You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression—especially if you’re a business in a competitive field. Your business phone number plays a key role in conveying the precise image you want to customers, partners, and prospects. Fortunately, it’s never been easier to buy phone numbers that suit your brand.
Thanks to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, your business can now easily purchase phone numbers that aren’t tied down to a physical location. From trustworthy providers like RingCentral, you can get vanity, toll-free, and local numbers that you can use on virtually any device, anywhere you go.
Buy a phone number that’s as mobile as your business
Today’s workplaces bear little resemblance to those of only a decade or two ago. In fact, in many cases, they’re not workplaces at all—instead, team members often work from home, on the move, or from where best suits them on a given day. Flexibility and mobility are key, and that’s why being able to buy phone numbers that aren’t tethered to one location or device is vital.
That’s precisely what you get with a virtual business phone system like RingCentral RingEX, which uses VoIP instead of conventional landlines. Your numbers are associated with your account and can be accessed from any internet-enabled device when you log in. Inbound and outbound calls on VoIP numbers will originate on the carrier’s network. This is important for security regulations.
This means you can unite a remote workforce, give them full access to business phone numbers wherever they are and even buy numbers to target customers in a specific area without having a premises there—more on that later. VoIP phone systems, too, are easy to configure and manage (RingCentral can set you up in a couple of business days) and you can add or re-assign digital lines and extensions quickly, as the system doesn’t require on-site hardware.
Why purchase a business phone number from a VoIP provider?
As well as being more mobile than a traditional phone number that’s tied to its geographic location or specific device, a virtual phone number can also offer a range of further business benefits:
- Improve brand recognition
- Convey professionalism
- Attract local customers
- Simplify your advertising
- Choose different numbers to suit your needs
1. Improve brand recognition
Memorable vanity phone numbers make your company stand out, which means better brand recognition and more sales. If you buy vanity phone numbers, you’ll improve ad response rates, get more word-of-mouth referrals, and simplify your marketing with one all-purpose number for business calls.
2. Convey professionalism
Toll-free numbers not only give customers an incentive to call you, they also help to imply a professional and trustworthy business. Customers instinctively assume that only a well-established firm will have toll-free numbers. That’s because historically only such companies could afford them. However, being able to buy telephone numbers for VoIP-based systems has extended their affordability to smaller businesses, too.
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3. Attract local customers
Virtual local business phone numbers are perfect if you have your HQ in one place, but do most of your trade in another—or you want one number to cover multiple branches. Also, customers prefer to dial a hometown number or answer the phone to one.
4. Simplify your advertising
Being able to buy phone numbers easily and affordably also means you can use some for specific marketing purposes. You might, for instance, dedicate a virtual number to a particular campaign—including it on the adverts and promotional material of that campaign only. That makes it simple to effectively manage that campaign, and also to track its success.
5. Choose different numbers to suit your needs
When you buy phone numbers as part of a virtual phone system, too, you have a broader choice in terms of types of number.
If you’re a RingCentral user, you can buy a specific number to reflect your brand identity, toll-free numbers to make you more accessible to customers, or local numbers to establish a presence in different areas.
Buy a specific phone number for brand recognition
With RingCentral, you can purchase a specific phone number to reflect your brand values, called a vanity number. A vanity number is a custom phone number that spells out a word with its corresponding keypad letters. These usually represent a business name or associated phrase, plus catchy numeric sequences—such as 888-555-8855 or 800-FLOWERS.
Because the human brain is wired to recognize patterns, an easy to remember number will stick in people’s minds, whether they see it visually or hear a jingle. A custom vanity number is a great way to promote your brand, product, or slogan.
Similarly, easy dial phone numbers have simple patterns with repeating or alternating digits instead of a random sequence. It’s easy to buy a custom phone number if you’re a RingCentral user, and it can all be done from your online account.
Buy a toll-free number to be more accessible to customers
A toll-free telephone number is one that customers can call free of charge. They were first introduced in the 1960s by AT&T, and were originally the preserve of large companies.
In 1993, the FTC ruled that toll-free numbers must be “portable” (moveable between phone number providers), so owners were no longer tied to telecom companies. This made the numbers more accessible to small businesses.
All USA toll-free phone numbers used to have an 800 prefix. Due to demand, 888, 877, 866, and 855 prefixes were developed. Toll-free numbers are housed in one national directory, which communications companies like RingCentral enable customers to search.
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Buy local phone numbers to establish a presence in different areas
Local phone numbers are linked to a specific location by an area code. Thanks to VoIP and virtual phone systems, they’re now available for purchase by businesses who wish to be associated with a certain area, even if their premises are based elsewhere.
For example, your company could have its offices in the suburbs, but use a custom phone number with a city-center area code. Or you could purchase a local phone number for a city in a whole different state if you think there are prospective customers there.
Unlike toll-free numbers, local numbers aren’t kept in a national database—they’re distributed to phone companies in batches. So, you need to pick a provider with good access to local codes., Fortunately, RingCentral has a choice of over 200 different area codes, covering most regions across the United States.
What do I need from an online phone number provider?
If you’re looking to buy vanity, local, and toll-free numbers, you won’t lack for choice. A quick internet search will reveal a high number of providers. But there are certain things you should consider before you choose one.
Firstly, you need a wide choice of numbers, so look for local, toll-free, and vanity phone number providers with the largest database. It should also be simple to add new phone numbers to your account or phone system.
Flexibility is important, and reputable companies like RingCentral allow you to easily transfer the numbers you already own.
You’ll also want affordable and transparent pricing (ideally a one-time setup fee) plus guaranteed security and reliability. And it’s helpful to have integrations with your business phone system.
Which is the best phone number provider?
With a huge choice of phone numbers, alongside cloud-based unified communications encompassing channels like video meetings, VoIP phone calls, and messaging, RingCentral is your best bet. You can buy phone numbers that best suit your business and needs, including toll-free, custom vanity, and local area code options
It’s super-easy to search for available numbers and add them from your online account, as well as adding extensions.
RingCentral numbers are competitively priced, with packages to suit every budget. They’re available with every RingEX edition, which also gives you a unified communications suite with one number covering all channels from SMS to fax and video conferencing.
Learn more about buying phone numbers from RingCentral
Talk to a RingCentral expert about how you can buy phone numbers to suit your business, or request a demo to learn how RingEX could transform your business communications.