Contact Telephone Numbers

[pepperfield]

Hey, I run a fairly busy e-commerce shop and in our Contact Us page, we have options to leave an email, contact us on Skype or via our toll-free number.

We find that we can serve many more people on Skype and over email than attending to one customer for several minutes over the telephone.

I've been contemplating not displaying our telephone numbers so we can be more efficient and serve many more customers via email.

I've noticed that many big-box retailers do not have contact telephone numbers displayed on their e-commerce site and am wondering what everyone's thought are on this issue?

Would we abandon and lose a lot of customers? Is a telephone number necessary? Your feedback and comments are appreciated!

[ken_b]

Unless your busines is big enough to be a "household name", in other words known by EVERYONE, and with well known physical retail locations

I'd shop somewhere else.

Phone numbers, like real addresses, are a sign of credibility for ecommerce sites.

Hide either and some will wonder why. They probably won't bother asking why, they'd just move on to the next site.

[jsinger]

Among other things, I run a directory for our industry and I won't even accept sites without a phone number.

A contact phone number isn't as essential as it was in the earliest days of ecommerce but its still useful for almost all sites, especially in this tough economy. Some people will only order by phone and some will use the phone for the assurance it provides prior to buying online

We find its easy to upsell a customer by phone. Once they know you're "real" they're much more inclined to load up. A study we did years ago showed phone orders were about 40% larger than online orders.

[fabulousyarn]

I would say - think about how YOU feel when you want to call and you can't find a phone number. Enough said.

The phone is a necessary evil - you can redirect to a skype number or ringo if you must - there's no getting away from the fact that the perception that you have no customer service is very real if someone cannot get to you THE MOMENT they want to.

We publish our phone number, but try and ask most people who call that we'd love to helpthem but it would be best if they put a request in via email so that we have a record of...blah blah. Most are fine, and there are those who absolutely do not want to put anything in writing. SO we have chat.

[fabulousyarn]

Remember - its not about what is best for YOU its about what is best for your customers. (as my teenage daughter would say - ITS ABOUT ME)

-:)

[Rugles]

I've been contemplating not displaying our telephone numbers

If you are one of our competitors, yes please remove your phone ASAP.

[dpd1]

It's probably best to have a phone available, but I can understand why some people don't. It's a big time consumer, and if you don't have the people power to do it, then you just don't. So I guess it comes down to how many sales lost, vs how much time/money you save not having it. Which is probably going to be very different biz to biz. If a lot of your customers come from word of mouth, then it's probably not a big deal. Their trust has already been established. But if you're trying to win over people that are searching through tons of competition... every little bit probably helps.