If you are expanding your business into new regions or trying to differentiate your brand in a competitive industry, using a local outbound caller ID can help you increase call answer rates and connect with more prospects.
Using local, in-country caller IDs can greatly support your business efforts to reach potential clients, partners, stakeholders, etc., across the globe. They enable businesses to connect with locals as a local entity, bridging gaps and establishing a presence even before you make the first call.
Let’s look at:
- Why your outgoing caller ID matters when making business calls and
- How your business can use local caller IDs
Why Your Outgoing Caller ID Matters
What caller ID you display when reaching out to potential customers or making cold calls can significantly impact the outcome of those business calls. Consider this, about 80% of Americans do not take calls from unknown numbers. So, if your caller ID appears foreign, unfamiliar, or is marked “unknown,” it’s likely to be ignored or dismissed as spam.
Instead, if you use an in-country caller ID—even when calling from outside the country—you may see increased chances of these calls being answered. For example, when calling customers in London, use a 204 London local phone number. Or use a +34 Spain number when calling prospects in Spain. This way, recipients feel that the call is from a local caller.
Displaying these local numbers as your outgoing caller ID will help establish a local presence for your business. This is especially useful when making sales calls, because the goal is to create and maintain a trusting relationship with customers from the beginning to the end.
How Does the Local Caller ID Feature Work
Local Caller ID, offered by VoIP providers, lets businesses choose what outbound caller ID to display when placing outgoing calls. To be able to change your outgoing caller ID, you’ll need an outbound calling plan.
United World Telecom offers an outbound calling service and a Local 2-Way Voice service where customers can make and receive calls with a cloud phone number.
Here’s how it works: Before your agent makes an outgoing call, they go into the softphone settings and choose a local caller ID for the region they’re calling. Then, when they place the call, the person on the other end sees the local number instead of an unknown or foreign number.
United World Telecom customers can easily configure this in the control panel or through the Softphone right before making calls.
7 Ways to Use Local Caller IDs for Business
Whether trying to break into new markets, make your business appear more approachable, or improve call answer rates, using a local caller ID offers plenty of advantages.
Let’s explore the different ways you can use this feature to help your business grow and connect with people more effectively:
Quick summary:
- Enter global markets and establish a local presence
- Improve answer and pickup rates
- Make it easy for customers to return calls
- Provide localized support
- Centralize distributed teams
- Conduct local market research
- Protect employee privacy
1. Enter Global Markets and Establish a Local Presence
Breaking into global markets isn’t just about having a great product—it’s also about communicating and building trust with local customers. Part of this comes from creating a reliable and trustworthy global phone system.
Local caller IDs are typically associated with local businesses. Customers in a given region will recognize these numbers as coming from within their country. This will encourage them to answer the call.
You can get Local 2-Way Voice numbers or add outbound calling lines from multiple countries at a time. This will let your agents connect with potential customers and prospects in these regions.
2. Increase International Sales by Improving Answer Rates
When expanding globally, your business doesn’t need to hire sales reps across different target regions to connect with local customers. Sales teams can optimize their global outbound and cold-calling efforts by using in-country caller IDs corresponding to the countries they’re calling.
Incoming calls with recognizable, local numbers have more chances of being answered, letting your sales reps get one foot in the door. This way, you can obtain global reach even with 1-2 regional sales teams, further expanding your international sales operations.
3. Make It Easy for Customers to Return Calls
Customers are far more likely to return a call to a local number since they know they will be charged a local rate, or call for free if it is a toll-free number. With a Local 2-Way Voice number, you give customers a convenient way to return your call by calling the same number. This way, they get to call your business for local rates, even if their calls are forwarded to an international destination where your teams are located.
This accessibility is crucial when agents are following up or providing customer support. Making it easy for customers and prospects to return your call goes a long way in improving customer engagement and brand image.
4. Provide Localized Support
While serving a global audience, localized support is vital. Calls from international numbers can often be mistaken for spam or robocalls, further affecting your outreach efforts. But calling internationally with a local number has a higher chance of calls being answered quickly.
Businesses can provide obstacle-free customer support by using local caller IDs when connecting with customers for follow-ups, resolving tickets, billing issues, etc. And with a Local 2-Way Voice number, these customers can call your business back conveniently, in case they miss your call. This way, you increase customer engagement for your support efforts.
5. Centralize Distributed Teams
Businesses with distributed teams and service centers can centralize communications under one unified phone system with virtual local numbers and outbound calling. These distributed teams can place outbound calls through their devices (smartphones, laptops, and computers) using softphone apps and easily display a specific caller ID overriding the existing one.
Even if employees are calling from their personal devices, a local caller ID ensures that all outgoing calls appear professional and credible, projecting a unified business image across different countries.
6. Conduct Local Market Research
Since local caller IDs can help increase your entry into global markets, you can use them to survey new markets, test products in new regions, gather customer feedback, conduct competitor research, and more.
Your outreach teams will have an easier time collecting valuable insights from their target audience for a clearer understanding of market trends and customer needs across different regions.
7. Protect Employee Privacy
By assigning local numbers for business calls, employees can keep their personal phone numbers private while maintaining a professional appearance. For instance, in telemedicine, where doctors and healthcare professionals often make calls to patients, using local caller IDs to mask their caller ID ensures that their personal numbers remain confidential.
Related: What is a Dynamic Caller ID for VoIP?
Connect with More Global Customers by Calling Locally
Local caller IDs offer a simple but effective way to strengthen your business connections. From establishing a local presence in multiple markets to providing a unified communication channel, businesses will see several benefits for global communication.
You can use our local caller ID feature with any of our outbound calling or Local 2-Way Voice plans. Want to see which solution is right for your business needs?
Reach out to our experts and find out how you can optimize your outbound calling strategies.