With the current pandemic, businesses have now changed the way they operate. With social distancing measures in place along with lockdowns, people have now stopped visiting stores and are preferring contactless deliveries instead. 

Understanding the need of the hour, businesses are now adapting to the new normal and using social media, telephone lines, home or grocery deliveries, and much more to their advantage and changing the way business used to be done merely a few months ago.

Due to the shift in the business dynamics, toll-free numbers have become of high importance. As a business or a brand, you want your customers to be able to contact you, especially during these tough times. An ideal scenario to follow would be to buy 1800 number which comes along with its set of both, advantages and disadvantages. Read on to find out more.

Advantages:

1.    Way of Contact

The first advantage is that these numbers serve as a point of contact for the customer to contact. They are almost always available for the customer and the customer is aware that this is the exact number they need to call to reach your brand. The customer can contact you for any queries or issues on this specific number.

2.    Customer Care

Other than just information, these numbers are an excellent way to provide customer care. The number enables your customers to call you and ask for help on an order or anything else. With the changing times, the traffic for online shopping can create issues in the orders placed, so through these numbers, customer care can be made easy.

3.    24/7 Support

With these numbers, the customer has access to the brand at all times. They also do not need to worry about calling a local company number and facing the problems associated with it. These toll-free numbers make the customers feels at ease, add a professional touch to your brand, and also make it easy for you to provide support to your clientele.

4.    Reduced Costs

For a business, the most important thing is to reduce their costs as much as possible. With toll-free numbers, the subscription rate is much lower than regular phone lines.

Disadvantages

1.    High Equipment Costs

The problem, however, is that the equipment cost of installation is on the higher side. This then discourages many to not buy a toll-free number. The hardware needs to be specialized to install a toll-free number which can be too expensive for small businesses.

2.    Unsolicited Calls

Due to the toll-free aspect of the call, many people tend to use this to their advantage and make calls that are unnecessary, preventing actual customers form calling in. This can be a problem and hassle for many companies as these prank calls can create a bad reputation since lesser calls will be received, leading to customer dissatisfaction.