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What's Toll Free Numbers Got To Do With Ecommerce?
Sometimes skimping on things can save you good money. But
skimping is not always the wisest business strategy. For
example, I could've written this article in the windows program
notepad as opposed to Microsoft Word, and saved a good $500 and
never had to buy the latest version of Microsoft Office...
However, wouldn't it be worth the $500 if the improved
impression of professionalism put forth in all of my writings
some how garnered ten times that in profit? Would you have read
this far if I had unknowingly published this article with a
horribly obvious typo in the title? That's right - an
insignificant error caused by "saving money" can actually COST
you money in the long run.
Impression Is Everything!
If you have spent months developing a beautiful ecommerce
website to give people the impression that you are the safest
choice for whatever product or service you're trying to sell
them, then it'd be pretty stupid to have all of that
professionalism dismissed by a simple mistake: assuming you're
going to SAVE money by not getting a toll free number!
The fact is, the sight of a toll free number is something that
subconsciously stirs an idea of professionalism - something
we're accustomed to from corporate America. Area codes are for
calling your relatives and friends, after all. The phone prefix
"800" or "877" or "888" for some reason, as if by magic, stirs
in us the image of a phone operator in a tall skyscraper that
deals with hundreds of clients a day - someone that doesn't make
their living off of ripping people off. The appearance of
professionalism is the embodiment of confidence within the
business world.
Okay, so you're convinced... now what?
Not having a toll free number for your ecommerce business (no
matter how small) will cost you more in the long run than the
short term savings will save you. The best part is though that
toll free numbers are not NEARLY as expensive as one might be
inclined to think! In fact, at the moment the prices for toll
free numbers are as low as 2.7c/min from places like
www.patricklongdistance.com .
What other services can I benefit from?
It just so happens that toll free numbers are not the only
affordable telecommunications service that might be useful to
the owner of an ecommerce web site. Conference calling (for
those teleseminars), low long distance rates, broadband or t1
internet access, and more are all examples of things that can be
gotten more cost effectively off the internet via web pages such
as the one I provided in the last paragraph.
About the author:
Jacob Richards hosts a website about building the ecommerce web
sites.