
Next, choose the USA from the country menu and browse through the list of available toll-free numbers. You can pick any number with 877 as the area code.
There are many VoIP service providers for toll-free numbers. That said, the quality of service provided and the features available may vary. Here are some of the most important features to look for when you choose a VoIP service provider.
You should choose a VoIP service with the ability to record incoming and outgoing calls. Of course, this feature must comply with local and state regulations. Hence, you should be able to start calls with a customized announcement if required.
Call recordings are a good way to keep an eye on service quality. When you playback recordings, you can identify instances of exceptional service as well as opportunities for improvement. Call recordings can also help clear “he said-she said” disputes.
Along with recording calls, you should be able to have managers listen to live calls. This is very helpful when a new team is just starting to make calls on behalf of the business. Managers' should be able to listen to conversations and give agents tips without the customer being aware of it. Live call monitoring can also help managers join conversations when required without putting the customer on hold.
Customers may call a single toll-free number to get questions answered from different departments. Nobody likes being put on hold multiple times as a call is transferred from department to department. Hence, you need a clear IVR menu that takes inputs from the caller and uses it to route the call to the correct department.
The IVR system should also be able to answer simple FAQs with pre-set answers. For example, it could give out store timings.
The idea of getting a VoIP toll-free number is to keep yourself accessible at all times. Hence, in addition to call routing, you also need to look into call forwarding options. If you have multiple lines in a department, calls should be forwarded from one number to the next until they are answered.
Similarly, if the call is routed to a particular agent who isn't at his/her desk, it should be forwarded to their mobile phone.
To create a good first impression, you must be able to tailor the way customers are greeted when they call your business.
There are two parts to this. Firstly, the message should reflect your company's communication tone and brand values. Secondly, you may need to look into the option of customizing the greeting in more than one language. For example, in some areas, customers may be more fluent in Spanish as compared to English.
When it comes to reliability, exceptional quality and productivity-enhancing features, Quicktalk is your ideal partner. Here's why.
Quicktalk has a single, $19 per company monthly plan for three users. As your company grows, you can stick to the same plan and scale it with additional users and additional phone numbers.
Quicktalk's monthly plan is inclusive of unlimited calls to numbers in 35 destinations across 14 countries. You can make calls from your mobile or browsers on your laptop or desktop.
Quicktalk makes sure you never miss a call by allowing you to forward business calls to any device. You can also transfer live calls with 1-click.
Quicktalk gives managers access to a dashboard listing all ongoing calls in real-time as well as the ability to listen in to team calls and record incoming and outgoing calls.
Quicktalk lets you customize greetings to reassure callers that they have reached the right number. You can set different greetings for calls received during business hours and for those received after work hours. You can also create a custom IVR menu to distribute incoming calls to the right department. What's more, you can add background music and set your greeting in 16 languages.
Whether you have 1 member on your team or 100, your business needs an 877 toll-free number to be accessible to all your customers. In addition, when you get a Quicktalk toll-free number, you get unlimited international calling, the option of personalizing your greetings, access to critical data about customer service quality and many more benefits.
Quicktalk solutions are cost-effective, quick to set up and easy to use. Get your 877 toll-free number from Quicktalk today.
Paul is a tech and business phone system enthusiast always open to discuss ideas. If you’re interested in collaborating on content projects or getting a product listed on our blog, don’t hesitate and reach out to us: [email protected].
