When you need inbound telephone capabilities to help you appear like a larger professional company to customers, the 800.com business phone number service may deliver the features you need.
With 800.com, you can select your desired phone number among local numbers, toll-free numbers, and even vanity numbers. It has a number of other features available, too, such as helping you run SMS marketing campaigns. Let’s break down whether this service can do what it promises in our review below.
800.com: The Good and the Bad
The 800.com service gives you quick access to a toll-free telephone number to serve your customers. You also have access to a number of calling features that are beneficial for a company that’s on the go, such as call recording, screening, and analytics.
However, that doesn’t mean 800.com is perfect for every potential subscriber. It has a few drawbacks of note, especially if you are a larger company that deals with complex problems which need a business telephone service to solve them.
What 800.com Is Good At
Running SMS marketing campaigns: First of all, 800.com is an extremely basic business phone number providing service. However, it does have an SMS (short message service) marketing campaign feature. Small business customers, which is 800.com’s primary audience, will appreciate having this tool available.
Through this SMS feature, you can set up blast text messages for your customer base. Delivering information to your customers this way can be an effective way to alert customers of new promotions, for example, as most customers won’t find texts too intrusive.
The SMS marketing feature allows you to create different lists of customers based on their shopping preferences. Send messages to a particular list of buyers, or every customer. You can also schedule campaigns ahead of time and run them automatically when you choose.
Depending on the pricing plan you select, you may have some limitations on the number of text messages you can send each month. Contact the 800.com sales team to determine what kinds of caps on text messages are going to best meet your needs.
Reasonable prices: The pricing structure for this service is quite affordable, compared to other services. It’s hard to find other business phone services with such a low price given the basic services you find here.
To be fair, most business phone services offer a far greater set of features than 800.com. This product is made for businesses that just need the basics.
Access analytics on your calls: 800.com’s call analytics collects data for you, so it’s easy to learn quite a bit of information about various aspects of the calls you are receiving, including:
- Call duration
- Wait times
- Call resolution rates
- Numbers of calls received
- Missed calls
You can use call analytics to determine whether your team is handling inbound calls at the level you’d like. You then can make decisions on how to adjust the way you handle calls to improve your level of performance, or even upgrade your subscription to handle a higher call volume if necessary.
Using analytics, you’re able to identify areas where you need to upgrade your team’s training. For example, you may need to increase your staffing at certain times of the week where the analytics show that wait times are too long or that you are missing calls.
Make use of automatic transcriptions: Sometimes, you need additional help deciphering your calls. That’s where 800.com’s automatic call transcriptions can be a big benefit.
Through the transcription of a call or a voicemail, your team can go back and verify things like contact information for a customer if the sales rep missed it during the live call.
You also can search the transcripts for specific keywords, aiding in the search for past calls or past topics that customers spoke about most frequently.
Transcripts are a great way to help your sales teams during training sessions, too. The manager who’s reviewing calls can use the transcription to determine aspects of the call that the sales rep could improve on. Then, they can use the call recording feature to go back and listen to that portion of the call as a training exercise.
Find phone numbers in the premium vanity marketplace: Should you prefer to license a premium vanity number, rather than relying on the numbers available through basic searches at signup, 800.com can be a great solution. They give you the ability to select a particular pattern in the phone number’s digits.
These premium vanity numbers are often pricey, some of which are more than $2,400 per month to license. However, 800.com’s marketplace has several numbers that will be particularly popular or memorable to customers, such as those with repeatable digits after the area code or toll-free code.
Through the marketplace, you can search for patterns in both toll-free and local numbers or set a certain price range that suits your needs.
Start using some new numbers almost immediately: As part of the signup process, you can select the phone number that you want to use or you can accept the phone number that 800.com generates for you. If you accept this latter number, simply enter your account information and you’re all done.
After you make your payment, it should only take one to two hours before you can begin using the phone number that 800.com selected for you. Few low-priced services can be up and running that fast.
800.com’s Potential Drawbacks
Vanity numbers aren’t available right away: If you decide to select your own vanity number rather than choose the randomly generated one 800.com assigns you, it can take three to five days to activate the vanity number.
You can search for a specific number by spelling a word or phrase during the sign-up process. 800.com then converts the letters of your search to digits, searches to see if any phone numbers match your request, and makes an alternate suggestion to a similar number if it isn’t available.
You also have the option of bringing your current toll-free number to your 800.com subscription. However, there’s also a delay with this option. It can take a couple of weeks before you can begin using it, in our experience.
Not made for those with complex phone needs: The 800.com service works well for those who have relatively basic calling requirements or who run their businesses on the go. This is not a service made for businesses that deal with complicated inbound calling situations.
For inbound calls, 800.com takes the calls going to your selected toll-free or local number and forwards them to your desired device, whether that’s a landline or a cellular phone.
All the same, the service is not ideal for those who receive a large volume of calls. There are significant caps on minutes on two of the three pricing plans.
Yes, you can use your existing landline system or your cellular phone for this service. However, there is no option to order a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) system. It does not have telephone conferencing tools or hardware, nor does it offer call queueing or call quality boosting.
Hidden fees: If you need more than one toll-free number at the time of signup or after you become a customer, you may need to pay an activation fee of $25. Additionally, if you wish to add a vanity number later, the activation fee may be $35.
Keep in mind that 800.com typically waives the activation fee for the first toll-free number for a new customer. But if, for instance, you need to forward your incoming calls outside your country of origin, you may have to pay extra for each forwarded call plus a one-time fee to set the service up.
You do not have to sign a contract, so there is no penalty for canceling your service. However, if you cancel after making a payment for an annual subscription to take advantage of the discount, you likely will not receive a refund for the unused months of your plan.
800.com Plans and Pricing
The 800.com service offers three pricing plans. They are distinguished by the number of minutes you need and the amount of toll-free phone numbers you request.
All pricing plans contain the same primary service features, including:
- Options to add extensions
- An included fax number
- Call recording
- Texting
- Voicemail boxes
- Transcription of voicemails
- Multiple call forwarding options
- Call screening
- Call analytics
- API and webhook access
Should you need more features, you can contact the 800.com sales team to build a customized plan.
For new customers, 800.com will waive the activation fee for your new phone number when you sign up for any plan. However, if you activate more than one number, you may have to pay a $25 or $35 fee for the extra numbers.
If you need to switch plans at any point, simply reach out to customer service. 800.com offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
Personal
The 800.com Personal pricing plan includes 1,000 minutes of calls per month and one toll-free number.
It costs $19 per month when you pay the annual plan, for a total of $228 up front. You also can pay $23 per month if you prefer a month-to-month pricing plan.
This plan works well for a small business that has a very low call volume or for a family that would like to have a toll-free number.
Unlimited
The Unlimited pricing plan offers an unlimited number of minutes on one toll-free number.
You’ll pay $49 per month for the annual contract, which amounts to a single annual payment of $588. You also can pay $59 monthly if that suits your needs.
This plan is ideal for a small business that may have a high call volume and doesn’t need a cap on minutes.
Pro
The Pro pricing plan places a 5,000-minute cap on monthly usage. However, if you need more minutes, you can customize the limit.
The Pro plan costs $127 per month for an annual contract, which results in a $1,524 upfront payment. You also can choose to pay month to month at $149 per month.
This plan’s primary benefit is that it gives you five toll-free numbers. Having several unique phone numbers helps your marketing team measure the response to certain campaigns and marketing strategies.
Final Thoughts
It’s a nice benefit that 800.com gives you all of its primary service features in every pricing plan, along with SMS campaigns. There are a few potential add-on fees, but fewer than what you’ll find with some other business phone services.
If you only need the basics for your telephone system, 800.com offers a competitive set of features at a reasonable price. A startup, a side hustle where you’re interacting with customers, or a small business that has small inbound call volumes should be able to use 800.com successfully. If you have complex requirements for your inbound calling needs, though, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.
