Search
Recommended Products
Related Links


 

 

Informative Articles

Developing a Winning Ecommerce Strategy
One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be continued consumer spending and ecommerce is clearly a part of this, with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 Billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But,...

Ecommerce 101 – Online Credit Card Processing
Back in 1998 (through 2000 or so), I worked for a small company (called PaymentNet / then Signio) that handled online transactions. Verisign later purchased this company, and the product team I led integrated the "client" - the portion that took...

Ecommerce & SEO
The purpose of any business website is to promote a product or service online. The purpose of an ecommerce website is to take it one step further and to allow your visitors to purchase your products or services directly from your website. This...

Getting Started in ECommerce - Part One
In 2004, Enquiro.com conducted a study of the search behaviors of men vs. women. They found that women spend more time in their searches and at specific sites. The study also revealed that women tend to be more deliberate in reading search results,...

Reverse Logistics and eCommerce
It’s no secret that a positive experience delivered to a customer determines whether that customer will come back.  Retailers must enhance the user experience prior to pressing the “buy” button but also focus on the post-purchase site...

 
from our sponsors
Internet Home Business Training Course
Your privacy is safe.


Mike%20SaundersQuantcast
What's Toll Free Numbers Got To Do With Ecommerce?

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




Didn't Find What You Were Looking For?
Try a Specialized Search HERE




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.