Multiple Phone numbers and your online marketing

[Harold Mansfield]

A conversation I've had with a couple of clients has been about posting multiple phone numbers everywhere.
From the front page of their website to their social media profiles.

Not different numbers for different departments. Just more than one number that goes to the same place.

I think it's cumbersome and actually unprofessional. That there is no reason to force people to make a choice no matter how small. Just give them the most direct rout to speak to someone. Don't leave them sitting there wondering what's the difference between the numbers and having to choose one.

Clients say that they think it makes them look "bigger". I think the opposite, it makes them look smaller, and unsure. Like a small company that's trying to look big.

I'm all for having 2 numbers that do 2 different things. Even if they just go to 2 different people and you make it clear what the difference in numbers is.
You should also include as much contact info as you can on your contact page.

But 2 numbers just for the sake of 2 numbers serves no purpose to me.

What do you guys think?

[tallen]

I agree with you Harold, there is generally no point to advertising more than one phone number unless they clearly serve some distinct purpose, although I can think of one very minor exception.

I know of "small" businesses that has multiple phone lines, set up in a cascade for incoming calls, but with only one lead number that they advertise. If you call that number and that particular line is busy, the call gets shunted to the next line in the cascade. Having multiple lines also gives the business the ability to still make outgoing calls when the main number is busy.

So here's the minor exception -- I only know of the above, because this business called me once on one of their other numbers, which I did not have in my contacts list on my phone, so it came up with no ID. If I had known that they had multiple numbers, I could have put them all in my contacts list, and then I would have known who was calling me ;-) !

[LocalSearchSolutions]

Unless one is a vanity phone number (800-pet-meds) or for call-tracking purposes from a specific ad campaign, hard to see the value in this. Agreed on it being annoying. Plus it can hurt from a search perspective as I'm sure there is no consistency in their NAP either.

[KristineS]

Definitely agree - one number is best. Very good point that using multiple numbers makes a company look small and amateurish. When you call Fed Ex or Charter or Verizon or Paypal, there's one main number. You may get shunted to a number of different places after you call that number, but there's one main number.

[SocMediaMaven]

If multiple phone numbers is for vanity alone, use 1 number.

[vangogh]

I can see using a local number and also a toll free number, but otherwise I think a single phone number is best. As far as making yourself appear larger, I think that's always a bad idea. It's only going to lead people to expect you to do the same things a large company will do like offer 24 hour phone support. When I started out I tried to make myself appear like a larger company. I used the royal "we" as opposed to "I" or "me" and it only led to clients I couldn't really help getting in touch. When I changed my site to reflect that I was a lone freelancer, the people who contacted me were people I could help and I was able to build a client list.