hi,
i’ve been running cs-cart for a while now. one of the difficulties as a starting online shop seems to be understanding the visitor and getting a chance to talk to them and hear their needs.
I was wondering how important it is to have a toll free phone number and if sales are made a lot over the phone for online shops?
the item we’re selling is hardware and over 500 euros (about 630 us dollars) to a fairly specialized audience.
thanks
B
80% of all customers will want to know that a phone works prior to ordering. A rough estimate of the store I administrate is 60% of customers call up to either order, confirm order or enquire about shipping/dispatch dates.
IMO: Get a toll-free, it’s the easiest way to appear like a ‘bigboy’ business.
[quote name=‘JesseLeeStringer’]80% of all customers will want to know that a phone works prior to ordering. A rough estimate of the store I administrate is 60% of customers call up to either order, confirm order or enquire about shipping/dispatch dates.
IMO: Get a toll-free, it’s the easiest way to appear like a ‘bigboy’ business.[/QUOTE]
thanks for sharing this… I thought that this would be the case.
what is the best way to deal with this toll free issue if you’re selling internationally?
do you need a toll free number for every country??? and how do you forward it to skype or some physical phone cost effectively?
[quote name=‘JesseLeeStringer’]80% of all customers will want to know that a phone works prior to ordering. A rough estimate of the store I administrate is 60% of customers call up to either order, confirm order or enquire about shipping/dispatch dates.
IMO: Get a toll-free, it’s the easiest way to appear like a ‘bigboy’ business.[/QUOTE]
also, do normal payment processors allow you to process a card you get over the phone?
We use CS-Cart’s backend to process their ‘phone order’, if refunds or additional charges are required we use a virtual terminal as provided by the payment gateway.
[quote name=‘JesseLeeStringer’]We use CS-Cart’s backend to process their ‘phone order’, if refunds or additional charges are required we use a virtual terminal as provided by the payment gateway.[/QUOTE]
OK, so you basically walk through the ordering process as if you were the customer himself ordering ?
We use the administration backend (view orders → “Add order”) to select products etc and place the order.
[quote name=‘JesseLeeStringer’]We use the administration backend (view orders → “Add order”) to select products etc and place the order.[/QUOTE]
thanks. about the toll free number: do you get a forwarding number from a service online which is connected to skype? or you forward it to a normal landline?
I think freephone numbers dont make the sale really cos if youve got the product at the best price/service etx they will call. I dont look if the telephone number is free on a site to save me pennies, I look if they have what I want at a price I can compare to the others out there doing the same product.
Telephone sales account for about 80% of our total web driven business, it seems a lot of people want to use our sit eas a catalogue for pricing etc then call to speak to a “real” person. We then input the order direct on to our Sage system and go from there. Like Jesse says we use our merchant and also our credit card terminal in our trade counter to process payment through streamline. A little bit long winded but works.
We also find that as you are talking you can get them onto other product lines or aspects of your business they may not know about.
Our site is clothing and workwear etc so involves a lot of options like printing or embroidery etc so I think customers feel at ease more when talking to someone about getting it right.
I think if we were just selling nuts and botls online sales would jumop dramatically.
JOhn
[quote name=‘JesseLeeStringer’]80% of all customers will want to know that a phone works prior to ordering. A rough estimate of the store I administrate is 60% of customers call up to either order, confirm order or enquire about shipping/dispatch dates.
IMO: Get a toll-free, it’s the easiest way to appear like a ‘bigboy’ business.[/QUOTE]
I completely agree that having a phone number prominently displayed on your site is a key piece of any web business. However, I wonder about your statement that you have to have an 800 # to be considered a big boy business. Not saying your wrong, just curious about your reasoning behind that.
In our case, we went back and forth on 800 vs. local before deciding to get a local number using Google Voice (Voice doesn’t offer 800 #'s). There were a number of reasons we went with Voice, but the number one reason was the cost of an 800 number (both monthly and per minute) along with the proliferation of cell phones and IP land lines that include long distance. Add in live chat and email, and I wonder if the valuation and allure of an 800 number is fading away.
Before cell phones, I agree 800 numbers were an important part of a business, but now, especially with the Gen Y’s and most Gen X’s, I don’t think they look at a number outside of their local area code(s) as a long distance number, it’s just another number they dial on their cell’s.
I guess the only way we’d really know is to do an A/B test, with A having an 800 number and B having our 520 number and see which site gets more calls. Based on the cost for an 800 #, we’d have to see a significant increase in calls for us to consider switching.
Anyway, just my thoughts, I’d love to hear other opinions on this topic.
Chris
This is based upon my own brand of ecommece psychology, if you don’t agree that’s understandable
1-800-xxx-xxx = It’s a toll-free number, doesn’t cost me anything, business cares enough to allow me to call them for free
321-360-xxxx = It’s a cell phone, probably a small time operator, he’ll steal my money if I’m not careful.
321-xxx-xxxx = I have to pay for interstate call charges, where do they live? (side-tracked to research via google) is the phone number the same as their location?
By removing questions about your service you minimize customer over-thought about your products, therefore maximizing revenue 
Obviously these examples will differ dependent on your average product price. (Ours is $110-$250)
I’ve always been of the opinion that it’s best working smarter not harder. Phones for my company would fall into the “harder” category. When I started out I would take note of all the common questions I got and then ensure my website did a better job at answering them.
I now tell my staff to do the same. By addressing most of my customer’s questions on the website and also on my toll free introduction message; which also addresses the common questions, we have reduced customer calls by around 60%. Good luck.
We started on Ebay, then left and moved to our own website. We went with no phone at all to begin with, then added a cheap voicemail that took messages only. Once we got a payment processor that allowed virtual terminal, we added a dedicated cell that we answered and got our first phone sale that very day. Sales increased with every increase in phone availability.
Something about a phone that gets answered gives people confidence. I serve a niche market and some of my competitors proudly proclaim that they run their business out of their garage; we strove to present a professional image even when we were running out of the garage. I had one guy openly grill me for 30 minutes to make sure I wasn’t a fly-by-night or black market seller; he ended up placing repeat orders once he was satisfied with our legitimacy. I guarantee he would not have bought at all if we’d only had a voicemail! Others have told me they just don’t want to use credit cards online or they aren’t that familiar with how to buy online. The phone is magic, because it opens up your store to all those not-sure people that would go elsewhere.
One customer did mention that it was easy to determine that our number was a cell and that it looked a little cheesy. That was one guy, and he told me this as I was wrapping up a big order that he placed during a visit to our showroom. Maybe others have traced the line and been turned off, don’t know. Having any phone definitely beats no phone at all, in my experience. What kind of phone is probably best determined by considering your audience.
I don’t know whether an 800 number would increase our business even more, or not. We don’t have the volume to justify the investment, so I’m staying with my dedicated cell for now. I tend to side with ChrisW: in this day and age “long distance” is something your grandmother used to worry about. I haven’t thought twice about it in the past ten years, which is exactly when I got my first nationwide cell plan and no longer needed to care.
When I’m evaluating a company, it matters less to me whether the call is “free” and far more that the phone that gets answered promptly by an adult with a professional greeting, with no children crying or pets barking in the background. That first three seconds often tells me everything I need to know.