A direct inward dial number, or DID, can be valuable to a business and its clientele, given the cost savings and flexibility that come with it.
With a few DIDs, your business can use local and freephone numbers or reduced call rate options for its client base. For example, you can buy DIDs to route customer calls to the extensions of specific staff members. And because DIDs are virtual numbers, they can give clients a direct line without the cost and complexity of physical cables and wires.
The following are several other benefits of DIDs you may not be aware of:
Tracking Marketing Efforts
A business can use DIDs to test the effectiveness of its marketing strategies. To use DIDs in this way, your company would assign different DIDs to different elements of a marketing campaign. For instance, if you ran multiple PPC ads, you could assign each a different DID. Performance data will then tell you which part of the campaign performed best, as the separate DID numbers identify each variation.
No company wants to waste its marketing budget on hit and miss techniques. DIDs enable parallel testing so that you can tell which advertising outlets and approaches pay off. In this way, DIDs make very cost-effective campaign tags.
Direct Communication Lines at Little Cost
Using DID numbers gives your company adjustable, directable channels of communication. This improves customer service quality, as your clients can reach you via a number that’s local to them – no more losing out on business because of your location.
You can also buy DIDs to give contacts direct access to account executives on your team by mapping numbers onto the employee’s own phone and creating contact availability for very little cost. With a DID, clients won’t have to interact with an IVR system or gatekeeping receptionist. Instead, a virtual number creates a frictionless user experience by allowing callers to bypass time-wasting mediators and reach the closer in your sales department.
Buy DIDs to be Local to Your Customers
Some customers prefer to support local businesses. Your business can capitalize on this without actually needing offices in every location. DID numbers can help you to portray a local presence and are available for just about any area.
The worry of dialling a premium rate number by mistake makes some people reluctant to dial unfamiliar area codes. DID number providers can source local numbers at a low cost so that you can pick up business in any target area.
DID numbers help you to improve customer service and provide exceptional return on investment (ROI). Your customers won’t even realize that they’ve called a remote location, generating appreciation through apparent familiarity.
Adjusting Your Company’s Identity
People judge businesses by their location. Many potential customers make quick decisions on who to call when presented with a list of options – and they use telephone number area codes as one variable that influences their choices. Consumers can identify whether a business is uptown, downtown, or out of state by looking at the area code.
Some businesses address this prejudice by investing in premises in desirable locations. However, that’s a high-cost strategy. In fact, for many service businesses, the cost of premises in popular areas represents their largest overhead expense. While it’s true that a city center address and area code can give a company a good image, that image enhancement isn’t always worth paying for.
Being located in a high-cost area can make it harder to find qualified staff at a reasonable rate. Further, employees are unlikely to be able to live in the business center of town. In this way, they could be forced into long commutes, giving them less free time or time spent with their families.
Using DIDs can be one way to get the kudos of a good address without actually having to pay the high rents that are traditionally associated with them. Get office premises in an out-of-town location for less money and add on the polish of an uptown phone number area code with a carefully selected DID.
Breaking the Mold
Startups and innovative businesses don’t need office premises. Thanks to high-speed broadband, your staff can work from home or out in the field. Home computers and mobile devices can be appropriated to business use. This means that you can cut out the costs of buying telephones for your enterprise. Cloud-based servers and PBX systems are accessible from anywhere. You can provide all the infrastructure that your business needs without having to buy any equipment.
The theory of virtual offices has been around for a long time. However, it’s only recently that technology has provided all the supporting services needed to make this configuration viable. DIDs are one of the final pieces in the puzzle, in that routable virtual numbers can provide a uniform front end to a complicated network of locations.
Your staff might never even meet each other, but a DID number gives the outside world the impression that they’re all working together in the same place.
Going Global
Direct inward dial numbers are available for just about any location on the planet, giving your company the option of appearing to be anywhere in the world. This is just one of the reasons that some businesses buy DIDs. With very little money invested in a batch of international numbers, a small business can have a global presence overnight.
For best results, combine DIDs with a CRM or help desk platform. Once this integration is complete, your team will be able to see instantly where each customer is and where they think they’re calling. Your PBX can then route those calls through to staff with the relevant language skills or business knowledge that is appropriate to the source of the call.
Choosing a DID Provider
You have plenty of options when looking for DID numbers. However, not all providers will have all of the area codes that you might want – let alone the infrastructure needed to provide steady, reliable service. If you don’t choose carefully, you may find yourself having to deal with several providers to get the coverage you need.
As one of the largest VoIP providers in the world, IDT Express’s library of DID numbers covers more than 70 countries, including essential districts throughout the U.S. IDT Express is an especially good choice if you want more than just telephone numbers, thanks to our cost-cutting internet telephony services and cloud-based PBXs.
Check out our DID options or take our service for a free test drive to see how IDT Express makes it possible to improve your company’s image for very little investment.
