Your browser does not support JavaScript!
Home » The Best Toll Free Number Guide For Businesses

The Best Toll Free Number Guide For Businesses

As a business owner, it is your job to do everything you can to support your business. Whether it is through finding better funding or new investors, the business takes priority. However, oftentimes, in planning a business, not much attention is paid to the business phone number. It’s just a phone number, right? How much can it really affect how customers view or interact with your business? Well, more than you can think. Phone numbers, specifically toll free numbers, can improve your brand’s visibility and accessibility to customers across the world. Let’s examine all the ways how; read on to learn more.
business phone numbers
Quick Navigation

In this guide, you can explore current toll free number practices and tools that make running a business more efficient and productive. Continue reading or choose the section that’s most relevant to you.

What is a Toll Free Number? And How Do They Work?

what are toll free numbersMany major corporations, as well as businesses focusing on certain niches, will have a toll free number. This is because toll free numbers are free/ inexpensive for customers to call. Toll free numbers are phone numbers with a distinct three-digit code at the beginning. United States toll free numbers are formatted as 1-8XX-234-5678, where the 8XX prefix can be 800, 888, 866, 855, 844, or 833. Calls made to toll free numbers charge the receiver instead of the caller. Additionally, callers can call from smartphones, landlines, payphones, and fax transmissions.

United World Telecom offers a variety of virtual numbers such as toll free numbers and local and international numbers. A virtual phone number routes calls over the internet, making them cloud-based and digitally-accessible. You can connect this number to any line that you want; for example, any specific office line.

Because of their affordability and convenience, these numbers are in demand for major corporations, customer service departments, and call centers. Any company that wants or needs to boost its incoming call rate should consider having a toll free number. No matter what business or industry you are in, toll free numbers are a great way to encourage customers to reach and do business with you.

History of Toll Free Numbers

history toll free numbersContrary to common belief, toll free numbers have been around for years. In fact, 1-800 numbers were introduced in 1967. Before automated toll free services, phone companies had operator-assisted toll free services in the 1950s and 60s. With such a system, callers would ring the operator number for their country and ask for a particular free number. The operator would then find the number from a list and place the call with reversed charges. This way, the receiver would be charged instead of the caller. However, in 1967, the Bell System introduced inWATS while British Telecom developed Linkline in 1985. Both of these systems allowed for automated toll free calling without the need for an operator.

During this time, 1-800 numbers were very expensive due to the monopoly of the Bell Telephone Company. However, over the years, more and more telephone and telecom companies have been developing toll free numbers at cheaper and more reasonable rates. United World Telecom offers a variety of plans for businesses of different sizes based on the amount of calling minutes required. You can get a plan as low as $12.95 a month for 200 monthly minutes. Additionally, you can add Rollover Minutes to accumulate unused minutes for future use.

Types of Toll Free Numbers: What are Vanity Numbers?

As noted above, you can get a toll free number with the following three-digit codes: 800, 888, 866, 855, 844, or 833. And so your number can be 1-800-839-4566 or 844-248-2758. However, there’s more to toll free numbers than that. There’s room for creativity with vanity numbers.

Vanity numbers work the same way as regular toll free numbers. The best part, however, is that they include a phrase, letters, or patterns that make them stand out against other numbers. For example, 866-882-8822 or 855-LUNCHBX. These numbers are easy to remember and attract more attention, which is why large businesses use them so often. You will see these numbers on billboards, advertisements, and more. They have a positive effect on increasing brand familiarity and awareness. United World Telecom offers vanity numbers for companies looking to advertise and promote their business creatively by drawing customer attention.

vanity phone numbers

Toll Free Numbers as Virtual Numbers: An Effective Business Communication Solution

Besides affordability and convenience, toll free numbers are often preferred because they support virtual communications. With a virtual toll free phone number, you have the ability to expand your business’ reach beyond your physical location. You can build customer relations through credibility and professionalism. And you can also upgrade your marketing efforts. Let’s explore the different ways companies can make the most of their toll free number.

Virtual Numbers: The Many Business-Friendly Features

Virtual numbers route calls over the internet. This means that you can make and receive calls over the internet instead of using traditional phone lines. And so, you don’t have to pay high phone bills when making calls. All you pay for is the subscription fees to your service provider. Additionally, you can have multiple lines on one number or forward calls from one number to another, which provides flexibility. These cannot be easily done with a traditional line.

business-toll-freeBut the best part about virtual numbers is the range of features that come along. These features provide an array of ways to keep in touch with your clients and ensure that important calls are answered. You can customize the experience to reflect and create a professional image of your business. For example, United World Telecom offers these basic features with all their plans:

  • Advanced Interactive Voice Response (IVR): This is an automated greeting system that receives incoming calls and directs callers to the right department through a menu.
  • Black and White Lists: This gives you the ability to blacklist blocked calls and white list accepted phone numbers.
  • Call Transfer: Manually transfer calls with a pre-programmed digit sequence arranged by the account owner.
  • Customized Greeting: Create customized greetings for incoming calls to let them know about your business, operating hours, etc.
  • Dedicated Account Manager: To ensure there are no complications or issues with the service.
  • Failover Forwarding: This automated system connects incoming calls to numbers in line if the first line is busy.
  • Fax to Email: Receive and forward faxes to your email.
  • Local Ringback Tones: This is the sound heard by callers when the destination (local) phone is ringing.
  • Simultaneous Calling: This enables incoming calls to ring simultaneously on multiple phones to ensure no call is missed.
  • Time of Day Routing: This directs calls to an assigned number during certain hours of the day.
  • Voicemail to Email: Answers calls if your phone is busy and sends voicemail as a .mp3 file to your email.
  • 24/7 Customer Support: Available via phone, email, chat, and trouble tickets.

Additionally, you can also add these features to enhance the way calls are handled:

  • Outbound Calling and Outbound Call Recording: To make outgoing calls and display caller ID of numbers bought from us.
  • SMS Forwarding: Forwards incoming SMS texts from a virtual number to a listed email address.
  • Call Recording: Record calls for performance analysis and market research.
  • Free Unlimited Extensions: For different office departments.
  • Rollover Minutes: Utilize unused minutes at a later time.
  • CallMe Click: This is a website feature to boost multi-channel communication.

International and Long Distance Calling


These resourceful features aside, virtual numbers also make it easier to make long-distance and international calls. With a virtual toll free number, you don’t have to worry about high long-distance calling charges or dropped calls due to bad connectivity. And this is all because calls are made through the internet and at subscription rates. Such numbers are a good option for owners that are constantly traveling for business. You can always be accessible to your customers as well as teammates with a virtual connection. And this is because you can use your number on any device and forward calls to any number with international call forwarding.

Build Credibility: For Large Corporations and Small Businesses

For any business, it is necessary to build credibility to get customers to trust you and your service. One way to do so is to invest in a toll free number that can handle a high call volume effectively. This is because with a virtual number you can track, forward, and redirect calls. So, no call is missed as it is always directed to an alternate number or office. And if a call does go unanswered, you can get a copy of the voicemail. You also have the ability to utilize IVR to educate your callers about the business and help them arrive at the right department without using an employee to manually do so. Virtual numbers help with organizing and managing your incoming calls. And this is why large businesses with high call volumes prefer toll free numbers.

Additionally, small businesses, solopreneurs, and freelancers can take advantage of what virtual numbers have to offer. Quickly develop a professional image with a toll free number that greets your customers, forwards calls so that you can always answer them, and more. The best part: you can target clients in neighboring cities, states, and countries as well.toll free business brand

Build Customer Loyalty

Customers appreciate it when they do not have to work hard to get in touch with you. And so, you will gradually build customer loyalty. And loyal customers make for a great way to get new clients. Your customers can be your biggest fan base, promoting and recommending your service. Therefore, it is necessary to keep them satisfied. And virtual toll free numbers can help you attain that.

A New Way to Market Your Brand

With a toll free number, especially a vanity number, you can further enhance the image of your brand. All toll free numbers can be used for marketing campaigns. Advertise them on your website, visiting cards, flyers, promotional emails, social media, and more. This way, customers will start recognizing your brand and you will be on their minds. Use your virtual toll free number alongside email marketing, social media marketing, and ad marketing efforts.

You can also utilize United World Telecom’s CallMe Click feature. CallMe Click is a button that is placed on your website. When visitors select the button on your website, they will be prompted to fill in their contact number. Upon doing so, they will instantly receive a call from your business. This is another way in which your business will make it easier for customers to contact you. With this feature, you can increase sales from website visitors across the world and decrease wait times. And believe us, customers will highly appreciate such convenience.

Additionally, you can use virtual numbers to track exactly where your calls and customers are coming from. That is, you can promote specific numbers for specific campaigns. For example, use one number for social media and another for billboards. Some businesses also invest in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns where sponsored ads with the company’s phone number are available in search results for specific keywords. Here, too, a different number can be used. In addition to these, you can also use the CallMe Click feature. Then, you can track which channel is getting more attention and visibility as you receive calls from both channels. Then, you can streamline your focus towards marketing efforts on channels that are working effectively.

Call Tracking with Virtual Numbers

By tracking where your calls are coming from, you can analyze marketing metrics quickly and effectively. This can give you insights into where your efforts are successful and where you may be wasting your time. Additionally, you can also study customer preferences: where are they searching for your service? What mode of contact do they prefer? And so on. This is beneficial information in customizing your service for your target audience and it will enable you to ace customer service offerings.


Get a Toll Free Number for Your Business Today

toll free for businessGetting a toll free number for your business is easy, with almost no set-up processes required. Here are the most important steps to follow:

Step 1: Research Providers
Research various providers available for your needs. We recommend United World Telecom for affordability and overall call quality.

Step 2: Review Options and Features
Next, review what features and plans your provider has to offer. With United World Telecom, all information is provided upfront, with no fees added at the last minute.

Step 3: Enter the Necessary Information and Purchase Your Number
The sign-up process for purchasing a toll free number from United World Telecom is relatively easy:

  • First, select your Country in the dropdown box on the left.
  • Then, select the Number Type and Prefix; for example, United States and 844.
  • Next, choose a number from the next dropdown box.
  • Then, on the right, enter the country and destination number for where you would like to forward your incoming calls.
  • Review and choose your plan.
  • Add any additional services.
  • Finally, enter your contact information and check out.

Toll free numbers have been in circulation for years and even with growing advancements in technology, they are here to stay. And they have been successful in helping businesses grow their customer base and increase their visibility. United World Telecom understands how important customer relations are, so we try to provide you with a service that is perfect for your needs. Get a virtual toll free number with us today or call us at 1-888-908-6171 to learn more about how we can help your specific business needs.

How to get a Toll Free Number For Businesses with United World Telecom

Time:
Takes About 2 minutes
Description:
Steps on activating a toll free business number.
Necessary Items:
Computer or Smartphone
image step 1
Visit United World Telecom
Go to the United World Telecom homepage and select Toll Fre Numbers.
image step 2
Select your new phone number
Go to the left hand side, “Select Your New Phone Number,” which includes the country that you want your toll free number to be based in. United World Telecom offers phone numbers in over 140+ countries.
image step 3
Choose a prefix
Depending on which location you choose, you may be able to select a toll free prefix, a mobile-accessible phone number, or other options.
image step 4
Choose your number
You will be provided a list of toll free numbers to choose from. For some locations, your toll free number will be provided upon activation.
image step 5
Provide a destination phone number
Now that you’ve selected your number, you need to provide a destination phone number underneath the “Enter Your Destination Number” heading on the right hand side. Include the country code, area/region code. Click the View Rates & Try for Free button
image step 6
Select your plan
Review the plans to see which is best suited for your business needs, based on the number of monthly minutes required. Select whether you want a free business trial or you can go ahead and pay for a subscription plan by clicking on the Try for Free button. Plans include; Basic, Value, Power, Premium, and Enterprise.
image step 7
Select optional features
Below the payment plans, choose from a variety of add-ons available for your number, such as: Rollover Minutes ‒ accumulate unused minutes for the future
Call Recording ‒ record calls for future reference
Inbound SMS plans ‒ receive SMS messages from customers in your email
Outbound Calling ‒ make international calls with caller ID override to ensure your virtual number appears on the receiver’s caller ID
image step 8
Enter contact and account info
Choose account type (Business or Personal), verify the Terms and Conditions, and click on “Try for Free” to verify your purchase.
image step 9
Enter payment and billing information
Finally , agree to the Terms & Conditions and click on the “Pay and Activate” button to complete your purchase.
F A Q | Toll Free Numbers for Business

Yes. There are no limits to the number of numbers you can purchase with us. A large percentage of our clients are international companies with locations all over the world. When placing an order online, you can add as many numbers as you would like to your cart. If you want a custom quote for bulk numbers, please send us a corporate inquiry and we can send you a detailed proposal.

A virtual phone number is a phone number without a standard telephone line. Virtual phone numbers can forward incoming calls to a different number, or to a VOIP/SIP line located just about anywhere in the world.

United World Telecom offers numbers in over 140 countries. Some types of numbers include local, toll free, mobile, UIFN, ITFS, DID, SMS enabled, and more.

There are some countries where mobile accessibility with toll free numbers is not available. You can view accessibility and restriction information when you select your phone number under “see additional info and restrictions”

Yes, United World Telecom does offer vanity phone numbers which can be either local or toll free from countries across the globe. You can request a vanity phone number here.