Are you more likely to pick up a call if it’s from a local number? I know I am.
Wherever you are in the world, unique area codes are used for specific geographic regions. These area codes make it easy to identify if a caller is local or calling from another part of the country, or another country all together.
Research shows that people are four times more likely to answer a call from a local area code. It’s no surprise when you consider that local numbers are associated with friends and family, local businesses and essential local services – while unknown area codes are associated with businesses that you don’t have a pre-existing relationship with, or even scam callers.
How can local presence improve your calling strategy?
Local presence allows you to control the number that is displayed when you dial out, meaning the call be shown as if it’s coming from a local number, even if it isn’t. Using local presence provides benefits across various teams because familiar-looking numbers can boost the number of calls picked up by customers, clients, or anyone. We provide full ownership of the local number so that it can be assigned to anyone in your business.
This freedom to control your outbound presence enables your teams to target specific markets that may not have been available to them before. As an example, think of a recruiter who has started working on a role in another country. Calling from a local number would mean they can represent the client and the role in the best possible way. This recruiter can also benefit from the increased pick-up rate when calling potential candidates. Calling from a local number is also a great way to build rapport and familiarity, ensuring there is a good relationship between recruiter and candidate.
The same also applies to businesses that rely on calling prospective customers in order to make sales. If those calls can appear to be from the same region as the customer, they will be more likely to answer.
Unanswered calls not only have no sales value, but they also waste time and interrupt an agent’s flow. Therefore, anything that can increase answer rates is guaranteed to boost productivity and allow agents to spend more time doing what they do best.
