Black Swan Telecom Journal Q&A Explores Growth Opportunities for Text-Enabled Toll-Free Numbers in North America

• What’s the News: Text-enabled toll-free numbers are growing business-to-consumer engagement.

• Why it Matters: As a preferred and trusted form of consumer communication, text messaging represents an untapped area of growth for customer engagement and toll-free numbers that can boost brand reputation and ROI.

• Who’s it for: Telecom service providers, large enterprises, messaging aggregators and customer contact centers.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. – November 18, 2020 – Texting is the preferred form of communication among consumers with 93 percent recognizing it as a trusted channel. Businesses also realize the full potential of texting for growing consumer communications, which is why the adoption of text-enabled toll-free phone numbers represents an untapped area of growth for business-to-consumer engagement. In a recent interview with iconectiv’s Senior Account Director Michael Gilbert, industry analyst and Black Swan Telecom Journal Editor Dan Baker discusses growth in text message engagement and how text-enabled toll-free phone numbers are creating an opportunity for businesses to boost brand reputation, improve customer service and tap into new revenue streams.

In Convenient & Spam-Free: Why 800-Number Texting (8MS) is a Growing B2C Channel in North America, Gilbert highlights iconectiv’s TruReach Toll-Free 8MS, a cloud-based solution enabling toll-free texting for business numbers that gives enterprises the ability to expedite the customer service process and enhance efficiency. In addition to discussing the uses of Toll-Free 8MS and why messaging continues to grow as an important channel for customer service operations, Baker and Gilbert expand on the following:

• The industries that are already text-enabling toll-free numbers and where there is potential for growth
• New challenges businesses face when adding the text messaging channel for customer service, including managing messaging traffic flow
• Consumer expectations for text messaging with businesses, and how they are influencing the adoption of solutions like Toll-Free 8MS
• The evolution of business messaging and how new channels, such as Rich Communications Services (RCS) will impact the texting space

“Calling a customer call center to ask a question is steadily declining, especially as consumer preference continues to favor text messaging when engaging with a business,” Gilbert says. “There are currently 42 million active toll-free numbers in North America, but only 10 percent of them have been text-enabled. Toll-Free 8MS provides businesses with an opportunity to extend the capabilities of this service and increase the efficiencey of their customer service process by text-enabing these conversations. Forward-thinking businesses are letting customers choose how to communicate, whether that’s by text or voice and it’s making a big difference in customer satisfaction.”

“While SMS text messaging is becoming more commonplace, it’s important to recognize that it represents a significant revenue for service providers,” says Baker, founder of TRI Research. “In order for that to continue, the industry needs to find ways to reinvent it to stay ahead of newer platforms. By text-enabling regular phone numbers or toll-free numbers, you can expand that revenue stream for carriers and businesses while improving the efficiency of customer service.”

To learn more about TruReach Toll-Free 8MS, click here.