Is a particular number AVAILABLE?

People often ask if a particular number is available, but like all things, it’s often not as simple as people unfamiliar with it sometimes assume. If the number they ask about is in the spare pool or “available” it’s easy to answer an email and maybe reserve it and give the customer the link to order it. But the danger in that is that, the customer often thinks the way to find out if a number’s available, is to email us. And while that may work sometimes, it tends to hurt the customer more than help them, because it limits them to our availability.

The real answer is to show them how to enter their query on in the website. Pretty much every page on our site at TollFreeNumbers.com (other than the checkout process) has the query box on top. And users can get a lot more information and a better answer in a couple seconds or less.

The problem with asking if a number is “Available” is that there are numbers that are going to be available soon and can be backordered, and numbers that might be negotiable, not to mention the hundreds of other alternatives there to spark a visitors creativity and help them find good numbers when none are available.

That’s why I say it’s both important for customers to be able to have direct access to the lookup tool themselves, and to be able to see and understand all the results, not just if it’s in Spare or Available status. Because even if a number IS AVAILABLE, most users have to check multiple options to be sure that whatever they find is the best option. You’re not going to find the perfect number, which is why you have to try a lot of options before you can really be comfortable deciding and moving forward with a specific number, and we make it easier than anyone to check numbers!