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Author: Roshan Sookdeo, Global Outsourcing Director, CallForce Outsourcing Solutions

Customer experience greatly impacts your brand as customers are at the heart of any organisation. We know that CX encompasses every interaction your customers have with your brand.

It’s all about optimising every brand engagement to ensure that your customers are always left with a sense of increase at the end of each engagement - this creates loyalty and drives a positive customer sentiment.

How confident are you that your brand is engaging with your customer through their preferred communication channels?

*With 62% of consumers preferring human-to-human interactions in the form of phone calls we cannot deny the importance of a business phone number as well as the serious CX implications of not having one, or the ill use thereof.

Let’s explore this topic in more detail by firstly understanding why a business number is needed, followed by how not having one impacts your business.

The purpose of a business phone number

Just like personal phone numbers, a business phone number exists to give people a direct line that they can use to reach your company. With it, your customers can reach you quickly and solve any queries faster. This offers your customers efficient help and direct access to your business, which makes for great customer experiences.

The benefits of having a business number

According to New Voice Media, 77% of consumers consider phone calls to be the most effective way to get answers from a business quickly. That’s because a phone number allows them to contact your business, speak to someone, and get what you need instantly. Apart from the instant gratification, having a business number also benefits your business in the following ways:

- Improves CX

- Helps you keep in touch with customers and suppliers

- Improves business’s credibility and professionalism

- Low-cost channel

- Increases customer satisfaction

- Easy to use

The consequences of not being reachable

What happens if you choose to not have a phone number for your business or if you have not created an effective phone user journey?

To put it plainly, you increase your risk of losing existing and potential customers, which means your forfeiting profitable opportunities. That’s a lot of profit lost, especially since 70% of online consumers call a business using a mobile search ad regularly.

This is a large contributing factor to unsuccessful CX, which is what you offer customers if you do not make it easy for them to find, contact, and buy from you.

Here are other ways your business is impacted when you do not have a business phone number:

- Customers struggle to reach your business

- If unreachable your business looks uncredible

- Consumer behaviour is negatively impacted

- It can hurt your SEO due to poor reviews and ratings

*Loyalty360

It may seem obvious that having a phone number is a given for any business, but more importantly make sure you test the process yourself to ensure the experience you have with your own brand is the one that would leave a positive and lasting impression for your customers.

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