I see it every week in the Essex Chronicle when I’m looking at cars for sale. I ask myself, why would you use an 0800 number in a local paper like the Chronicle? There’s no real right or wrong answer to this, I guess it comes down to personal preference. Or does it?

Why would you use an 0800 number?

You could argue that the majority of people reading the Essex Chronicle will be at home and so have access to a landline. Enabling them to call you on an 0800 number for free, is a great idea.

0800 numbers have been used for a number of years with proven results. People’s perception of them is very important. Since they are widely recognised as freephone numbers, there is an element of trust associated with them. I got to ring one of these numbers the other day. It was a real novelty using my landline. But I was happy knowing it wouldn’t cost me to ring the number, as opposed to using my mobile.

However, with the number of mobile users rapidly increasing in recent years, advertising with 0800 numbers suddenly doesn’t seem the most appropriate of techniques. I certainly don’t want to pay 40 pence per minute to call a number.

What could you use instead of an 0800 number?

You could use local numbers. Using a Local Number in your advertising helps to appeal to not only landline users, but mobile users as well. Local numbers can be covered in free minute packages provided by mobile networks and give people a much more closer to home feel. They are now used in most advertising, with 0800 numbers beginning to fade.

I tend to feel more comfortable calling a local number, especially on my mobile, as it seems familiar and reduces any potential doubt at where the call is being received.

With numbers for a variety of area codes, they can provide you with more opportunities to advertise in different areas. Freephone numbers however, are not limited to a specific area and can offer the perception of a large business operating across the country.

What if you could use 0800 numbers and Local Numbers?

Why not give people a choice? Using both 0800 Numbers and Local Numbers can entice your callers by providing them with the option of a free call from either their mobile or landline. Providing your callers with an option gives the impression they are being considered. They’re more likely to place their trust in companies that appear to be reaching a compromise, rather than just making money out of them.

At the beginning of March we launched myTTNC version 1.1, bringing with it a whole selection of new features including Address Book, updates to Time Based Forwarding as well as some big design changes.

Now less then 2 months later, we are pleased to announce version 1.2, which is already live. If you haven’t already seen the changes, what can you expect to find the next time you log in?

Changes to the login and the welcome screens

We really think that myTTNC looks great. However, one page that didn’t really do the control panel justice was the login screen. The first thing you’ll notice when you next visit myTTNC is the brand new login screen, which is much more in line with the overall design of the rest of the control panel.

If you have it enabled, or you’re logging in for the first time, you’ll also notice a big change to the welcome screen. The idea behind the original welcome screen was to give you a quick tour of the changes to the control panel, however it wasn’t always clear that this was just a splash page and led to some confusion. The new design highlights the features of myTTNC with beautiful big screenshots, all on one page.

Notifications and Inbox

Our biggest new feature is notifications. You may have noticed that with version 1.1 we added three little icons to the header, however only the basket icon really did anything. But now we have enabled full system notifications as well as message alerts.

You can now see any changes to your account such as when an automatic top up takes place or when you pay an invoice. Message alerts tell you when you miss a call or receive a voicemail message.

But what if you want to manage your notifications or view more detailed information? You can now do this through the brand new section; Inbox. Here you can view a history of all your account activity as well as listen to voicemail messages.

And for the first time ever, you can now view and download any fax messages you’ve received. This has been a much requested feature in the past, so we really think people will be happy with the convenience of being able to view any faxes received within the last 30 days all in one place.

Updates to the Help Centre

Before we launched myTTNC, we made a promise that the new Help Centre wouldn’t be neglected like the one for the Novero Platform (our old control panel) and we’re really making good on that promise. Based on customer feedback, we’ve added ‘jump-to’ links to the top of any pages with multiple sections.

For example, if you’re setting up Call Forwarding, you can jump to ‘forwarding to a single number’, ‘setting up a Hunt Group’ or ‘Forward to All’ or ‘forwarding to VoIP’ or ‘internationally’. There’s now no need to search through the page to find what you’re after.

We’ve also added some gorgeous effects to the page when you click on one of the links. The page smoothly scrolls down and the section you’ve selected highlights blue for a few seconds. So now you know exactly where you are on the page. And ‘Back to top’ links help you get to the top of each page instantly.

There’s still more to come

myTTNC is only five months old, but already we’ve launched two major updates and we still have loads more ideas for new features and improvements we want to add. If you haven’t already checked out the new changes in myTTNC, then get logged in now!

Remember to keep an eye out on our blog, social media networks as well as within myTTNC for any future announcements and let us know what you think of the new changes in the comments below.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (or VoIP as it’s commonly know) is exactly as the name suggests – Internet telephony. But what exactly does VoIP do and how does it differ from normal landlines?

We get a lot of calls from people asking about VoIP, but they very rarely understand what it really is. One of the main reasons for interest is that we offer free call forwarding to VoIP (except on 0800 numbers) which really draws people in. After all, why would you want to pay for call forwarding when you can receive calls for free using a different system? Unfortunately, not many of these callers can actually benefit from the free call forwarding.

To understand why there is so much confusion, we have to look at what VoIP really is. As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, it’s Internet telephony. Or in other words, calls that are made over the Internet as opposed to the traditional copper wiring of your landline or via your mobile network.

But I have a Skype number

Now upon hearing about this you might immediately think of Skype. And why not? It is one of the biggest and most well known VoIP services in the world after all. When a customer asks a question about VoIP, you can almost guarantee that Skype will be mentioned at some point.

“I have a Skype number and Skype is VoIP, so surely I can benefit from free call forwarding?”

I’m sorry to inform you, but I’m afraid you don’t qualify. When you get a number from Skype it will either be an 01, 02 or 03 number (we’ve heard of people getting 05 numbers in the past, although I couldn’t find this myself). So can you spot the issue here? That’s right; these are the same as landline numbers (or UK wide in the case of 03), which means they are subject to the normal landline rate. Plus, you may also be charged by Skype on top of this.

But I have a BT VoIP Line

Another cause for confusion, although a less common one, is how BT now label their landlines. From what we can gather, BT are moving away from the traditional copper wiring and are now combining their broadband and phone lines together. Which means their phone lines are now using VoIP technology.

The problem is that BT tell people that they have a VoIP line, rather than a standard landline in their house. Everyone knows what a landline is so why confuse things by mentioning VoIP?

And despite using VoIP technology, they’re still landlines, so are subject to call forwarding charges.

So how would I qualify for free call forwarding?

By having a VoIP service of course!

Ok, perhaps a little more explanation is needed here. To benefit from free call forwarding you need to divert your calls to either a SIP or an IAX address. Forwarding to any other destination will incur a cost (at least on most number ranges).

So how do you get a SIP or IAX address? Well, firstly you may have an internal system in your office. Speak to your IT guys to see if they can set up any addresses for you to forward to.

Secondly, there are a number of VoIP providers out there who can provide the service for you. However there’s a good chance you’ll be charged for this service, so this may end up more expensive than forwarding direct to landline or mobile through ourselves.

Trying to understand VoIP can be a real pain. I’ve only covered the very basics of the technology in this blog and a couple of the more frequently asked questions. Despite getting no call forwarding charges when diverting our numbers to SIP or IAX, having to pay out for the VoIP system/service can far outweigh the savings when forwarding direct to a physical handset with us.

The straight answer is yes, they can, but this question did come up when I was speaking to a customer a couple of days ago. These advanced features are often associated with large corporations but are now much more widely accessible. So maybe the actual question is “when is it appropriate to use them?”

What are call management features for?

At the heart of these features is the desire to improve the customer experience. This can be done by either reassuring the customer that they’ve reached the right place, using greetings for example. These greetings can also give the customer confidence in the business they’re calling. The professional tone of a greeting can really help this.

Or these features can improve the customer experience by handling their call more efficiently, like presenting options to direct them to the correct person if there’s a choice.

You could say that by enabling the business to get better at handling calls is improving the customer experience. You can do this using features like Call Recording.

When is it appropriate to use them?

This is really a case by case decision. Thinking specifically about local, family run businesses though, I would imagine that something like Virtual Receptionist isn’t really appropriate. Virtual Receptionist allows the business to present options to direct the caller to different places in the business. If they’re all going to the same person, it would seem an unnecessary delay to the caller. This sort of thing distances the business from the caller, which for a local business, I imagine this is the opposite impression you want.

However, a simple greeting that says something along the lines of “Thanks for calling Daisy’s Flower Shop, you’ll be speaking with Daisy very soon” would be good. It fits with the small, local business image. It’s personal. Daisy takes most of the calls, so it is most likely they’ll be speaking to Daisy. May be they expect to only speak to Daisy.

What is it you’re trying to achieve?

This is a key question. Whenever you’re considering call management features, I don’t think it’s ever a case of just adding stuff for the sake of it, or just because you can.

• As I mentioned before, you need to consider how it might distance you from your caller.
• You need to consider what image you’re trying to create.
• You need to consider how best to serve your customers.
• You need to consider how you want to run your business.

Again, thinking about small businesses; as much as customers want you to be open 24/7, it might be the case that you don’t want to be, just so you get a bit of separation in your life.

Something like Time Based Forwarding can help you do that automatically. You could create a team plan that forwards to your shop while you’re open but goes straight to a voicemail service when you’re closed. I don’t think this is hugely detrimental to your customers (for the most part), it’s just helping you set clear boundaries and making your life a bit easier.

Ultimately this is why local, family run businesses can use advanced call management features, but sometimes less is more. Don’t add things because you can; add the features that will help you, your business and your customer the most.