Make it clear that the phone number is for customer service and that orders should be placed online. You don't have to be a big corporation to answer the phone. I can call the local Chinese takeout restaurant and place an order. They aren't a huge corporation and only have one person answering the phone and at the register. The issue with the phone isn't some much answering, but taking phone orders. As you would need to take the payment, shipping information, generate the packing slip etc manually which is a lot of labor.
I would recommend having a clearly accessible 'Contact Us' section that lists your contact details. It doesn't need to be in your shoppers face - but easily found. A free phone number redirecting to your mobile phone is a great idea. And, if you can get a dual sim phone - you can even customise your phone to ensure you know when a call is coming through via your store's number. Most importantly though, the listing of contact details will give your shoppers more confidence and therefore trust in your website, business and products.
Two quick points: 1. Many people who publish their phone number say they receive very few calls. If you can't pick-up the rare call on the first ring, that's not a big deal. Someone having to leave a message isn't that big a deal either. Not returning the call in a reasonable amount of time would be the problem. 2. There are human #800 answering services that are very professional and affordable. If you can't answer the "rare" phone call, pay them a few coins to pick up for you.
Not necessary, but if you are... 1. Running local business targeting local customer the phone no. should be there 2. If you are providing information on your site the phone no. is not necessary. 3. If you have own products then phone no. should be there for customers query.
Yes, it is important to put your valid phone number on your web site. It increase your reliability to your customer and he/she will hesitate less in doing business with you.
I have an entertainment site where I have my phone number. I have 300-400 visitors/day but I don't get too many phone calls. may be 1 or 2 in a week and non in other weeks. Put your phone number and see how it goes. You would never know if you never put your number.
Well adding your number on your site is intelligent option because you want anyone who contact your first preference is call but another best option instead of phone number use your skype id.
Business phone number for sure. I do not trust sites that will not give a phone number. Even if I have no reason to call them I look for the phone number on their header and or on the contact page. if there is no phone number and I do not know their brand I have less trust for them. It makes me think that they may be hiding from customer complaints and such......
I and many others share the same concern... however, I am confident that the # of customers you will lose because of a missed call will be a lot less than the # of customer you will not gain due to the lack of a toll free number.... what kind of e-commerce site would not have a toll free number???