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Do you have a phone number for your ecommerce site?

by qashkai
13 replies
  • ECOMMERCE
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so i'm looking to get my ecommerce site looking as professional as possible, only problem is i'm a full time student and i have no capital, let alone any customers, to justify having things like customer support or a receptionist.

I looked around and found 'LazyPBX' who provided me with an 0844 number and they route calls to my mobile for free during opening hours that I can set, all for free (the caller gets charged).

I feel like this is too good to be true so I am hesitant about it (they take no payment details at all).

But anyway, what do the warriors do? Do you have no phone number at all, a virtual call center? Surely a support number on your LP will boost conversions and increase trust signals? Let me know!
#ecommerce #number #phone #site
  • Profile picture of the author Eternal
    Check out a program called Line2. It gives you a separate number for calls, sms and voicemail on your computer(No sms), Android or iPhone. Google Voice is the same, but free. Line2 is much better though.
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  • Profile picture of the author RyanGillam
    Based on what you said (0844) I presume you are English. It is actually against the law not to have a contact phone number on your website.

    I have purchased a 'local' number through Skype (01273, because I live in Brighton). The numbers are pretty cheap there
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    • Profile picture of the author Rasfa
      For people in the UK, I believe that 0844 number is popular.

      There is also a service there with the 056 numbers that lets people call you at local charges I believe, then they leave a message and you get that message sent to your email and you can listen to it from your email. All free. It is https://www.voipfone.co.uk/signup.php
      People can leave message for you 24 hours of the day and you get the message in your email almost instantly.
      That must suit you if you are still handling customer services etc yourself and you are still studying.

      BTW it makes a lo of difference if you have a phone number with 24/7 next to it on your ecommerce site.
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  • Profile picture of the author PBScott
    I use an online service to take my phone calls and e-mail me with the message. Its called onebox, check it out. My number is N. America, not sure if they handle other parts of the world.

    Virtual PBX UK has lots of google results.

    The last thing I want is live phonecalls to me, if the UK rule is that you need someone actually picking up the phone all the time, that is a huge killer to small business, who can really afford a qualified receptionist for a startup? And who really wants phone calls in the middle of any sort of hard work?

    On top of that I put the e-mail first, and then say that we are a web based company, and do not want you to call us....but if you really have to ...

    I used to get a phone call a day or so, but by answering all of my customers possible questions on the website these days, it is only a few a month now.
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    • Profile picture of the author RyanGillam
      Originally Posted by PBScott View Post

      The last thing I want is live phonecalls to me, if the UK rule is that you need someone actually picking up the phone all the time, that is a huge killer to small business,
      UK Rule isn't somebody picking the phone up all the time. You just need to be reachable by telephone. I think at the minimum you need a contact page with:

      Address of the Business, Contact Telephone Number, E-Mail Address (not just through a form!) and your business number (if you have one)

      If you don't, then you may not suffer problems to start with. Later on though if somebody discovers it they will come down hard on you.
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      • Profile picture of the author KBull
        You can get a fairly cheap toll free number through kall8 and the customer can leave you a voice mail which you can return at your convenience.
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        • Profile picture of the author qashkai
          i've picked up a free phone number with free voicemail to email forwarding from voipfoneuk as recommended by the guy above^, very happy so far! thanks for the recommendation.
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  • Profile picture of the author deeptanwar
    Here you buy a phone number for making call, sms, voice mail and share it with through your sites. Reply with voice mail and Forward from voipfoneuk as recommended Customers.
    BatteryBhai

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    • Profile picture of the author jacibwill
      Just signed up for kall8. Just $2 a month! Thank you for the info Karen!
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      • Profile picture of the author Dean62
        I would be careful with forwarding to a mobile, I am pretty sure there is some cost involved although some recouped from customers. Have a good research of this though I may be wrong and missed some comps that offer it. I did set up a phone number for the site, in my opinion at the very least it makes you look more creditable..it may be a legal issue too. Although most companies make it a maze to find the phone numbers, and prefer to push the email route before taking calls
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        • Profile picture of the author qashkai
          Originally Posted by Dean62 View Post

          I would be careful with forwarding to a mobile, I am pretty sure there is some cost involved although some recouped from customers. Have a good research of this though I may be wrong and missed some comps that offer it. I did set up a phone number for the site, in my opinion at the very least it makes you look more creditable..it may be a legal issue too. Although most companies make it a maze to find the phone numbers, and prefer to push the email route before taking calls
          With the voipfone free thing there is no forwarding to anything, they setup a voip phone number (0560) for you for free and any messages on the voicemail are emailed to you instantly.

          No credit card details anywhere, no phone number of mine anywhere, so I really don't see how they can charge me. But of course I am still curious if there is some kind of catch.
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  • Profile picture of the author skybridgedomains
    I use Asterisk VoIP PBX for my system inside a datacenter and works great.

    You can program up IVR's, Virtual Phone Numbers, VoIP Phone Numbers, Voicemail and many different things. You can tell the Asterisk system to do almost anything, although requires a fair bit of technical knowledge in VoIP to program up your own system, unless you know IT programming or have an IT person who can do it.

    I myself run multiple asterisk voip servers.

    Otherwise to keep it simple one can get a virtual office assistance like Regus.
    David Gawler
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